It was a beautiful night for a Christmas parade in Milton. My husband and I arrived early to get a good spot. We saw a young mom with her three children and another couple, who I assumed were the children's grandparents. They appeared to be a nice family. We sat on the bench by her while she was holding her littlest one and sat and watched the interaction between the other two children and the grandparents. Such loving people they seemed to be.

We started chatting while waiting for the parade to begin and after a bit, I asked the mom if they were her parents. She said "no." She laughed and said she was struggling with the three kids and was ready to leave, and this wonderful couple offered to help with the kids. They had become surrogate grandparents for the evening. Sitting on the curb with them, singing songs with them, holding and comforting her little girl when the sirens went off. And to see the little boy's face when Santa arrived was honestly such a wonderful sight.

Had this couple not helped her, she would have left and those kids would have missed the parade and meeting that "special couple." Once the parade was over they offered to walk her to her car and we said goodnight and said we hoped we would meet again.

This is what Christmas is all about.

Cindy and Rob McDonough
Milton