The Holidays

"One Christmas eve a miniature family gathered in a little room, each person finding a place to sit, on the floor, in a chair, or on someone’s lap. As the small family gets settled in an older man makes his way to the center of the room and finds an appealing place to slowly lower his body to the ground.







All the people in the room quiet down as the man in the center gathers his possessions off the floor, a small old leather bound book and a delicate figurine of a donkey carrying a pregnant women draped in cloth.





The man opens the flimsy book and begins an enchanting story of donkeys, boys, poor men, pregnant women, and the holy births of the son of God surrounded by shepherds and praised by kings. The man read with perfect pace and delighted the children with accents and intense feeling.

The man finishes the story and closes the book, the children sit dazed in thought, possibly about the wonderful story, or maybe just about the presents that jolly Chris Kringle will bring to their tree later just that very same night.





The man stands and brushes off his green corduroy pants. He silently walks out the door knowing that in one year he would be reading the exact same story and loving it just as much as he just had."
Polly's 2004 Biography of Bapa