When I was nine years old, my drama club at the Northeast Neighborhood House in Minneapolis put on a play at the annual children's Christmas party called The Littlest Angel, based on a story written by Charles Tazewell. I recently searched for this book and found that it's message is as appropriate today as it was more than fifty years ago--that the best gift does not have to be expensive but must come from the heart. Here is a passage from the book:And what was his gift to the blessed infant? Well, there was a butterfly with golden wings, captured one bright, summer day on the hills above Jerusalem and a sky-blue egg from a bird's nest in the olive tree that stood to shade his mother's kitchen door. Yes, and two white stones, found on a muddy river bank, where he and his friends had played like small, brown beavers, and, at the bottom of the box, a limp, tooth-marked leather strap, once worn as a collar by his mongrel dog, who had died as he had lived, in absolute love and infinite devotion.
Yes, it was the perfect gift.
In remembrance of this story, I wish all of you a
Happy Holiday and a Peaceful New Year!
