One day, a poor amputated widower struggling to cater to his kids received a letter from Santa. The letter changed the man’s ways in more ways than one. Find out how.
Phillip and Margaret met in remarkable circumstances. He was an orphan and had spent his entire life at an orphanage in New Jersey while she was the orphanage director’s daughter.
Whenever Margaret came to the orphanage with her dad, she always talked to Phillip, who enjoyed every bit of their conversations. Margaret’s visits to the orphanage became more frequent, and she eventually had a close-knit relationship with Phillip.
Many years passed, and the pair grew older. After turning 20, Phillip believed it was the right time to tell Margaret how he felt about her. He knew she had feelings for him too and was not surprised when she welcomed his proposal to be her husband.
However, while the lovebirds wanted each other, Margaret’s parents were against such a union. Her mom vehemently rejected the idea as she hoped her daughter would marry a rich man.
To Margaret’s mom, Phillip was not ideal for her daughter. Also, Phillip’s low-paying part-time job at a diner, which he did to raise money for his law degree, did not sit well with her.
Eventually, Margaret’s parents decided to accede to their daughter’s wish to marry Phillip. However, they did so on the condition that Phillip must get a job.
Phillip accepted the condition and worked diligently to get his degree before finally getting a job at a respectable law firm after a few years.
After getting the job, Phillip tied the knot with his true love, Margaret, and they began their new lives as a couple. The couple had always dreamed of having kids and could not wait to do so. However, it proved to be a challenge for Margaret to get pregnant.
Margaret and Phillip were sad for the first few years of their marriage over their inability to conceive. After taking different measures to have a child, they finally opted for adoption.
The couple planned to adopt one child and headed to an orphanage. However, on getting there, they could not resist the urge to adopt a set of triplets born recently.
They dug deeper and discovered the triplets were abandoned at the door of the orphanage one morning. This drew the couple closer to them, and they adopted them.
After the adoption, Phillip and Margaret were happy to raise their children and enjoyed it. However, just when they thought nothing could go wrong, tragedy struck.
Phillip suffered a leg injury while visiting the construction site for his family’s dream home. The wound was severe and required surgery.
During the surgery, it was discovered that there was a staph infection in his leg, which meant that it had to be amputated. Phillip was heartbroken because of this.
He spent a year on bed rest, and this marked a difficult period for his family as Margaret had to cater to him and their kids. This didn’t prove easy because she did not have any qualifications.
In addition, Margaret was not a brilliant student at school and had struggled to graduate. This was partly due to her mom’s insistence that she should not bother about education but be more concerned about raising kids and being a good wife and mother.
Hence, it was hard for her to find a job until she eventually got one as a school bus driver. Despite the nature of the job, Margaret did not ask her parents for help because she knew doing so would mean the end of her marriage to Phillip, which she did not want.
Instead of seeking her parents’ help, she strived day and night to make ends meet and provide for her family. However, the burden of the workload and being a mother to triplets and a wife to a disabled man was too much for Margaret to bear. Her health suffered, and she died of a heart attack soon after.
Phillip could not believe this sequence of events. Suddenly, he was a widower and could not think of what to do.
After Margaret’s death, her parents cut ties with Phillip and blamed him for her demise. After that, life was difficult for Phillip. He exhausted all his savings to care for his kids as the salary from his job as a lawyer’s assistant was barely enough for his upkeep.
Also, Phillip paused the construction of his family’s dream home and sold their apartment to live in an old apartment where he paid monthly rent.
He and his kids struggled daily and barely managed to feed and survive. They could have been forgiven for fearing the worst would befall them.
However, just when it seemed like all hope was lost, everything changed for them one Christmas morning when Phillip heard a knock on the door.
He was not expecting anyone as he rarely had visitors except those he owed money to. Hence, he took a while to open the door. When he finally opened it, he found a man dressed as Santa Claus at the door and was shocked.
Santa said, “Good morning, Phillip. Here is a gift for you from someone who really loves you. Merry Christmas!”
Phillip could not believe his eyes and ears and argued with Santa, saying, “This must either be a joke or a mistake, Santa. I believe you are at the wrong house. I don’t have a family who would think of sending us something. We have spent many Christmases here alone.”
Santa patiently listened to Phillip as he argued and told him not to be so judgemental because he never could tell that there were people who cared about him.
Santa urged Phillip never to lose hope and handed him a letter. Phillip became irritated and believed Santa was a scammer. Just as he was about to shut the door on Santa’s face, he was distracted by the address on the envelope containing the letter.
He discovered the letter was really meant for him but wondered who could have sent it. He opened the letter to reveal its contents and found a year’s health insurance and a cash gift of $100,000 for house renovations.
Phillip was shocked at what he had just seen and called out to Santa, who was already leaving. He asked Santa, “Please, can you tell me who sent the letter and the gifts to me?”
Santa agreed but said he would do so if Phillip made him a cup of tea in exchange. Phillip agreed and welcomed the man into his home. He made a cup of tea and served him.
While sipping the tea, the man disguised as Santa told Phillip that one of the wealthiest men in New Jersey, Jake Murphy, 80, sent him.
Murphy’s wife died in a vehicle collision three years ago, and he set up a foundation in her honor. The foundation assisted needy families annually. This was because Murphy did not have kids and was always lonely following his wife’s passing. Hence, he decided to make a difference in someone’s life every Christmas season.
That year, Margaret’s sister shared Phillip’s story during a live radio show, and Murphy decided to help him.
Phillip became emotional after hearing about the genesis of everything. Immediately, he called Margaret’s sister and thanked her for sharing his story.
Also, he invited Murphy over for Christmas dinner. Murphy accepted the invitation and showed up looking excited. Afterward, he regularly visited Phillip and his triplets and cared for them. The triplets grew fond of Murphy and called him their grandpa.
Phillip quit his low-paying job as a lawyer’s assistant and started working at Murphy’s company. He grew wealthy and was able to raise his kids.
What can we learn from this story?
- Love and not blood builds families. A family is united by love and not necessarily by blood. This is evident in how Phillip’s triplets addressed Murphy as their grandpa because of how he cared for them. Also, Murphy regarded Phillip as a family member despite just knowing him.
- Never give up. Life gets so hard sometimes that one might be tempted to give up. However, it is best never to let go but keep striving and believing that things will change for the better, just as it did in Phillip’s case.
