A few weeks ago, I was working overtime in patrol when I was dispatched to a disturbance call at a run down motel. The tenant in one of the rooms was drunk and causing problems. When we arrived, Tom was sleeping, so our problem was solved. Why wake him up? He was having sleepy time.

A few hours later, Sleeping Beauty was up again. He was still drunk and wanted to fight with the motel owner. This generated another call for service and I was back for part two.

When I arrived, he was buying more beer at the liquor store next door. I went over there and waited for him to come outside. He was eventually arrested and the motel owner said he was going to kick Tom out.

After Tom was handcuffed he was told about getting kicked out. That’s when a friend walked by and said he’d help. The friend agreed to clear the room out and hold onto the stuff until he got out of jail.

After he was taken to jail I went back to the motel room to drop off the beer  he just bought.

When I drove up, I saw the friend already hard at work getting Tom’s stuff packed up. That’s when a bare Christmas tree got moved to the front door. It reminded me of a Charlie Brown Christmas tree when I saw it.

This guy was an alcoholic and according to him, living in a bedbug infested motel room. I didn’t know anything about him, but seeing that little Christmas tree made me feel bad for him because he was probably going to be alone during the holidays.

Tom might’ve wanted to fight the motel owner, but he still had a little Christmas spirit left in him.