The family had hoisted the tree into place and begun digging through a box of ornaments and decorations from the attic when someone mentioned there was a piece missing from the nativity set.

Gideon is a little fellow in my church who is afflicted with Downs Syndrome. The first time I met him I reached out to shake his hand and he looked a little frightened or confused. He hid his face in his mother’s lap. Eventually he got used to me and within a few weeks he would put out his hand the moment he saw me coming.

Ken and Paul sat in their dorm room and counted their change. They had returned bottles and scoured their pockets for the money. The semester was nearly over and Ken would make his way home to Ohio and Paul would spend Christmas in Houston.

Debbie could not wait for the bus to arrive in Casper. The snow was falling and she could imagine the parsonage decorated for Christmas. She could imagine the taste of her mother’s traditional pumpkin roll and the smell of her father’s coffee. She remembered the sound of her brother’s baritone laughter. She closed her eyes and she could see a huge spruce in the bay window wound in lights.