Bret's Christmas Story

Everyone who peruses this blog probably also received Bret's Christmas email from Brazil. But, on the chance that anyone missed it, I would like to post it here. It is simply one of the best stories that I have read in the last 24 hours. Those kinds of things stick with you, you know?




Once upon a time, there once was a tiny shop nestled on a street of little import in a city of no renown. But this was a special shop. A shop that specialized in bells, particularly the jingle kind. The owner of this shop fabricated all sorts of bells in various shapes and sizes.
As customers entered and left the shop, many purchased bells for their horse bobtails and others for their homes and some for Christmas choirs. But there was one jinglebell that often went unnoticed. The littlest jinglebell. At times, a child would take notice to this tiny bell and with joy, attempt to ring it. That littlest jinglebell, however hard it tried, couldn’t put out more than a faint tinkle, and without fail, the once excited child placed that bell back in its place.
As Christmas drew near, all the bells left the shop, bound to bring Christmas spirit to all that heard-- but that littlest jinglebell was the last and only bell left on Christmas Eve. That night, the shopkeeper started to close up, leaving to enjoy his Christmas holiday, when one unexpected visitor showed up. A rather large man dressed in red and white entered and approached the old man and with a voice that the shopkeeper couldn’t deny, asked if there were any more jinglebells. Sadly, he shook his head. “No, I am sorry. All of them have been sold, except this little one but it is far too small to be of any use.”
The visitor smiled and explained, “That is alright. I need a small bell so as to not awake the children.”
The shopkeeper opened the cabinet wherein lay the littlest jingle and excitedly, the jinglebell prepared its biggest and brightest jingle that it could manage as the visitor held it in his hand. A faint tinkle left the bell as he shook it. “You’re right, it’s too small.”