Margaret and Phillip met under unusual circumstances. She was the daughter of the orphanage director, and he had lived his entire childhood in an orphanage in New Jersey.
Phillip loved every minute of the chats Margaret and her father had whenever they visited the orphanage. Over time, Margaret and Phillip developed a deep bond as her visits to the orphanage increased in frequency.
The two became older as the years went by. Phillip thought it was appropriate to express his feelings for Margaret after his twentieth birthday. He was not shocked when she accepted his proposal of marriage because he knew she felt the same way about him.
But Margaret’s parents didn’t like such a match. She also rejected the idea as she wanted her daughter to then marry a rich man.
Phillip wasn’t ideal for Margaret’s mom. Phillip’s law degree didn’t come cheap, and his low paying part time job at a diner, which he did in order to earn some money, did not sit with her.
Eventually though, Margaret’s parents caved in to their daughter’s passion to marry Phillip. But if Phillip had to get a job, they didn’t mind.
After a few years, Phillip took the condition on, and worked hard to finish his degree before he found a job at a fit-up law firm.
Phillip got the job and he and his true love Margaret got married and began life as a couple. They had always wanted kids and couldn’t wait. But Margaret found it difficult to get pregnant.
During their first few marriage years Margaret and Phillip experienced sadness because they could not bear children. After trying all alternatives to get a child they chose to adopt.
The couple went to an orphanage ready to take a single child home. When they arrived at the orphanage they felt compelled to take home newly born triplets just as soon as they saw them.
After investigating further they found that the orphanage received the triplets as an unexpected delivery at its entrance. As they got to know the children the couple fell in love with them and decided to make them their official children.
Following the adoption Phillip and Margaret looked forward to raising their new children and took great satisfaction from it. Despite all going smoothly they soon faced a devastating event.
During his inspection of his family home’s building progress Phillip hurt his leg. Họ phải phẫu thuật mổ vì kích thước vkich của vết thương này.
The medical team identified a staph infection during his operation and had to remove his leg because of it. Phillip was heartbroken because of this.
He spent a year on bed rest, and this marked a difficult period for his family as Margaret had to cater to him and their kids. This didn’t prove easy because she did not have any qualifications.
In addition, Margaret was not a brilliant student at school and had struggled to graduate. This was partly due to her mom’s insistence that she should not bother about education but be more concerned about raising kids and being a good wife and mother.
As a result, she struggled to obtain employment until she was hired as a school bus driver. Margaret realized that asking her parents for assistance would mean ending her marriage to Phillip, which she did not want, so she did not do so despite the nature of the work.
She worked day and night to support her family and make ends meet rather than asking her parents for assistance. But Margaret could not handle the workload, being a wife to a crippled man, and being a mother to triplets. Her condition deteriorated, and shortly after, she passed away from a heart attack.
Phillip could not believe this sequence of events. Suddenly, he was a widower and could not think of what to do.
Following Margaret’s death her parents broke all contact with Phillip and held him responsible for her fate. His daily life became hard after that happened. The money he had saved before had run out because he spent most of his lawyer’s assistant salary on raising his children.
The project of building his family home stopped and Phillip sold their present home for an apartment he rented month to month.
He and his family members were fighting daily to keep enough food for themselves and live another day. Given those dire circumstances they deserved sympathy for expecting the worst to happen.
However, just when it seemed like all hope was lost, everything changed for them one Christmas morning when Phillip heard a knock on the door.
He was not expecting anyone as he rarely had visitors except those he owed money to. Hence, he took a while to open the door. When he finally opened it, he found a man dressed as Santa Claus at the door and was shocked.
Santa said, “Good morning, Phillip. Here is a gift for you from someone who really loves you. Merry Christmas!”
Phillip reacted in shock at first and told Santa he must have made a mistake since no one in his house would buy Christmas gifts. You have visited the incorrect house. No one in my family thinks about sending us holiday presents because I live alone. During past holiday seasons we celebrated Christmas alone at this home.
As Phillip talked Santa remained calm and explained he should have more faith because he failed to recognize the people who cared about him.
Santa advised Phillip to maintain optimism and passed a letter to him. Phillip lost patience with Santa because he thought the person was trying to trick him. At the moment he decided to close the door in Santa’s face a postmark label grabbed his attention.
He saw the letter was for him but still asked himself who sent it. He read the letter and found inside a one-year insurance plan plus a $100,000 payment to update his house.
Phillip was shocked at what he had just seen and called out to Santa, who was already leaving. He asked Santa, “Please, can you tell me who sent the letter and the gifts to me?”
Santa agreed but said he would do so if Phillip made him a cup of tea in exchange. Phillip agreed and welcomed the man into his home. He made a cup of tea and served him.
While sipping the tea, the man disguised as Santa told Phillip that one of the wealthiest men in New Jersey, Jake Murphy, 80, sent him.
Murphy’s wife died in a vehicle collision three years ago, and he set up a foundation in her honor. The foundation assisted needy families annually. This was because Murphy did not have kids and was always lonely following his wife’s passing. Hence, he decided to make a difference in someone’s life every Christmas season.
That year, Margaret’s sister shared Phillip’s story during a live radio show, and Murphy decided to help him.
Phillip became emotional after hearing about the genesis of everything. Immediately, he called Margaret’s sister and thanked her for sharing his story.
Also, he invited Murphy over for Christmas dinner. Murphy accepted the invitation and showed up looking excited. Afterward, he regularly visited Phillip and his triplets and cared for them. The triplets grew fond of Murphy and called him their grandpa.
Phillip quit his low-paying job as a lawyer’s assistant and started working at Murphy’s company. He grew wealthy and was able to raise his kids.
What can we learn from this story?
Love makes a family stronger than physical ties. Family relationships develop through love rather than through genetic heritage. Philip’s children called Murphy “grandpa” because he treated them like family. For Murphy Phillip counted like family although they had only met.
Never give up. The weight of life challenges can make you want to surrender completely. You need to keep working toward your goals because things finally improved for Phillip in the end.