The following are two excerpts from Christmas Is Calling
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Angels We
Have Heard On High
It was
unseasonably warm a week ago and winter’s chill had come in a fury. Now the
snow came down in not small clumps, but like someone throwing snowballs. I was
cold hungry and I needed shelter for the night.
“I’m
sorry; if only you’d come sooner, the shelter is full.” the person at the shelter
called the Inn of the shepherd said as I looked in to see a Christmas tree
burning brightly.
I had
myself a bitter laugh. Here it was Christmas Eve and there was no room at the
Inn. I looked around, no stable to be found, but a cardboard box from some
large appliance someone was getting for Christmas lay before me.
How I
remembered those Christmases of excesses, when money was plenty. When my life
was different, and I had the love of my life by my side, but all of that was
gone in the blink of an eye. I lost my job and then chased away my love, with
anger and bitter words. Mary had then withered and died. Then I had lost my home
and dignity, as I now walked the streets, living day to day on handouts.
I lay
down to sleep on the cold ground, wrapped inside my box. The wind was bitter
and bitingly cold. I pulled my ragged coat tighter round me. And still the cold
battered me. I was almost asleep when I heard the heavenly music, the choir
singing ‘Angels We Have Heard On High’. Before I had even thought about
it my lips were singing the song too and I started wishing for an angel to take
me out of the cold on this chilly night.
Suddenly
before me appeared a woman, at least at first I thought she was a woman. I
somehow knew without a doubt this was an angel. Her hair was dark, her wings
hidden close to her back, small and almost invisible; until that is she bent
forward and then the wings unfurled to their full size. They were majestic
wings that from wing to tip each were six feet long and dark black in colour
like a crow’s wings. I questioned why had I been sent a dark angel? Was I so
unredeemable?
“Contrary
to popular belief, angels come in all shapes and sizes, with all kinds of
wings,” she admonished, as if she read my mind. Then she continued, “Lionel, I
thought you were different and showed no prejudice.”
“Sorry,”
I apologized, ashamed and suddenly frightened.
“Lionel,
my dear man, and yes you are a good man; fear not for I have watched over you
all your life. You need not dread me.”
“You’ve
watched over me? Then where were you when I needed you?”
“I
have been beside you. I have seen your best and your worst, and so has the almighty.
You’ve learned much in the last week, and the almighty has seen your kindness,
when you had so little yourself. He saw you give your last dollar to that
teenager who was hungry.”
“Is
that why the almighty finally answered my prayer?”
“Lionel,
my dear man. Who stood with you when you needed shelter? Who found a meal for
your empty belly? Who lifted your feet and made them light, when you felt you
could walk no more?”
“The
almighty was with me?”
“Yes, he made the unseasonable mild weather. He made the lady see that you needed
money for food. Remember how surprised you were that she gave you a twenty?
“Yes.”
“Come
Lionel. Come with me to your reward. There will be no more pain, no more trial,
no more sorrow, only his light,” she said taking me by the hand and pulling me
into glorious light.
Light, all-encompassing peace and joy, everlasting enveloped me and there just in
front of me, my dear wish, my wife.
“Hello
Lionel. I’ve been waiting for you,” Mary said as she hugged me.
“Poor
beggar, he died during the night.” I heard from far away.
But
that life had no meaning for me anymore, I became light and felt nothing but
peace and joy. So I had one request from the almighty. Let me share this love
and joy at Christmas to all those deserving ones. And so God rewarded me. With
Mary by my side, we are Christmas angels. We help the most deserving and see
they get the Christmases they need. So if you feel that joy and that tug at
your wallet this season, open it and share what you can. Make someone’s Christmas
as special as mine.
©Sheilagh Lee December 6, 2012
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Home
Invasion
He crept
swiftly passed the sleeping girl, checking to make sure she didn’t hear his
footsteps on the threadbare carpet. She stirred slightly and he paused for
moment, taking a huge breath hoping she wouldn’t hear him. He slipped passed
the boys room, as the cat almost tripped him. He worried that his large frame
would make more noise and awakened the family before this job was done. He
continued down the hall past the parent’s bedroom.
