I don’t know if this classifies as a Christmas Eve miracle, but to me, it makes for a good story.

I usually have Christmas Eve dinner with friends and their extended family, so in essence, they’re like family to me. So I get to Uncle Johnny and Aunt Linda Sue’s, as the last to arrive. So I thought.

As I got there, my buddy’s parents told me their son wasn’t there yet. His wife pulls me into the garage to tell me he’s still at their house. They had ordered a trampoline for their two little girls and were going to have it brought in and set up so when the girls woke up Christmas morning, it would be in the backyard for them to see. The girls had been at their grandparents’ house all day and went straight to church and then to dinner, so they had no idea there was a trampoline coming.

So I called my buddy and asked if he needed an extra pair of hands. I was there about five minutes later and was greeted by him, the one guy the company had sent for a two-man job and cardboard boxes, pipes and springs.

It turns out my buddy’s wife had made a reservation six weeks in advance to have Christmas Eve day delivery and set-up between 10 and 2. When no one showed up by 1, she called and was told they didn’t have a slot for her. They could maybe squeeze them in for an extra 300 bucks.

The one guy — we’ll call him Randy — was a trainee. He’d been on the job for all of two weeks. He had seen a trampoline put together. Hadn’t done it by himself yet.

Turns out he and another guy were on their way out of Augusta to do this but their van had transmission problems and they had to turn back about 20 miles out of Augusta. As they loaded up a truck, the other guy takes his backpack and promptly walks off.

So he heads out by himself and the route he takes takes more than three and a half hours to get to Hinesville. He’s got a 9-year-old and an infant and he’s away from them on Christmas Eve. His boss has told him to drop off the stuff and he’ll send another crew to put it up on Wednesday.

But Randy knows these folks put in for Christmas Eve delivery and set-up and even shelled out another 300 bucks once the snafu hit. So we get to work, and Randy, reading the directions in a mostly darkened backyard, proceeds to start putting it together.

Two hours later, it was up and getting put to the test. My buddy’s parents brought over three plates of food, one each for him, me and Randy. We turned off the lights to see if the girls could see the trampoline sitting in the backyard once they got home.

The next morning, the girls awoke to their new trampoline, minus the safety netting, which was supposed to be put up later, thanks to a guy who had been on the job for two weeks.