It was two months before Christmas when nine-year-old Rose told her father and me that she wanted a new bike. Her Snow White bike was just too old to ride, and it needed repairing as well.
As Christmas came closer, her dream for a bike seemed to disappear, for she didn't mention it again. We were busy buying some beautiful storybooks, a doll house, a holiday dress and toys.
Then much to our surprise, on the evening of December 24, she said she terribly wanted a bike more than anything else.
Then we didn't know what to do. It was just too late for us to make her dream come true. So there was no time to buy the "right bike" for our little girl. Thinking that we were parents who would make their child unhappy, we tried to deal with the problem.
Suddenly my husband came up with an idea. "What if I make a little bike out of clay and write a note that she could trade in the model bike for a real one?" "Perfect!" I shouted. So he spent the next five hours carefully working with clay to make a small bike.
On Christmas morning, we were so excited to wait for our daughter to open the little box with the beautiful red and white clay bike and the note. She opened it and read the note loudly. She looked at me and her father, and said, "So, does it mean I can trade in this bike for a real one?" Smiling, I said, "Yes." Rose had tears in her eyes when she replied, "What a wonderful surprise I have! I will never trade in this beautiful bike that Daddy made me. I prefer to keep it rather than get a real bike." At that moment, we would have bought her every bike on the earth.
