Well, this might not quite match the Miracle on 34th Street, but we had our own little Christmas miracle this year. About a week before Christmas (5 1/2 days, to be exact) we realized that Spencer's hamster, Rascal, was missing. (Rascal joined our family just after Christmas last year, so he's now very well-loved.) At one point while Blake and Spencer were searching, they even thought they had found him, dead--but when they got a flashlight and a better look, were relieved to find they were wrong. It was just a piece of cardboard. But... still, no Rascal. As the days continued going by, Spencer worried about Rascal surviving with no food or water.
Late on Christmas Eve (early Christmas Day by this time), while Rob, Ashlee, & I were still wrapping the last few presents, Rob came into the family room and stated to Ashlee & me, "VERY FUNNY! Whose idea was that?!?" We had no clue what he was talking about. He took us through the entryway, into the small bathroom, and showed us what he had discovered: Rascal in the trashcan!!! Alive!!!
We all had a good laugh as he recounted his moment of fear. He had been near the front door and suddenly heard a scuffling noise. He knew everyone was asleep except for the 3 of us, and he had just been with Ashlee and me in the other room. In an instant he was fully prepared to find an unwelcome guest and tackle him to the ground. He even acted out for us the exact way he tiptoed over to the bathroom door and then THREW it open, ready to pounce on whoever was in there! (Ashlee and I were rolling on the floor by this point!)
After the hilarity of it all wore off, we stood looking down into the trashcan, baffled. None of us could see any way he could have gotten in there! How could he have gotten IN, when it was obvious he couldn't get OUT?!? This trashcan is in the corner, with nothing around it. No counter, toilet, shelf, ... nothing that Rascal could have climbed onto and fallen in from. Granted, it's a small trashcan--12" high, maybe... but still... the same question went through our minds: How could he have gotten in, when he couldn't get out??? We could find no explanation.
So Rob put him in a bucket under the tree, and when we went in to open gifts Christmas morning, he told Spencer to go look in it. That moment was as fun as watching the kids open their gifts! He was so excited!!!
Just the night before, Rob had asked Spencer what he was doing to find Rascal. Spencer told him he was praying every day--plus obviously looking for him often. When Spencer looked into the bucket he yelled, "I KNEW IT!!!" Then he explained to us that when he went to bed Christmas Eve he told Heavenly Father that it would be really great if Rascal was back on Christmas Day; that would be a really, really nice Christmas present.
As we talked about the amazement of it all, none of us was able to explain how Rascal appeared in the trashcan. But Spencer had no question about how it happened. He said, "I guess Heavenly Father just picked him up and dropped him in!"
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