Softly his feet
patted on the carpet and then a little harder on the wooden stairs as he
tiptoed down them.
He entered the
family room and spotted some baked goods left on a plate. Tempted he took one
off the plate and thought about eating it. He then looked down at his round
belly and almost stopped but then he thought dieting for woosies. Besides he
could diet in the New Year after this job. The baked good dry and appetizing
almost made him not eat it. But he was hungry, or at least he thought he was,
even as he felt it go to his stomach like a lead weight, he continued eating.
When he finished the baked good, he walked around the living room. Where he
looked was bare, hardly anything filled the room. A well-worn chair well-loved
covered in duct tape to hold it together stood in the corner. A sofa long and
looking saggy was there covered in a crochet blanket to hide its flaws.
In the corner of
the dark room stood a Christmas tree; if you could call it a tree, calling it a
tree would be kind. The tree looked like something out of Charlie Brown’s
Christmas. He stared at it for a few moments, watching the twinkling lights. A
single strand blinked at him. He then decided to get the job done before this
family woke. He took out his bag looking for his tools. He found them and
quickly completed the job. Placing the tools back in his bag, he packed up and
snuck out of the house.
The girl woke
first and as she went into the living room, she squealed waking the boy who
came running in response. The parents came next, worried about the screaming
from their child.
The parents
stood their shocked and puzzled staring into the living room. The whole family
gazed and looked in shock at their living room. Where once a duct taped chair
stood;. its depilated state an eyesore in the room, a leather chair was now
positioned.
And not just any
chair, a La-Z-Boy chair that could recline. The sofa was leather too and
matched perfectly. A rug, a beautiful tapestry of figures on horseback, and
with golden threads, appeared under the furniture. And in the corner where
their Charlie Brown Christmas tree had stood, a beautiful Douglas fir stood in its
place. It fairly glowed with the five hundred lights strung around it. The
ornaments they’d placed so lovingly on their tree were there, with many more
new ones filling the branches. And underneath the tree a bounty of riches, many
pretty packages layered beneath the tree.
“I don’t
understand this,” retorted the father, shaking his head.
“Me either,” the
mother claimed, covering her mouth in wonderment.
“It was Santa
Claus,” insisted the children.
“It must have
been,” mother agreed. “Thank you, whoever did this. Because of you, my children
will have Christmas. God bless you ten-fold.”
“Yes, thank-you
Santa and God bless you,” the girl child reiterated, opening a present and
squealing to find a Justin Bieber doll.
The man who had
crept into the house sat in his home, his feet in front of the fire warming
them.
“Did they hear
you?” asked his wife.
“No,” he
replied.
“Did your
brother, Paul help you with the furniture?” she enquired.
“Yes, we got it
all in and I used my tools to make sure it was all put together right.”
“And the tree
did it fit?” she wanted to know.
“Yes, and it was
beautiful,” he commented “The presents are all under the tree?”
“Yes, dear,
including the Justin Bieber doll, Ellen wanted,” he stated happily.
“They don’t know
who did all this. Do they?”
“No, they’ll
never know their neighbours got together and did this,” he answered.
“Good. I hope
they believe Santa Claus did all this.”
“Of course after
all it was Santa Claus,” he replied, with a wink and touched his nose.
“Santa needs to
go on a diet,” his wife commented.
“Yes, a little
treadmill and then his belly won’t be so jolly,” he laughed. “I need a couple
of hours sleep then we can have our Christmas.”
“Merry
Christmas, come to bed Santa.”
“Merry
Christmas, to you too honey, and to all a goodnight.”
~0~
©Sheilagh Lee December 6, 2012
Wonder
The wonder of Santa Claus
Seen through children’s eyes
Brings back treasured memories
Of Christmases long ago
The anticipation of Christmas morning
The family gathering too
Seen through rose-coloured glasses
The bittersweet remembrance
Siblings gone too soon
Of parents gone too
Forgotten for a moment
Lost in the anticipation
Of the celebration
So long ago.
©Sheilagh Lee December 5, 2017
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuakah,Happy Holiday whatever you celebrate I hope you have fun.
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