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| “Yes, they are all the same,” said the angel. “Not a very exciting Christmas for the children,” I observed. She just smiled. As we floated around, I could see other people taking presents to the tree. “So many presents are going under the tree, you won’t be able to see the tree by Christmas day,” I said. Again, she just smiled. “Follow me. I want to show you something.” I don’t know how far we had gone before we stopped and she pointed with her arm. “Look.” As I looked at what she was pointing to, my eyes bulged out and I lost my breath. There were rows and rows of Christmas trees with lights and presents under each one, just like the first tree that I had seen. Every tree was in a row; not one tree was out of line. |
| I asked the angel how many trees were there. “There are twelve rows . . . one row for each month of the year. There are approximately 43,200 trees per row.” I stared at her in awe. “Why so many?” “Because there are sixty minutes in an hour, and there are twenty-four hours in a day, and thirty days in a month. Sir, don’t you understand? We have Christmas here every day.” We left there and went back to the big tree. A long line of people stood there, waiting for their presents. There was a little girl kneeling under the tree holding a present in her little hands. She looked up and smiled as she continued to open her present. She took out her wings, a harp, and a halo. She played her harp for a few minutes, then put on her halo, then her wings. |
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| Floating for a ways, she led me before something that I could not believe I was seeing. There stood the tallest Christmas tree I had ever seen! Lights were in all the colors in the rainbow, hanging like tiny stars, on every limb of the tree. Under the tree were so many presents, I couldn’t begin to count them. There must have been a million or more! Standing back from the tree, I looked up to see the biggest and brightest star I had ever seen. I’m sure it was the North Star. Noticing the people around me, they were all cheerful and singing carols such as Silent Night, Noel, Little Town of Bethlehem, and Away in a Manger. "How did they manage to hand out all those presents on Christmas day?" I asked the angel, who was giving me the tour. "Santa must be a busy man." Then I looked down at the presents and saw that there were no names on them. "How do you know which presents belong to whom?" She told me they were all the same thing. "They’re all the same presents?" I asked, surprised. |
| As she put her wings in place, she turned to me and said, "Mister, do these wings fit okay?" "Darling, you look just like an angel!" I said. With tears in my eyes, I turned and walked away. I tried to convince myself that this was just a dream. Suddenly I heard a big banging sound, over and over. Opening my eyes, I was still sitting in my recliner, with my coffee cup in my hand. Having touched the cup, it was still very hot. Again, I heard a banging sound and realized it was someone at the front door. I got my feet on the floor, set my cup down on the table, stood up and stretched this way and that, then walked over to the front door. |