1 . On a Friday evening in December, I lost my job. That was _________. I was excited about the weekend, when my daughter Kristil and I _________ to get our Christmas tree. Then I listened to my voicemail: “We are sorry, but we decided to _________ you.” I was a single mother and my income was survival. The next day, I struggled to be _________ as I eyed the Christmas tree prices.

Over the next week, I applied for _________ like crazy as my bank account grew smaller. On a weekend afternoon, I dropped Kristil in a _________ community for a birthday party surrounded by all the nice things that we couldn’t _________. I drove home feeling sad.

Back at home, I looked out the window at the heavy snow and _________ a woman opening her car door against the strong wind. As she _________, I realized it was my old teacher, Sister Esther. I rushed out and asked, “What are you doing out in this ____________?” She said, “I looked for you at your ____________ and it was said that you had left, so I thought I would ____________.” I made her tea and we talked. Before leaving, she handed me a Christmas card.

Later on when I opened her card, I was ____________. There was a lot of money inside. Tears of gratitude filled my eyes as I ____________. Sister Esther had given me $1,000. In 2020, at age of 91, Sister Esther died, but the ____________ she gave during her life lives on in my heart.

2 . My friend Wes has cancer. He has_______every other week. He gets chemo (化疗) on Monday, wears a pump and tubes on Tuesday, and has them_______at the end of Wednesday. Usually, I remember the_______, but sometimes I need to ask him whether it’s a chemo week or an off week.

Wes always_______his chemo schedule in a different way. He called his chemo weeks “good weeks” and his off weeks “great weeks”. Every time he called his schedule that way, I would give him_______and tell him, “You really don’t_______to be strong all the time.” I thought he was trying hard to be_______and that he was putting on a brave face. However, he didn’t care what others thought of him.

My opinion of Wes_______when he came to visit me on a Sunday. On that nice Sunday, I was cooking and watching birds. I was_______my life when it hit me: Wes isn’t trying to be________optimistic. He considers his chemo weeks not________at all because those weeks keep him________. Wes is thankful to be still here on Earth.

His words during our meal proved my________. “The chemo weeks let me live to enjoy my life. So I ________those weeks,” he said with a smile. Hearing that, I made a(n)________. I shouldn’t have misunderstood him.

Influenced by Wes, I’m trying to remove the term “bad day” from my vocabulary.

3 . The doorbell rang one mid-December evening. I frequently had unexpected visitors in those early days after my husband’s ________. But when my 6-year-old son opened the door, nobody was there. ________, on the doormat was a box, tied with a silver ________ and a note that said “On the First Day of Christmas...” A mystery.

Sam had died that fall, ________ me the single parent of our two boys, 6 and 8. My sons and I had already ________ to deal with Halloween, and Thanksgiving without Daddy. Still, I was afraid of Christmas. How could December have ________ without my husband?

The next night, the doorbell rang again. Another ________ came, decorated with the same silver ribbon (带子) and ________ the same card reading “On the Second Day of Christmas...”

For the next couple of nights, my boys waited near the front door to see who was leaving the gifts, but the bearer would always choose the moment they left to ________.

I didn’t know who the secret Santa was. But there was one thing I did know. In those dark days of ________, somebody was shining a light our way with a simple but ________ message: “You are loved.” It was such a strange feeling, to be left in darkness on the one hand and drawn so firmly toward ________ on the other. I believe hope will make a(n) ________.

After 11 days of offerings, we weren’t sure what to ________ when we approached home on that 12th night. I trusted there would be ________.

4 . If you asked anyone what they’d like to do after they ________—and you ________ them the chance to go on a trip to see all 63 national parks-most might consider it ________. While more than just saying it, an ________ lady has done it—all 63 parks in about 8 years, becoming the oldest person ever to do so.

But, Joy Ryan didn’t do it herself. She had her grandson Brad for ________, who described the adventure as “the greatest ________”. Their ________ began in October of 2015 and ended last Monday when they made it all the way out into the South Pacific. In American Samoa, the two people got to enjoy ________ views of the South Pacific.

Grandma Joy has taught the world that it’s never too old to learn and live the ________ life of your dreams. “It is the greatest privilege of my life to ________ in the driver’s seat, as Grandma Joy made ________ to become the oldest person to ________ this historic moment.” Brad said.

Brad said their national park adventure ________, but their travels would not. They plan to take it ________, visiting Kenya as the first stop to touch all seven ________.

5 . Have you ever been in a position where you were required to participate in music lessons, although you had absolutely no interest?

The _________ was this: My father was a professional music teacher _________ in teaching Hawaiian and Spanish guitar. My mother was an accomplished piano player and, _________, the whole family was very musical. I was the only one who had not been involved, yet, in learning to play a(n) _________.

And, as a lot of _________ do, I was enrolled (注册) in piano lessons _________ I had absolutely no interest in learning how to play it. So, it _________. Lesson after lesson I attended but didn’t play carefully at the time I was meant to practice. Finally, I just quit practicing and my piano teacher told my parents that I was hopeless. Great-no more piano lessons. However, the music _________ didn’t end here. It went on to where I decided what I wanted to learn and that ended up being the drums. I _________ playing the drums and went on to play in several bands for many years after that.

The point here is this: We all make __________ sooner or later but those cannot be forced on you. The other __________ is that you will make your own choices on whatever basis and for whatever reasons when you are __________. Some people take longer than others to __________. This can be annoying to some people but that is the way of life.

Now, that doesn’t mean you just have to sit on your hands. It means, instead, that you __________ to exchange ideas. After all, whether you know it or not, what you say does have a(n) __________. You can influence but you cannot force.

