Maria Sanchez came from a tough background. So tough she didn’t like to talk about it. So tough she accepted a college scholarship in a remote part of Colorado just to get away from home. Maria met James the very first day of classes. She was in a hurry, grabbing a cup of coffee at the Student Union Building, and spinning around to rush off to class…only to literally run into James and spill every last drop of dark brown coffee onto his fresh white shirt so that he looked like a Dalmatian. She was petrified. He laughed out loud, the kindest sound she had ever heard.

They married a week after graduation and moved here, to the small town with the pun-inviting name of Hallelujah, in the foothills of the Rockies. The air was fresh and good and they bought a house about five miles out of town. After it was all painted and fixed up, they settled down to start a family but it just hadn’t worked. No pregnancy was forthcoming, and the doctor had finally given it to them straight: “Without something miraculous, you won’t be having a baby.”

And that was exactly what happened- a miracle. Nine years ago little Joshua was born on Christmas Day, and was a source of such joy that Maria thought she would just burst, like a balloon with too much helium in it.

“You okay?” James’ soft voice pulled Maria out of her daze, and back to the present moment. They were in downtown Hallelujah at the crowded Commons, the two square block park smack in the middle of town. Christmas carols were being belted out by a remarkably off-key choir. The smell of popcorn and barbecued beef drifted over from the concession stands. The big evergreen tree in the middle of the park seemed to have a million white lights. A large bunch of kids, including Josh, were playing hockey on the skating rink. It looked more like rugby than hockey as they gleefully knocked each other over, but everyone seemed to be having a great time.

Twenty yards past the rink a local church had set up a live nativity scene, complete with a real baby, a donkey, a shepherd who looked an awful lot like Gus from the local auto body shop, three wisemen (one of whom was the town mayor) and a horse with two badly stuffed lumps on its back that was, without much success, trying to look like a camel. The small children were enthralled by the scene, and Maria even noticed her Josh, with his long black curly hair, take several breaks from the hockey game to stare at the scene.

Maria answered James’ question; “I’m more than alright,” she smiled. “In fact…I think I might be in heaven.” As Maria and James chatted, a strong gust of wind swept through the park and knocked down a string of lights from the big tree. Within a few minutes, snow began to fall in earnest and people started to pack up their things and head for home.

It may have been Christmas Eve, but a snowstorm in Colorado was nothing to ignore. Josh begged for “just a little more ice time,” so Maria and James decided they’d take a quick walk around the outside of the park. As they started off down Main Street, they passed three men in long coats, who stepped aside and called out a cheery “Merry Christmas.”

As James and Maria walked, the wind and snow picked up like someone had suddenly turned a fan to a higher speed. They realized as they brushed snow out of their eyes with every step that the weather was headed towards blizzard-like conditions. When they turned back in at the park’s main gate, the concession stands were already shuttered, and their car was the only one left in the parking lot.

Cutting across the park near the rink to make sure they didn’t miss Josh, Maria noticed the now abandoned nativity scene- the sturdy little stable with the single star still shining at the peak of the roof, and just outside of it, the wooden manger.

Clearly Josh had gotten a ride with one of his buddies, so James and Maria piled into the Jeep and gunned it towards home. “Are you sure Josh would have gotten a ride?” worried Maria. James was peering intently through the windshield, but murmured, “You know these kids swap families all the time…and he’s sure not around here.”

They pulled into their driveway, and Maria noticed that only the outside Christmas lights were on. “We must have beaten him home, somehow” she mused. They struggled from the driveway through the rapidly accumulating snow, and James opened the front door. He headed into the family room to stoke up the fireplace, and Maria put the teapot on the stove.

When Josh still hadn’t showed up after another half an hour, Maria began to get worried. “Where could he have gone? Josh is always good about calling us and checking in.” James said “Oh, I’m sure he’s fine,” but he didn’t sound too convincing. “I’m calling around town,” said Maria. As she started to phone the most likely people Josh would have gone home with, James checked the weather report on the radio. “White-out, blizzard conditions all night,” the announcer said. “Officials are encouraging everyone to stay indoors.”

Ten phone calls and a fruitless hour later, Maria felt ill. Nobody had seen Josh since the hockey game broke up. Word got around town quickly, and people began to call James and Maria to see what the news was. The only problem was, there was no news. Every time the phone rang, Maria jumped joyously to get it, only to hear that the voice on the other end didn’t belong to Josh.

