From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's booksIn the spirit of the season, I’ll share a story of generosity. The true story of my mother, who’s an incredibly giving and generous person. Especially with other people’s stuff.

You see, my mom has been working with various charities through the years. She’s always found painting, sewing and preparing things for sale in countless bazaars, when she’s not teaching orphans. Sadly, she tends to get carried away.

Growing up, I never knew whether I’d find my clothes in my closet, or if she would have given them away to a passerby, or to be sold off at a bazaar. Nor was I alone in my predicament; my father suffered the same fate. To illustrate my point, consider the case of the disappearing pair of jeans.

My dad had this pair of jeans that he loved. He’s a rotund fellow (albeit less so, nowadays) and that one pair of trousers fit him perfectly. He loved them. But one day he opened his closet and they had disappeared. Since my mom also kept misplacing our stuff in the process of tidying up, he was hardly surprised. After some futile searching, he resigned to his fate and was marched off to the church bazaar to buy a replacement, am my mom’s behest. She argued there were poor people who would benefit far more from his money that a shop owner, and who can argue with that? (Yes, I realize that a shop owner might, but anyway).

So, he raked the bazaar shelves and lo and behold – he found a pair of jeans that fit him just as perfectly as the lost ones! He tried them on, and was ecstatic. Then he reached into the pocket and fished out a couple of hand-written notes. In his own handwriting.

You can guess the rest.

The funniest thing about all this is not that my mom still made him pay to buy his own trousers back. No, the funniest thing is that the next month she pulled off the same trick, and he had to buy them back for a second time…

Happy holidays, everyone – and be generous. If you can do it with someone else’s goods, even better. Turns out this, too, is in the spirit of Christmas! 🙂

Feeling generous? Give your friends the ultimate Christmas gift by taking advantage of my best offer so far: the three-book bundle of Pearseus! They can read all the books in my best-selling epic fantasy series for only 99c.

They can also read my children’s book, Runaway Smile, online for free, so send them a link!