I have worked on many Christmas Eves. But one sticks out like no other.

I was a sales clerk and bookkeeper at our hometown Western Auto throughout my years attending high school and college. I was offered the job by a man whose child I had babysat. My folks were surprised when I told them that I had a job; I was just 16. They told me that I didn’t need to work at that point in my life. I excitedly replied that I didn’t have to work – I GOT to work. I was thrilled to be an “employee.”

And, employees at that Western Auto worked on Christmas Eve.

Ours was a “home-owned” store when I started – a franchise owned by a local businessman. And, I started at $1.25 an hour. (A year after starting I learned that the owner’s kids got $1.50 an hour and they didn’t work nearly as hard as I did! I spoke to the owner and he moaned and gave me a 25-cent an hour pay raise.)

Later, the owner sold out and the store became a “company” store. My hourly pay jumped to $2.25 and we could get something called “SPIFFs” pay. SPIFF stood for “sales performance incentive fund.” We got SPIFF during special sales periods of specific items. One time, I got a SPIFF payment of $1 for every car battery I sold. The company manager had to recheck the payroll when he learned that I had made $61 in SPIFF that week.

I also had two jobs: sales and bookkeeper. Sales had a smaller wage (yep, smaller than $2.25 an hour) plus a sales commission plus the SPIFF payments. Every week I was told to do so many hours of bookkeeping work and so many hours of sales work. Being the astute money maker that I was, I would schedule my bookkeeping hours when we had fewer customers (making the higher hourly wage then) and my sales hours when the store was busy (receiving the lower hourly wage but doing well with commissions and SPIFF). And because I helped the mechanics as much as I could, they would walk customers that needed new tires or a brake job to me to write up the sale, ignoring the other sales folks.

Yep, Western Auto taught me some valuable lessons. And Christmas Eve was the perfect day to use that knowledge.

Christmas Eve was a sales day hours only for me. Our store carried the expected car parts, batteries, tools, and tires. But our days as a “home-owned” store had left us with a history of carrying lots of other items. Now this was at a time when Sam Walton was just starting something called “Walmart.” Small towns like ours had a “5 and Dime” store and a few other options. Our little store offered some great last minute shopping alternatives to all of that. We carried: freezers and refrigerators; bikes, wagons and tricycles; men’s razors and watches; toys and furniture; pots, pans and cooking utensils; lots of key rings and aromatic hangings for your car; and, a one time, a couple of sets of luggage.

Yep, we were a shopping Mecca…especially for men…especially on Christmas Eve. Guys would come in and ask “what can I buy for…” and then they would describe their various family members. Christmas Eve was commission heaven!

One Christmas Eve I helped a young man, probably in his late 30’s, and his adorable red headed boy find gifts for everyone on his list. They needed a lot and I was so willing to help them. After all of their selections were made, I went to the cash register to ring them up. The gentleman pulled out a check, filled it out and handed it to me. This was going to be the biggest purchase at the store in December.

I looked at the check. No problems with the date or amount. But the check had no printed information about the owner of the account and their address. That upper left corner was blank. The man saw me pause and quickly explained to me that he was new in town and had just opened this account; he had plenty of money in the account to cover the purchase.

My manager saw that I was having a problem and came over to me. I explained the situation. The check had account numbers listed but no name. And it was Christmas Eve, I couldn’t verify his identification with the account.

It was a big sale. The commission was going to be sweet but, without my manager saying a thing, I could not make the sale.

The gentleman was upset, the little boy began to cry. Everyone else in the store looked at me like the fiend that I felt that I was. But, I said, we would be glad to make the sale if he had cash or a card. The man and his boy stomped out and I began to put the merchandise back on the shelves.

It was about three or four days later that the front page of the local newspaper reported that six local stores had sold merchandise on Christmas Eve to a man who had stolen a stack of checkbooks off of a bank clerk’s desk. The man who had robbed these stores seemed so honest for he had had a little red headed boy with him.

My manager and I read the article and said “That could have been us.”

You see the sale, as large as it was, was not worth disobeying the rules and standards of the people who helped me work my way through high school and college. My boss and the organization trusted me to do my job even if the sale (and commission) would have been sweet. Taking that check appeared to be a way to help this family when, indeed, it might have been the end of my employment there.

That day I did the right thing not because I didn’t need the money but that I didn’t want to break a rule that had been given to me by people who were in charge and had gone out of their way to help me.

Christmas Eve is a wonderful day. We have been getting ready for Christmas for the last four weeks through recognizing the Advent Season. We cannot do the wrong thing now or ever. The love of God to send Jesus to die for my sin is worth more to me than any shady deal, any lottery card, any drug, any high or low, or any cheating of any kind.

The world will tell us that we just lost out on the most fun, best deal, the greatest experience known to mankind.

There is nothing in this world like knowing that you are working for the God of Heaven and earth and that He loves and trusts you. There is no fear of tomorrow and the shame of yesterday has been erased. I will never leave Jesus.

There is a song by Lanny Wolfe with lyrics that are so rich for this special night. I’ll put them below.

Merry Christmas Eve!!

Love,

Jill (just one of God’s kids)

He promised us that He would be a counselor a Mighty God and the Prince of Peace. He promised us that He would be a Father and that He would love us with a love that would not cease.

Well, I tried Him and I found His promises are true. He’s everything He said that He would be. The finest words I know could not begin to tell
just what Jesus really means to me.

For He’s more wonderful than my mind can conceive. He’s more wonderful than my heart can believe. He goes beyond my highest hopes and fondest dreams. He’s everything that my soul ever longed for, everything He’s promised and so much more. More than amazing, more than marvelous. More than miraculous could ever be. He’s more than wonderful, that’s what Jesus is to me.

I stand amazed when I think that the King of glory should come to dwell within the heart of man. I marvel just to know He really loves me. When I think of who He is, and who I am.

For He’s more wonderful than my mind can conceive. He’s more wonderful than my heart can believe. He goes beyond my highest hopes and fondest dreams. He’s everything that my soul ever longed for everything He’s promised and so much more. More than amazing, more than marvelous. More than miraculous could ever be. He’s more than wonderful, that’s what Jesus is to me.

(My favorite rendition of this song is at: https://youtu.be/ZawEuhZxWgw?si=lSJ_DFPNYVm6RHS_)