Flights of Paper Angels

Tea: Chinese Melon Seed

Music: Missing Persons, "Words"

Time: Night.

I'm going to invoke proud father's privilege and brag on my teenagers.

Year after year, they race to an artificial Christmas tree in the church lobby and scrutinize the paper angels hanging from its branches.

Each angel bears a child's name and age, something the child would like for Christmas (or that the parent would like to give, if the child is too young to speak for himself or herself). There's also a message from the parent to the child -- messages the parents can't give in person because they're behind bars.

The Angel Tree program is not unique to Prison Fellowship International, of course. Other Angel Trees benefit children of poverty, or families facing severe financial hardship. But this is the one we know best.

It's a lean year here, too. But my teenagers weren't about to give the Angel Tree a pass. They saved up money they'd been given, they each picked a paper angel -- and tonight, we dropped off the wrapped gifts at church. They'll be opened at a party for the children on Saturday.

(The kids and their parents won't be forced to profess any faith to take part and receive the gifts, by the way. I wouldn't support the program if they were.)

Occasionally, there are grumbles that we shouldn't "reward" convicts by purchasing Christmas presents for their children -- as though somehow the kids deserved to be punished for their parents' misdeeds. (Do people really think, "Hey, that's a great idea! Let's further isolate these children and convince them they're not worthy of Christmas! What better way to show Christian charity?")

Anyway ... they'll never brag on themselves. They just do it because they love doing it. And that's another reason to be proud of them ...