Christmas Mystery

“Merry Christmas, Moosie! Merry Christmas, Emily. Merry Christmas, everyone!” I called.

I jumped out of bed on Christmas morning and ran to Andrew’s room.

“Merry Christmas, Andrew,” I said. “Let’s go find Kristy.”

Kristy was awake and playing with Emily in Emily’s room. David Michael came into the room. Then Sam and Charlie joined us.

“Let’s all go downstairs,” I said.

“We can’t. The grown-ups want us to wait,” said Kristy. “They want to light a fire and make coffee and stuff.”

“Nannie will announce when we can come down,” said Charlie.

“I smell the coffee,” I said. “So we may not have to wait too long.”

We did not have to wait even one more minute.

“All right, kids. You can come down now,” called Nannie.

We raced down the stairs together.

“Merry Christmas!” said Daddy, Elizabeth, and Nannie together.

They had lit a fire so the room was glowing. Santa’s midnight snack was gone. Just a little milk was left in his glass and a few cookie crumbs on his plate. Our stockings were stuffed.

I was about to make a run for my stocking when I noticed that something was different about our tree. It was the angel on top. It was not the one we had put there the night before. It was not the one Andrew and I had tried to buy, either. But she was just as pretty as that one.

“Ooh,” I said. “Where did that angel come from?”

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared up at the tree. They looked just as surprised as I did. Even Sam. He had said there are no such things as angels. But he did not look so sure anymore.

“Where did it come from?” asked Kristy.

No one seemed to know. Maybe there really are angels. Maybe a real angel brought this one for our tree.

I looked at the angel and smiled. You know what? I think she smiled back.