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"I Saw Three Ships"
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone! We at JABB hope you
all have a safe and happy week. We hope you enjoy this year's Christmas
story. You'll be hearing from us again in 2003!!
*~*~*
"Andrew here's your gift! I hope you enjoy it, I didn't know what to get you but I heard you say you wanted this..." JenniAnn handed him a small box.
"I'm sure I'll love it!" Andrew smiled as he tore through the paper and opened the box. "Wow! This is wonderful! A new gold chain for my watch! My old one fell apart and I almost lost my pocket watch. Here, open you gift."
JenniAnn tore into her gift with excitement that equaled that of Andrew. "Wow... a ruby and an emerald and a sapphire... this is... great."
"Yeah, I thought you could finish off your crown you've been
making."
"Right, well thank you so much!"
Audrey then approached and the two gave her their gifts while she
gave
them hers.
Andrew and JenniAnn received sets of beautiful gold pens. Audrey was equally enchanted with her gifts and said "Geez... How did everyone afford all this?"
"I, umm, melted down my pocket watch." Andrew admitted.
"And I melted down my crown." JenniAnn answered.
"Well, I melted down my scepter." Audrey said as everyone began to laugh and hugged.
*~*~*
As JenniAnn finished her memory, Audrey and Andrew looked at each other with raised eye brows. Finally Audrey spoke up.
"Uhh, JenniAnn? Are you sure you didn't maybe get confused? Like
maybe
you
read 'The Gift of the Magi' a few too many times? I mean crowns and
scepters? We never even had those. Kinda flashy for Dyeland."
JenniAnn began laughing as she realized she had told not a memory
but a
dream. "Well, fine, then it's my favorite Christmas dream. My real
favorite memory is our first *real* Christmas here in Dyeland, 2000 I
believe it was. Christmas the year before something had been missing.
But 2000 was good."
"That's a hard act to follow but I'll try," Audrey said and then began her tale.
*~*~*
"It was the Christmas after we started JABB. I had failed to show up for a meeting and you two became worried. Andrew went over to my house to check on me but unfortunately someone had left the sprinkler in the middle of the sidewalk. He tripped, fell, and broke his leg. I begged my Mom to let him stay with us until he healed. I mean he could hardly even walk! But, of course, she didn't know who he was and who lets a strange man stay in their house? So, we put him in the barn. Finally, Mom got tired of it when Andrew got out of the barn and trashed the house. So she sold him to some guy who put up a sign reading "Actual angel of death" around the cage he'd put Andrew in and all these kids came to see him. Being a concerned friend, I tried to break him out but instead fell myself and hit my head. People were pretty freaked out. Somewhere in all the fuss over me Andrew got out. He just disappeared. Word got around that God had come to get him. Some days I still like to think he's out there flying around..."
*~*~*
Andrew was laughing pretty loudly at this point. He recognized the
story as Audrey's attempt to rewrite the movie "Prancer."
*~*~*
"It
was two years ago. I hadn't made it to Dyeland at all for nearly
a month. I knew I'd miss the Christmas party, the caroling,
everything. I had been working in a prison. They sorta
used the idea in
the episode "An Angel on my Tree" but, like many episodes, that one was
only loosely based on the actual event. I was assigned to an entire
block not one prisoner in particular. Things were *not* going well.
Anything I said seemed to go in one ear and out the other. I was
exhausted which doesn't happen often for an angel. Finally, the 23rd
came, the night I had hoped to be at the Dyeland party. Instead, I
ended up passed out from exhaustion in the apartment I was renting. I
seemed to fall immediately into a dream. I was at a party but no one
seemed able to see me. Then I recognized it as the ballroom in Dyeland.
You were all there and were signing a card. A really huge card. I heard
so many people talking about me and wishing I was with them at the
party. I wanted so much to tell them I was.
The next morning I woke up and found the huge card, Christmas
cookies,
and presents under a tree in my apartment. I always wondered how they
got there... So, while I loved the second Christmas as you two do, I
loved the first Christmas more. It made me realize that I was loved
here. And that God cared because He let me see what I needed to see
that night. The next morning I went back to the prison with a new sense
of purpose. I have always wondered how those things got into my
*locked* apartment though."
*~*~*
As Andrew finished he looked at both Audrey and JenniAnn hoping for
some explanation.
Finally, Audrey simply said "We have our connections, too, you know."
Andrew realized that was the only explanation he could hope for and smiled.