6 . Vicky Umodu from Colton in California was in the process of moving into her new home. She was in urgent _______ of furniture but couldn’t afford to buy anything _______ or used. So she decided to search online for other options. She was _______ to find a lovely furniture set that was being given away. It looked hardly used. Vicky then contacted the owner of the furniture _______ and was more than blessed to have it.

Once she got it home, she started to _______ the furniture. But she noticed something a little _______ about one of the chairs. The cushion (坐垫) felt uneven. As she inspected the cushion, she _______ what she was feeling was perhaps a hot water bottle under the cushion cover.

But to her _______, she found dozens of envelopes full of money! Instead of keeping it, she right away _______ the money to the owner of the furniture. Much to her surprise, she later learned the furniture ________ the owner’s grandma who passed away last month and the owner had no ________ that his grandma saved money by ________ envelopes of money in furniture.

Vicky’s ________ turned into a double blessing. Not only did she find favorite furniture, but the owner of the furniture also gave her a(n) ________! He gave her extra cash to buy a new fridge. What a valuable ________ she is teaching her children and the world!

7 . Last December I was invited to an interview for Structural Repair Engineer at Airbus. I wanted to make the best of this ________.

It was time to take my first round of interviews. They ________ to asking questions. Surprisingly, no questions were from any of those concepts I’d prepared. They asked me ________ questions based on my experience. The interview was so ________. In addition to this, one of the interviewers was staying in the building right next to the one in which I was living and he ________ me. Everything went so well that I felt the job would be mine.

As expected, they called me and asked for my ________ expectations and I said $50,000 a year. They also asked me to ________ my past three months’ payslips (工资单) before attending the next interview. I ________ and after ten days I received those documents. That was when the call for my second round of interviews ________.

This round also went well and I was expecting a (n) ________ reply. They said within three days they’d let me know the result. Ten days passed; I felt sad and ________. I was thinking if I didn’t get this job, I wouldn’t have any more strength to ________ again when my cell phone rang suddenly. A(n) ________ awaited miracle (奇迹) happened; the call was from Airbus HR. The manager said, “________! You’ve got the job. We’ve decided to give you $80,000 …” Hurray! All the wait was ________!

8 . When I left my job as a psychologist and went on a round-the-world trip, I was hoping to become a different version of myself. But I was soon ______. Away from the familiar life, I felt lonely and miserable despite visiting ______ beautiful places. And somehow, in the quick ______ for the trip, I’d forgotten that the thing you don’t choose to bring, but can’t ______ , is yourself.

However, as the weeks went on, something started to ______. It was during a stay on an island in Thailand, when a woman I’d encountered previously approached me and asked if I was ______ to join them for dinner that evening. I ______. At the meal she told us six women that it was her birthday and, as she was travelling alone, she’d decided to celebrate by ______ a group of women she’d enjoyed meeting during the week. While listening to their stories, I felt genuinely ______ by the honesty of these ______ , and was surprised, too, by the ______ with which I felt able to share things about myself.

At the end of the evening, we ______. Till now, none of us have seen each other again. I don’t remember their names, but I do remember the magic of that ______. For all of us, the anonymity (匿名) was liberating; we had no ______ past or future and, as a consequence, we could talk freely without any ______.

9 . Gameil William-Allen is a teacher in Glenmuir High. She often tries to ______ her students by telling her own story to them in the classroom.

Being aware of the ______ that some students might be feeling ______ after not scoring the good results they hoped for, Williams-Allen decided to share her story of four-time ______, so they can make another attempt.

“I attended Vere Technical High at the time and when I just ______ the subjects that I liked, I remember my teacher telling me, ‘Girl, you are going to be ______ not doing maths and English in school,’” she recalled.

Reality ______ Williams-Allen When she applied to a college and was told she needed a pass in maths and English to be ______.

So, for four years, she attended evening classes, sitting and resitting the two exams but she failed in the four ______.“On the fifth go, I made up my mind ______ I realized that if I didn’t pass maths and English, I would not be able to ______ my dream,” she shared. “So I put in even more ______ , and study harder.”______, she passed the exams and went to college.

She always encourages her students by telling her own story. “I just want every student to be ______ and know that as teachers, we do make mistakes and we do fail. So no matter how low you are, you can ______ just like me.”

10 . The first time I saw the real Santa, he drove a big, charcoal-colored truck, not a cherry red sleigh, in the August heat. He wasn’t what I _______ at all.

My husband had lost his job early in July, and we’d been _______ expenses everywhere we could. He’d been looking for a job but _______.

One afternoon, we were feeling particularly _______ so we decided to treat ourselves to a meal from McDonald’s. Just a quick drive-through run, no big deal. When we got to the window to pay, the employee said our meal had been taken care of by the car _______ us. We attempted to keep the pay-it-forward chain going by offering to pay for the _______ for the car behind us. “No, that man just paid for everyone in line,” said the employee. She _______ toward the truck that was slowly pulling away to _______ the parking lot. We had no choice but to get _______ with the fact that a stranger had just done something kind for us, and there was no way to repay it, pay it forward, etc.

I looked toward the truck and thought I could see the man’s grin in the driver’s side ________. He ________ his hand out the window and gave a cheerful wave, and it ________ reminded me of the illustration of a Christmas poem where Santa was flying away into the night, gloved hand up in a goodbye wave.

It seemed like a little ________ that we’d be alright. My husband found a wonderful job shortly after that. We’ve gone on to do random acts of ________ for others, remembering the effect this free meal had on us that ________ day when Santa drove a truck and left with a big grin and a little wave.