Snow is falling. White flakes are falling softly to the ground. There's a huge chaos everywhere. Everyone's rushing, buying the last of their presents, some groceries, someone's selling their last, damaged Christmas trees, eager to get home as quickly as possible. Carolers are singing with feigned joy outside the church. A man dressed in a comical red suit is pretending to be Santa Claus, loudly calling "hoho, hoho, hoho." Christmas Eve. Every year, the same. She stood to the side, observing this paranoia, laughing quietly. She couldn't quite get into the mood; everything seemed so grotesque. She slowly made her way along the shops, looking with pity at all these people, gripped by some sort of frenzy, running aimlessly against time. Santa Claus extended his hand and offered her a chocolate candy.
"Merry Christmas!" he exclaimed, but she waved him off with an ironic smile and moved on.
"Maybe I'm stupid," she thought, "but I can't help but feel it's all so pathetic." Every window she passed was filled with silly gnomes and Santa Clauses touting store merchandise. A beggar sat by the church, preying on people's sympathy.
She observed it all with astuteness and ruthless judgment. She wasn't some old, bitter hag; she knew how to have fun and enjoy herself. Only, once a year, she completely failed to understand people. For her, Christmas was synonymous with kitsch and disappointment. For a dozen years, she tried to be faithful to tradition, pretending to the world that she enjoyed this chaos and artificiality as much as everyone else.
"Miss, miss, maybe you could buy those wonderful little angel figurines? They'd make wonderful gifts!" a vendor shouted after her.
Finally, she reached her small apartment. She made herself some tea and began to reminisce... Other holidays... There was always something wrong. She'd had a fight with someone, or been given a red scarf for the hundredth time, even though she hated the color, and then it got even worse... First, her wonderful fiancé dumped her a week before Christmas for a luscious blonde, and then, on Christmas Eve, her beloved cat died. From then on, she absolutely hated the holidays, but despite everything, she still held out some hope, and though she hid it from herself, she still hoped every year that this time it would work out and everything would be just as she'd dreamed. Two years later, it was Christmas time when her parents decided to tell her they were getting a divorce. From that moment on, she simply stopped believing in them. Not that there were any major tragedies every year, it wasn't just that it was always boring and not magical at all, but she'd come to terms with it. This year, she decided she'd had enough of the hypocrisy and decided to ignore them. "It's a waste of time," she thought, "I'll just stay at home, watch TV, and then take a hot bath and just go to sleep," she decided.
And it probably would have happened if it weren't for a certain phone call. At first, she hadn't even intended to answer, but it kept ringing so insistently that she finally decided to pick up the phone
. "Where are you?! What do you think you're doing?! There are already crowds here, and we're short on people!" she heard an angry, male voice in the receiver.
"But... who's this? And where am I supposed to be?" she asked, completely confused
. "Could you please stop fooling around?!! We're really struggling, and there are tons of children and poor people waiting for a hot meal. Hurry up.
" "I'm sorry, but there's a mistake. You must have dialed the wrong number, I don't deal with such things..." she replied. Silence fell on the phone.
"Hello, can you hear me?
" "Yeah... sorry. She must have left the wrong number, oh my god, it's my problem now. Sorry again, and goodbye.
" "Wait a minute," she said, wondering to herself, "what's this all about?" Because, you see, I have the evening off and no plans, and maybe I could help…
"Really?!" she heard a cheerful voice. "God must be sending you to me. More people have come than we planned, and we simply can't make it. Do you know where the center for the poor is?
" "Yes, I'll be there in a moment," she said firmly, and hung up.
Looking around uncertainly, she entered the old, gray building about twenty minutes later. Inside, she saw a multitude of ragged, dirty people eagerly leaning over bowls of soup, which were being distributed by young men wearing Santa Claus hats. Playful children were running around the tables. She stood to the side, unsure what to do. Suddenly, someone touched her shoulder. She turned and saw a young boy standing before her, his blue eyes beaming with laughter. He was, of course, wearing a Santa Claus hat.
"Hi, I'm Robert?" "Are you the savior I called?" he asked with a smile.
"Yes... that's me," she replied, and without knowing why, she felt very happy
. "Great! What, can you cut bread?" She nodded.
"Yes, of course..."
"That's great. Put on your Santa hat, there's a kitchen over there and get to work!" he shouted cheerfully, pushing the hat onto her head.
They worked late. Every now and then, the poor, the hungry, often not fully dressed for such a cold time of year, would come. But everyone had a strange joy in them, she noticed with surprise. After dinner, everyone started singing Christmas carols together. Without even realizing it, she joined them, a toddler climbed onto her lap. She felt a strange sense of peace; someone handed her a cup of tea. She looked up and saw Robert's smiling face.
"I see you're getting into the spirit?"
"Yes... it's strange, but yes..."
"What's so strange about that?" he looked at her with surprise.
"You see... I think I felt the Christmas spirit for the first time..." she said hesitantly. "Thank you.
" "I thank you, you see how much work there is." He looked around. "We couldn't have done it without you." She smiled happily at him, and he felt the warmth radiating from her. He looked into her joyful eyes and realized that he had received the most wonderful gift from Santa Claus he could have ever dreamed of.
"Merry Christmas, Savior.
" "Merry Christmas," she replied
. And around them, crowds of people shared the Christmas wafer, each one filled with hope and the joy of celebration. Darkness fell outside, and the first stars appeared in the sky. Bliss, peace... a silent night. God is born, the night is fading away... 'This is it,' she thought.
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