What's more important, people or things?

Tonight I had a little reminder of what are really the most important possessions during the holiday season.

I got a call from my wife this evening at 7:26 p.m. I was in Alexandria, VA by 8:02 I was by her side in Waldorf MD.

Apparently on her way inside Burlington coat factory, a gentleman (I use the term loosely) approached my wife to ask if her car door had bumped his car's handle. Now you already know this isn't going to go well. Meanwhile she is trying to get our 6 year old, 3 year old and 7 month old out of the car to buy the oldest a new winter coat. She informs him that she doesn't think so but is not sure. I'll spare the rest of the details but he goes on to berate her about a scratch that may be on his door and threatens to scratch her car when she comes out of the coat factory. This man got into my wife's face and uncomfortably close to my children. Well my wife goes into the store to buy the coat and calls me.

She heads out of the store to see if he is still there, because I wanted some information just in case he felt like he needed to further carry on with someone more his match. What she finds was astounding. The man is outside with the police officer filing an accident report. My children instinctively started crying, thinking the worst. Long story short, she was able to calm them down, there was no visible dent/scratch on his BMW 4 series and it'll be up to the insurance company to resolve the claim, if any is filed, and the officer took down the pertinent info to exchange. Of course the gentleman was long gone by the time I made it to the edge of Fort Washington, on my way through Accokeek to get to Waldorf.

This little incident just left me wondering, do we put more stock in our possessions, car's, homes, stock portfolios, TV's, camera's, etc than we do in the possessions that can never be replaced?

I am thankful that I have my family by my side this Christmas to enjoy. The prospect of spending Christmas with them far more exciting than any gift that will be under the tree.

In case you're wondering, I will not be visiting Mr. Hamilton of Mechanicsville.