Tis the Season

         “There’s no place to park anywhere.  And the mall will be a zoo with all these people who are already parked,” Barry said as he turned down another aisle.

         “All I need to do is pick up those packages,” Corinne replied.  “I’ll only be in there a half hour at the most.”

         Barry muttered something and then to his surprise there was a space right in front of him.  The former occupant was pulling away.  He parked with a sigh of relief and said “Now let’s get this over with!”

         Corinne got out and Barry locked up.  “Why do the holidays bring out the worst in people?”  She wondered.  “Everyone is so stressed that nobody has time to think.”

         There was a line at the layaway counter.  Crying children, it seemed were everywhere and the din was almost unbearable. 

         They got in line.  A woman with a screaming baby in her arms and a crying toddler clinging to her pant leg asked, “Can I please go before you?  If I go to the back of the line I’ll never get the children home.”
         
         The woman behind Barry snarled. “No cuts!”  And the woman with the baby headed for the back of the line.  The woman behind said, “Can you believe the nerve of some people?  They expect the whole world to get out of their way.”

         The children were still screaming.  The young woman seemed not to know what to do.  She was getting dirty looks from all around.  Corinne handed Barry the sales slip and the money for picking up the layaway.  “I have to go help that poor girl.”

         Corinne approached the woman and asked, “Can I help you?  You seem to have your hands full.”

         “Oh, thank you!” she said.  I didn’t want to have to bring them out but their dad is working late and I have to get their Christmas stuff tonight. I’ll be glad when this whole mess is over!  I dread the holidays.”

         Corinne took the baby and began rocking him.  The little girl transferred her hold from her mother’s pant leg to Corinne’s.

         “But the holidays were fun when we were kids “

         “Well they’re no fun now!  My husband has to work late every night until the 24th and I’m trying to get everything done.”

         “What does he do?” Corinne asked.

         “Extra job.  He’s playing Santa Claus upstairs.”

         “Does he like doing that?”

         “No!  But we need the money.  All those children getting in his lap he always ends up with a nasty cold before it’s over.  But he can’t be Santa to his own kids unless he’s Santa to all those ones upstairs.”

         “He sounds like a good Dad.”

         The young woman smiled for the first time.  “He is.  He would do anything for us. I know I should just be thankful he’s home from Iraq and all right, but it’s been a tough year and a half. It’s been rough on both of us.”

         Corinne remembered how it was shopping with small children.  The twins were in college now but she had not forgotten how it was to shop with two babies and a toddler.

         At that moment a man in a red suit came over.  He took the baby from Corinne and bent to kiss the little girl.  “Good news,” he said.  “The other guy showed up and I can clock out now.”


         Barry was standing there with the packages he had just picked up.  The young woman said, “I’m Carol and this is my husband, Dominic.  Dom, this woman has been helping me with the children.  She got them both to stop crying,”

         “I’m Corinne and this is Barry.”

         Dom and Barry shook hands  “I appreciate you helping out, ma’am.  This is a stressful time of year.”

         The line was moving more quickly now and it was Carol’s turn.  Dom told her to go and sit on the bench while he got the packages.  Barry suggested, “This has been a busy day.  The little ones are comfortable now.  I know where they have the best coffee and cinnamon buns in town.  What say we relax and have some, my treat?”

         Carol looked up at Dom as she passed him the sleeping infant.  “Sounds good.  Thanks.”

         Sitting in a booth Barry said, “You know Christmas was never meant to be like this.  People stressed out and over worked and just wanting it to be over.  That’s not what it means.”

         “I know that’s what we were saying this morning,” Carol agreed.  “We want to make it fun for the children but so far that doesn’t seem to be working.”
         
         Corinne said softly, “Jesus didn’t come to give us more stress on His birthday.  He came to give us abundant life.”

         “And peace,” Carol agreed.  “Last year at this time Dom was just back from the war and I thought I could never want for anything else but just to have him home safe.”

         Dom said “I think we all need to calm down and stop trying to do so much.”

         There was music playing in the mall all the time, up to now just an addition to the din.  But it changed suddenly.  A group of children lined up and began to sing “Angels we have heard on high sweetly singing o'er the plain --”

         Corinne said, “But we make so much noise with our holiday stuff we can’t hear them.”

         Dom looked at the baby boy asleep in his arms.  He quoted softly.  “At this time in the lomg turning of the year we stop to remember that once the great God of the universe wrapped Himself in a bit of human flesh and gave Himself to the families of Earth.”

             Outside the little shop where they were sitting the children’s choir began another song.  “Silent night, holy night. -- “

         And it seemed, right then, that the busy mall stopped to listen.

         

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