Just before Christmas, my daughter Katie and I went over to my dad’s place to decorate. I couldn’t help _________ the old glass balls when _________ them on the tree. Later that night before I went to sleep, in the quiet darkness, I recalled some _________ from years ago.

The Christmas after I turned 16, while decorating the _________ with my mom, I accidentally _________ and broke a ball. The old glass ball had been on our tree for as long as I could _________.

Broken-hearted, I knelt to pick up the pieces and was _________ to find a small slip of paper on the floor. Unfolding the note, I _________ my father’s writing. Lifting my eyes, I saw my mother’s _________ expression.

“Your daddy wrote that and put it in that __________ during our first Christmas together, just before you were born,” she said with a smile.

I wouldn’t have __________ it, except for the proof there in my __________. The daddy I knew always seemed a bit __________ around the holidays. And yet, this bit of yellowed paper __________ that long ago, my daddy had done something quite romantic at Christmas.

I cleaned up the pieces, __________ I could put them together. “It’s OK,” Mom said. “Just pick out another of the old ones and put the __________ inside.”

Now, as we __________ the holidays without my mom, who we lost to cancer, my discovery is even more __________. Each year as I decorate my dad’s tree, I remember the moment I __________ with my mom that winter afternoon.

The note inside one of those old glass balls on my dad’s tree holds the heart of my parents’ __________ in three little words: “I love you.”

Sleepy-eyed, I arrived in Jordan just before midnight: Picking up the rental car, the agent mumbled (咕哝) something about a gas station. Trying to stay _______, I really didn’t pay attention.

The next morning, I headed the desert castle excitedly. While driving, I noticed that there wasn’t a fuel gauge (指示器) on the dashboard. That was _______, but I didn’t think twice about it. I had just got the rental so there would be plenty of fuel.

After passing numerous gas stations, I was finally in the open desert. Complete _______. And that’s when my car suddenly came to a stop.

What? In the middle of nowhere, I stared at the engine with no idea what to do. _______ seized me.

Within 10 minutes, a Jordanian _______. He didn’t speak English and my Arabic was limited. After _______ my car, he told me through hand gestures that I was out of gas. Who knew that rental cars didn’t come with a full tank of gas there?!

The man _______ me to get in his car and drove to the nearest gas station to get extra petrol. We then got back to my car to put the gas in.

When I pulled out my wallet to pay him, he refused. My thanks, a smile, and one photo together were all he wanted. Before we fully _______, he even followed me a bit to ensure that I was safely on my way even though it was not getting late.

Today, whenever I think of Jordan, this memory _______ comes to mind, and my heart swells with gratitude. It is the stranger who saved my trip and reminded me of the importance of ________.

Our church in Toronto has a way of helping those who are short of money. Money is dropped into an offering box with only the name of the ________ on the envelope (信封).

There came a time when my husband and I were among those ________ . We did not talk about our ________ with anyone, including our ________ . We did not want to make them ________ about the problem.

Our situation wasn’t ________ , and my husband and I knew that we would have to look for outside help. Just as we were almost ________ , our church gave us a gift envelope. We were overjoyed to receive the money, enough to ________ that hard time. We couldn’t help but wonder who had given such a generous gift.

A year later, our seventeen-year-old son was ________ a student loan (贷款) to attend university. His father and I were very ________ by this. We had ________ him to save some money for his university from his part-time job and he had already had enough money. I asked him repeatedly where the money had ________ . At first he would not tell me. Finally, my son ________ that the year before he had put his savings in the offering box for his father and me.

I stood there speechless, tears filling my eyes. It had taken my son ________ to save that money. He had given it to us ________ — without telling us what he had done.