By 10 PM, the blizzard was howling fiercely, Maria was in tears and all of the color had drained out of James’ face. He called the police station, and they in turn alerted the volunteer fire department that doubled as a search and rescue team. Soon 20 people were scouring the downtown area with flashlights, looking for any clue of where a nine year old kid could be on such a night. By one in the morning, three feet of snow had piled up, and the search had been called off until daylight. Visibility was zero, and no one had any real idea of where else to look anyway.

The night dragged painfully on. James napped fitfully on the couch, and Maria sat in the rocker tending the fire and praying. “Lord, it was such a miracle that you ever gave Josh to us. It wasn’t supposed to happen, but you brought it about. Will you hear us now? We need you…we need you so much.”

At the first hint of morning light, James bolted up off the couch and opened the front door. Another foot of snow had fallen, and the temperature had dropped to zero, but the wind had completely died down and a few stars appeared in the cold sky. James marched into the bedroom to put on outdoor clothes, and said to Maria “C’mon, sweetheart, get dressed. We’ll take the snowmobile out. I can’t just sit in here and do nothing.”

While Maria layered on clothing, James pushed the snowmobile out of the garage and fired it up. Then the two of them hopped on, and headed slowly towards town. It didn’t occur to either of them that it was Christmas morning.

James headed for the park. The first pink and orange rays of sun were hitting the snow, causing the east part of town to light up like a field of sapphires. There was nobody on the street, of course, and no tracks of any kind. At the park the concession stands were covered in snow drifts, and only a few of the lights on the big tree were working.

Slowly, they made their way past the rink. Maria gasped suddenly, pulled vigorously on James’ arm and pointed towards the abandoned nativity scene. Well on the other side of the stable something was moving. The dazzling light made it impossible to see well, but there were clearly some figures heading for the trees. Three figures, it looked like, but they didn’t slow down or turn around. Maria’s mind flashed briefly to the three cheerful strangers who had greeted them last night on Main Street.

By the time the snowmobile reached the treeline, the figures were gone. Had they really seen anything? James looked hard at the ground. He couldn’t see a single footprint or anything else. James shouted “Hello! Can you help us?” But his voice echoed and echoed, and no answer shouted back.

They circled the entire park, looking for some telltale sign that might help them, but nothing materialized. As they headed back towards the front of the park, James let off on the throttle so suddenly that Maria lurched to grab him and keep from falling off. Maria followed the direction of James’ gaze back towards the empty nativity scene. Nothing was moving, but something was different. Was it desperate imagination? Or more mysterious figures?

James maneuvered the snowmobile closer. This figure didn’t disappear. It was a person, certainly. Whoever it was had knelt down in front of the snow-covered manger, oblivious to their presence. Maria gasped- the black curly hair and brown coat were clear. It was Josh!

James and Maria ran to him, asking questions, reprimanding, crying, laughing and hugging him all at the same time. James looked at his son. Despite the fact that he had just a sweater and ski jacket on, and apparently had been outside all night, he didn’t appear to be cold or tired. In fact, he looked downright healthy, his cheekbones a mild red. His jacket was covered with bits of hay. But there was something different. He seemed…older. Maria wouldn’t let go of him. And Josh seemed almost surprised at their response.

When they had calmed down enough to have only one of them speak at a time, they fired a steady stream of questions: “Where WERE you? What did you do all night? Didn’t you hear the search teams?”

Apparently Josh had burrowed into the loose hay in the little stable and fallen asleep while he waited for his parents to finish their walk around the park. “But Josh, didn’t you get cold? It was freezing out here last night!” said James.

“A couple of times I felt cold,” Josh replied, “but each time I did, I heard music and saw bright lights out here by the manger. I thought I could see people, but the lights were so bright I couldn’t really tell. Anyway, each time it was really warm and the music was so nice, I just sat by the manger for awhile and then went back into the hay and slept.”

James’ mind was racing. Music? Bright lights? In the middle of that blizzard? Impossible.

Suddenly a little smile slipped to the corners of James’ mouth, and he had one more question that couldn’t wait. “Josh, when you thought you could see people in the night…were there a lot of them?”

“No,” said Josh. “Just three, I think.”

James didn’t ask any more questions. And Maria…well, Maria just treasured all these things in her heart. Maybe she would need to know more later. But not now. “Thank you, Lord,” she breathed, “Thank you for coming to us this day.”