Shopping in the pink aisle

The Christmas tree in the church hall has an unusual array of ornaments: paper angels with words written on them.

This church I have attended for nearly twenty years adopts a number of families in need every Christmas. They take the lists of wants and needs for each family and write them on paper angels, which are hung in lieu of ornaments. Anyone with the capability to do so takes an Angel (or two) and buys the items listed, which are then collected, wrapped and delivered to the families for the holiday. Sometimes they are practical items like gas and food gift cards, blankets, clothing, shoes. For the children, they are often toys, games, the things we buy in ridiculous quantities for our own children.

I am the worst of the Angel Tree participants. I am famous for pulling an Angel and then forgetting, procrastinating, showing up with my item late… just dreadful. I swear there’s a betting pool on how Elizabeth is going to screw up this time… but they’d never say so.

Still, I resolutely pull an Angel every year, because there have been times in my family’s past when we needed angels to help us through: when I was a single mother raising my son alone on a reporter’s salary, or when my then-fiance had just proposed and was immediately laid off from the factory where he worked.

So I always pull an Angel, and this time I got a really neat one. “Girl, age 6. Barbie.”

Finally, I get to shop in the pink aisle.