Victoria’s children were too busy to call her most of the time, except at Christmas. But this year, her son discovered she worked as a cleaner at a store and stopped speaking with her. Victoria assumed she would have to spend the holidays alone until she had a surprise knock on her door.
Victoria was holding a broom tightly in her hands, but she had stopped cleaning abruptly because of the man who walked into the furniture store where she worked. Victoria smiled and started walking towards him, but he turned around and ran out of the store.
She was surprised by his reaction.
Matthew had always been a mama’s boy. But things always change as children get older, Victoria thought. She resolved to talk to him later and continued her job.
So, at 65 years old, she started working as a cleaner at a furniture store at the mall. The work was not that hard, and she was still young enough to do it.
“I’m sorry, mother. I’m busy right now. Can I call you later?” Matthew said that night when Victoria called to explain. She worried and bit her bottom lip with her teeth.
“But, honey. About today—” she replied.
“Bye, mother,” her son said more forcefully.
She couldn’t figure out what was going on. Therefore, Victoria decided to call her daughter and see if she knew why her son was acting so weird.
“Mom, I’m busy. I’ll call you later,” Marina said as soon as she picked up Victoria’s call.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll see them at Christmas and explain everything,” she said to herself and continued with her night.
Unfortunately, none of them had called her to settle things for the holiday.
Two days before Christmas, she sat down with her neighbor, Lorena Atkinson, and unloaded all her worries. “I’m sure they’ll call soon enough, Vickie,” her friend said after hearing the entire story.
“I don’t know. They’ve never acted this way. They are not answering my calls anymore. I don’t understand why. I’m not doing anything wrong. What if they don’t invite me for Christmas? What will I do?” Victoria asked.
“Don’t worry. If they don’t invite you, you’ll come to my house. But I honestly don’t get it either. There’s nothing wrong with your job,” Lorena added.
Sadly, Christmas morning came, and there was still no call from Marina or Matthew.
Victoria cried that entire morning. She looked at the presents under her tree and grew sad as she went to cook her breakfast.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. It’s probably Lorena. I guess I’ll have to accept her invitation to Christmas dinner, Victoria thought gloomily, walking towards her door.
“Surprise!” her kids and grandkids yelled at the door. Victoria clutched her chest, startled, but smiled immediately. “What? What are you doing here?”
“We’re here to see you, Grandma! This year, we’re spending the whole Christmas day here!”
“Everyone, calm down. Let’s get settled first, and Grandma will give you your gifts,” Marina called to all the children and then focused on her mother.
“Mom, hey. Sorry, we didn’t call earlier. But this was sort of unplanned.”
“Oh, don’t worry. Come in. Come in!” Victoria replied.
“I’m so sorry, Mom. I… I don’t know what came over me when I saw you at that store,” he said, not letting go of his mother.
Victoria was all too happy to keep holding her son. “Were you ashamed of me?” “At first, I thought it was that. I couldn’t believe my mother was a cleaning lady. But then, after I received that call from your neighbor, I realized that I was more embarrassed with myself,” Matthew answered.
“What? My neighbor?” Victoria asked.
“Yes, Mrs. Atkinson. She said she lives in this building. We met when you moved, and I gave her my contact information in case of emergencies,” Matthew replied.
“Anyway, she called and chewed me out for not inviting you to Christmas and for not answering your calls. Then she said I should be ashamed of myself for having a successful business and making you work hard just to live.
“I was ashamed that I never paid you back for the money from your house. I mean, you gave it to us so easily and never asked for anything. And while we now have money, an expensive car, and remodeled our house, you were struggling to pay your bills. I felt like a failure, and I couldn’t deal with it. I thought I was angry at you, but it was quite the opposite,” Matthew explained.
Victoria smiled and made a note to thank Lorena for doing that.
“Let’s forget about it for now, ok?” she appeased her children and turned to look at her grandkids.
“It’s time for everyone to open presents!”
They spent the best Christmas as a family. It was one Victoria would never forget. Marina and Matthew eventually paid their mother back, and they started depositing more money in her account just in case.
