Somewhere, there is a man as grateful as I am. My wife, Kay, is generous and compassionate, not just at Christmas; it is who she is.

For forty years, Kay has chosen two “angels” from the Salvation Army Christmas tree. The tree sits at the Tybee YMCA and is decorated with garland, ornaments, and slips with the names of kids wishing for Christmas.

She always chooses a boy and a girl. This year, the girl chosen was seventeen and wanted makeup and girl stuff, and the eight-year-old boy wrote, “Well, I will love any gifts, but I really, truly want a blue bicycle.”

Last week, before she drove to Smyrna to spend time with her 95-year-old Mother, who is in rehab and working to get home, we loaded the gifts into her aging Toyota Van. She always asks me if I want to go Christmas shopping, and I typically decline. This year, I wish I had gone.

The Walmart Krome 2, Dynacraft Three-Speed, is a bomb of a sharp, sparkling, metallic blue bike with chrome accents. A blue beyond the bluest, a set of wheels with handbrakes, a comfortable-looking seat, and a front and rear reflector- oh, did I mention it is blue?

This bike is the one I would have wanted at that age; I would have biked to school sportily and jauntily. The bike is built for several years of use for kids ages 8 to 14. I can only imagine how well cared for it will be. Indeed, it will be THE bike of the cul-de-sac, but it also looks like THE one jumping the logs and backing the trails in the wilderness of Savannah.

Forty years from now, I hope the young man who got the “blue-beyond-bluest of bicycles” will tell his kids that Santa understands our deepest desires and that he and Mrs. Claus will be happy when our wishes are granted.