After Mom died, I began visiting Dad every morning before I went to work. He was weak and moved slowly, but he always had a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice on the kitchen table for me, along with an unsigned note reading, “Drink your juice.” Such a gesture, I knew, was as far as Dad had ever been able to go in expressing his love. In fact, I remember, as a kid I had questioned Mom “Why doesn’t Dad love me?” Mom frowned (皱眉). “Who said he doesn’t love you?!” “Well, he never tells me.” I complained. “He never tells me either,” she said, smiling. “But look how hard he works to take care of us, to buy us food and clothes, and to pay for this house. That’s how your father tells us he loves us.”

I nodded slowly. I understood in my head, but not in my heart. I still wanted my father to put his arms around me and tell me he loved me. Dad owned and operated a small scrap metal (收破烂金属) business, and after school I often hung around while he worked. The machine that he used looked like a giant pair of scissors with blades (刃) thicker than my father’s body. If he didn’t feel those terrifying blades just right, he risked serious injury. “Why don’t you hire someone to do that for you?” Mom asked Dad one night as she bent over him and rubbed his aching shoulders with a strong smelling liniment (搽剂). “Why don’t you hire a cook?” Dad asked, giving her one of his rare smiles.

Many years later, during my first daily visit, after drinking the juice my father had squeezed for me, I walked over, hugged him and said, “I love you, Dad.” From then on I did this every morning. My father never told me how he felt about my hugs, and there was never any expression on his face when I gave hugs to him.

Every family goes through its ups and downs. Most often, the root cause of this situation is the lack of communication. 【小题1】.

Lack of patience can be one of the biggest factors. If people are not patient with their parents or children or other members, the levels of closeness will be weakened. And it can be quite difficult for a bad-tempered child, or even a bad-tempered parent to deal with the problems.

Lack of time for family members is always a reason leading to the problems. 【小题2】. In order to survive, everyone must focus all their attention on the work, so they do not have enough time to have a good talk with others.

Lack of discipline is the worst problem in terms of children.【小题3】. It is known that most parents want to control the children, even their children get older, which can lead to a constantly disharmonious atmosphere within the family.

If the solutions to the problems are OK, all these problems can be easily solved. If lack of patience is one of the problems, obviously the solution is to develop the virtue of patience. You’d better hear out what the children have to say on a certain matter, or even consult them about their significant ideas. 【小题4】.

It would be natural to see childish behavior of the younger members of a family but it is up to the elders to control the atmosphere and keep it calm.【小题5】.

The above are some of the most common problems that most families face. So it is important to maintain the best relations with your family, because family is the strongest support system for you.

My son Joshua was nine and we were living a hard life. Before Christmas I still hadn’t managed to buy him the gifts.

One snowy day, while walking downtown, I saw a large poster of a fat Santa with a bag of toys before a fireplace, welcoming children to visit Santa at the department store before Christmas.

An idea hit me. Rather than seeking financial support and donations at the church, I’d make Christmas for Joshua using my imagination. Santa was coming to town, but what about Mrs. Claus? I headed toward the manager’s office of the store and applied for a job as Mrs. Claus to accompany Mr. Claus. The manager thought about the idea and hired me on the spot. The next morning, I carefully packed my homemade costume. After ducking into a changing room, I emerged dressed as Mrs. Claus. Taking a deep breath I stepped into the manager’s office. “Good morning, I’m Mrs. Claus.” “Good morning, Stella.” Though taken by surprise, she didn’t show it.

I loved the job. As the month wore on, my best friend Liz brought Joshua and her daughter Katie downtown to visit Santa on the last Saturday before Christmas. The two kids were excited about seeing Santa and getting a treat. Later I saw Joshua pass his wish list to Santa, while he pointed to Mrs. Claus who was talking with the waiting children. Then old Santa tucked it in his pocket.

At the end of the last day, and after an endless line-up of children, the store manager gave me a substantial paycheque including a generous bonus. I was overjoyed. Now I could make Christmas for Joshua without having to resort to donations.

Late on Christmas Eve, there was a knock on my apartment door. As I stood speechless at the door, Santa dropped a bag of presents on the floor and disappeared into the darkness. When I opened the bag, I found four beautifully wrapped presents ready to place under the tree. Tears welled in my eyes as I read the tags: Things for Stella, Love Santa.