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A Christmas story to remind me why I love the holiday:
Ten Christmases ago, my mom became obsessed with the idea of having a living nativity scene on our front lawn. My house is directly across the street from my church. In fact, it was the parsonage until the church sold it to my parents. That makes the lawn a perfect place to set up something like a living manger, at least in my mom�s eyes. She borrowed the box of Christmas pageant costumes from the church and decided we�d go out at 4:30 in full dress and sing carols to greet the people arriving for the 5:00 family service at the church.
This was the first Christmas after my dad left, and Mom was feeling particularly vulnerable, so we all just went with the whole living nativity idea, despite the fact that it had been snowing off and on all day and the temperature was registering in the low teens. If it would make Mom happy, we�d do it. Her best friend Judy, Judy�s husband and three sons, one of our neighbors and her two daughters, my mom, my best friend, the high school boyfriend and I all chose costumes, grabbed the songbooks and assembled on the porch. Mom had lined the walkway and the stairs with candles, so everything had a pretty glow.
We launched into our first song. Some of us can carry a tune better than others, but somehow in the candlelight and cold, with the people across the street stopping to listen on their way in to the church, everything sounded beautiful. Cars going by slowed or stopped. Another friend of mine joined us for a few songs before she went into the service. My mom beamed. Her nativity had turned out just as she�d imagined it would.
A car stopped in front of the house and two women none of us had ever met got out. They stood at the end of the walk and listened through a carol or two, then one of them approached my mom. Breathless, she started spilling her story.
"I�m sorry if we�re intruding. We were driving by and saw you out here and had to stop. This has been the worst Christmas ever for me. My mom is sick, and my husband and I are fighting, and I can�t get into the spirit, and I haven�t finished my shopping, and I was about ready to give up on the whole holiday when I saw you standing out here. Would it be okay if we joined you for a couple songs?" She was practically in tears when she finished speaking.
I stuck my head back in the house and grabbed two halos out of the pageant box. We made the women into angels and handed them songbooks. They stayed and sang until we had gone through every carol at least once. When we finished, they hugged us all, wished us a merry Christmas, got back into their car and drove away.
My mom was crying when we got back inside. "I thought this was for me, " she said to me. "I didn�t know we were doing it for someone else."
*****
I�ve been so wracked with guilt and stomach cramps that I have yet to really mention what a wonderful holiday I had. How lucky for me to have spent it surrounded by family and friends, the people I love most. I want for pretty much nothing in my life. Good for me to remember that once in a while.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.
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