Ebenezer Scrooge may have been the first to learn it. A good dose of Christmas cheer goes a long way toward curing a heavy heart.
Adam Pace is separated by a century and a half from Scrooge, but he found this Christmas season that the same lesson still applies.Adam, 10, a fifth grader at Jim Bridger Elementary School, 5368 Cyclamen Way, West Jordan, suffered the loss of his mother, Pamela, about a month ago when she died of cancer.
Adam's teacher, Ann Olsen, and others were concerned that the boy appeared to be having a difficult time expressing his grief. All of his classmates had attended his mother's funeral as an expression of support, but he "acted as if nothing had happened," said Olsen.
"He seemed to be in a state of denial," agreed Principal John E. Allen.
Then the Spirit of Christmas Present touched the students in Adam's class. They had been collecting aluminum so they could take a field trip or have a party. Instead, the class decided it would be more important to share Christmas with a needy child. They embarked on a Sub for Santa project. When the spirit took over and things began to escalate, they expanded, taking on a second challenge, to "Adopt an Angel." The project focused on a 5-year-old girl whose wants were pretty simple - underwear and a doll.
Besides contributing the class aluminum income and individual donations, the children wrote letters to several local businesses, soliciting help with their yuletide giving. A number of the businesses responded, and in the end, the little angel adopted by the Jim Bridger fifth-graders was in for a very "heavenly" Christmas.
"We even had enough money to buy a sweater for the child's mother," said Olsen.
For Adam, the experience of looking outward seems to have had a calming effect on the inner turmoil created by the passing of his mother.When the children wrote essays expressing how they felt about their Christmas projects, Adam said:
"Doing the Sub for Santa has meant a great deal to me. It has made my Christmas good. Just because my mom isn't going to be here this Christmas doesn't mean I have to not have a merry Christmas - 'cause she will be in my heart.
"I liked how we are helping a family and a little five-year-old girl. First when Miss Olsen talked about the Sub for Santa, I thought it would be dumb. But it wasn't! These kids are going to have a much merrier Christmas than me, but I don't mind. This could be the only good Christmas they have.
"The Adopt-an-Angel is a very good thing to do. Think about it. She (the child adopted by the class) just wants underwear and a doll, and we are getting her all this neat stuff. She asked for just little things. Both of these things have meant a great deal to me. I hope I can do this again sometime."