Sometimes the truth is more wonderful than any story we can make up. This is an account of events that really took place.

Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year and I usually get started right after Halloween to finish on time. One year I was witness to a miracle that we remember and recount every year.

As the newly appointed assistant minister it was my job to plan the Christmas service. Being the shy retiring person that I am, I decided to have a live Christmas Tableau, a new choir and the participation of all the church members. Believe it or not the Pastor agreed with me and we held a general meeting to introduce this plan to the congregation.

At the meeting it was decided by the pastor that I would play the part of the Angel Gabriel. The women's group would be the new choir. The children would be the shepherds and the angels. The mens club would provide the wise men. There was also some newlyweds that had just had a baby and they would be Jospeh, Mary and the Infant Jesus. Everyone would make their own costume and photos would be taken to make Christmas cards for the following year.

This was enthusiastically approved and we all got to work. During a rehersal one of the angels (I knew she was put up to this by her mother) asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I said Oh I always wanted a White Christmas, maybe God will send me one some day. Remember never tell a kid what you really want for they will work miracles!

As usual dress rehersal was terrible. The choir sounded like a bunch of old ladies and everyone forgot their cues. Thank god we didn't have speaking parts. Even the narrator (pastor) got lost reading the story.

We decided to have our service at midnight on Christmas Eve. Now this was Florida and it never gets really cold there at least not until Jan or Feb. That night it was 26` and winds of 30 miles an hour. I dressed at home and put my wings on when I got to the parking lot. What a sight I was.

Here was the giant angel with golden hair and 8 ft wings carrying a large trumpet. When I walked into the dressing room the little angels came over and asked me if I were a real angel. The little girl that had asked me what I wanted for Christmas was especially excited.

She said that she had a big surprise for me but it was outside and I had to close my eyes and she would lead me there. As I complied a group of angels led me to the door and outside. There in the bitter cold was the congregation clapping and wishing me Merry Christmas and there was snow falling. I cried shamelessly.

Actually it was really the 3 wise men on the roof throwing shredded styrofoam into the air but it was real for me. With that we started the pagent not knowing that this was only the beginning of many miracles that night.

The 3 wise guys as they called themselves were really having a good time. They were buzzing about something but I couldn't hear what they said. Beside I was freezing in that sheer angel outfit The night went like perfection. Even the wise guys managed to maintain themselves in fact we all looked darn good.

Being as late as it was the angels started going to sleep. There is a picture of this big angel surrouned by sleeping little angels. One in his arms and the others around him. It made a great Christmas card.

My christmas gift to the ladies of the church was to host the after show party at my house and they were my guests. They didn't have to cook serve or clean up all they had to do was show up. I had decorated my house with over 10,000 lights inside with each room having its own tree and its own color scheme. In my haste to get eveyone a gift I had some how forgotten Mary and Joseph so I decided to give them what my dad usualyy gave me - money.

That night as we presented gifts the wise men announced that they had a special gift for Mary and Jospeh, It seems that Joseph had been laid off and they had lost their apartment. They had been living in their van for the past week. The only way we knew was that Mary had asked one of the ladies for some spare blankets that night since it was so cold.

They had collected money from the congregation and had enogh to put them up in a motel for the week and some left over to rent them an apartment. Then it hit me, of course I had an unsued front bedroom with its own bath in this big house. They could stay there until they got situated. We were not only celebrating Christmas, we were living it.

As we were singing carols and celebrating our mutual love one of the wise men came in and anounced that it was snowing for real. Not a lot but it was enough to qualify as a White Christmas.

The title of my lecture the next morning was "If You Believe". Dreams do come true, maybe not the way you expected but they do come true just the same. Have a Merry Christmas.