My husband and I were living approximately six hours away from a town that we had grown up in, got married in, had our family, and where his folks still live. For one reason or another we were driving an old and very well used bucket of bolts that ran on hope and good wishes more than for any sound mechanical reasons.

It was a very sad time for us as we had just lost a cherished family member, my father in law, on December 22 and had buried him on Boxing Day.

For several months, while Dad was ill in hospital, my husband and I made the six hour drive every weekend to spend time with him and prayed that our old car would hold up.

However, when we received a phone call on Dec. 22, 1994, that Dad was passing, our car broke down on the way to his bed side. We had just filled up with gas in a little town and as we tried to start the car again, it just refused to go. We couldn't find any service stations open who had staff on to fix whatever was wrong so we just sat there. Periodically, just so we'd feel we were doing something constructive, my husband tried the starter but did not really expect it to turn over . After about two hours of this, as my husband tried the starter one more time before we headed for a motel, it decided to start. We never paused long enough to wonder why, we just pointed it in the right direction and pushed the pedal to the floor.

When we arrived at the hospital where my father in law lay, it was after visiting hours but security let us enter because we had been previously cleared as emergency visitors. We literally ran down the hallways and flew up the stairs to the appropriate floor and headed towards my father in laws private room.

Because it was so late, I decided to check in at the nurses station first to let them know we were there. They informed us not to proceed any further as my father in law had passed away about two hours previously. We had missed him by the same amount of time as our car had remained inoperable in that little town in the middle of nowhere.

We spent the Christmas season, seventeen people packed into a small bungalow, consoling each other, making funeral arrangements and attending the funeral and trying to straighten out my mother in laws legal affairs for her.

On the day before New Years we had to head back home. Our feeling of great loss remained more complex than usual since we were robbed of showing Dad the ultimate support by being with him when he passed away. I can't remember feeling so profoundly sad as we were that day, leaving my mother in law, while she was still feeling disorientated and so very alone.

It was turning dusk as we approached the little town where our car had previously broke down. Ten miles out of the place the fool car did it again...it just faded away and stopped. It was 40 below that day as we sat in a stupor, on a lonely highway, just outside of nowhere, Alberta. It was too cold to walk to town and we didn't have a CB or portable telephone with us. While car after car whizzed by us there was nothing we could do but sit there, while the car got colder and colder. We had forgotten to pack survival gear in our hurry to get to my father in laws side. As it is, we just about forgot all the Christmas gifts and had to go back to get them. As we sat there shivering, we heard a car horn just outside the car.

A young couple driving a car about as aged as ours stopped to help us. As the two men looked under the hood, the young woman invited my son and I into their car to warm up. We exchanged names, and pondered what was wrong with our car. My husband stayed with the car, while my son and I rode with the young couple into town to fetch a tow truck to haul the car into a service station for repair if there was still one open.

I knew the owners of one of the service stations in town as they were related to my brother's wife. When we learned that their station was still open, from the tow truck driver, we had the car towed to their station.

We said our thank you's and good byes to the young couple as the tow truck driver hooked up our vehicle and rode back to town in the tow truck.

At the service station we were told by the owners that they didn't have a mechanic on that day. Even though the owner was a mechanic himself they had a New Years Party to go to, and couldn't help us. As we stood outside trying to figure out plan B with the tow truck driver, the young couple drove past the service station, and stopped when they noticed us standing outside. When they heard about our dilemma the young man went into the service station and made a few phone calls. When he came out he had a big grin on his face as he told us that Canadian Tire's service department was just shutting down but agreed to remain open to fix our car. He invited us all into his car and drove us over to Canadian Tire, following behind the tow truck hauling our car. After a short conversation with the manager of the place the young man got our car settled into a bay and prepared to leave. Once again we said good bye to the young couple, and thanked them with all our hearts for their help. They wouldn't take any payment for their service saying they were just happy to help, they wouldn't even let us buy them supper.

I decided to thank them for *everything* they had done for us. I had already thanked them many times for the obvious help they had so kindly given to us, but I had left one important detail out because it was so personal. I briefly related to them what we had been through and expressed profound gratitude to them both for coming to our rescue, both physically and emotionally. They had not only saved us from freezing to death, arranged for our car to be fixed, but had restored our spirit as well. They gave us that beautiful Christmas spirit back that we had lost when Dad passed away.

They stopped in at the station an hour later to see that everything was running smoothly. We learned that the young man who helped us was the general manager of the Canadian Tire Store when we went to give the mechanics a tip for staying overtime on New Years Eve to help us. The mechanics told us that the young man had instructed them not to take a tip and that the company would reward them handsomely for their extra time.

Since then, we look at Christmas with renewed enthusiasm and joy. It is a special time when a child was born to give us all a place to go where there is no pain, and a time when our faith in mankind is restored by a random act of kindness from two very special people.