Her son, Nicholas, was in Kindergarten. For weeks, he has been memorizing songs for his school's "Winter Program." She didn't have the heart to tell him she'd be working the night of his show. Unwilling to miss his shining moment, she spoke with his teacher and learned there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.

So, that morning she found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down, just as many other frazzled parents were doing. The students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song.

Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas", she didn't expect anything other than fun songs of reindeer, Santa, snowflakes, and good cheer. So, when Nicholas's class rose to sing "Christmas Love", she was slightly taken back by its bold title.

Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, all adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row, center stage, held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing "C is for Christmas", a child would hold up the letter C. Then, "H is for Happy", and on and on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love".

The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her, a small quiet girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down, totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W". The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her "W". Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and everyone saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen.

In that instant, they understood the reason they were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos there was a purpose for our festivities, and why we are reading this now. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:

"CHRIST WAS LOVE".