When you wish upon a star...

Christmas...

In some cultures, it's the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ our savior, in others just Santa Claus handing gifts to those who were nice and coal to the naughty ones. Some still celebrate like the ancient Romans who had Saturnalia festivities in honor of the pagan God Saturn and the end of the darker period of the year and the birth of the Sun.

Whatever the celebration might be we can all agree on one thing: is a time of wonder, illusion, hope, and also, a time for miracles.

I didn't believe it until me and my family experienced a true Christmas Miracle.

It was December 1996.

My dad was out of a job and we lived out what little he could earn as a taxi driver. I was eleven years old but was well aware of the troubles we had in our home. I felt the pain my parents had because they couldn't afford to give us a classic Christmas like years before. No gifts, no decorations, no delicious treats for us to eat and share with others. It was going to be a blue holiday, to say the least.

On Monday the 23rd, I was sitting on the sidewalk in front of my house, just looking at the stary sky when out of the blue, a man and a woman appeared in front of me. Curiously enough I wasn't scared, a sense of relief and calmness took over me to the point that when they asked if they could sit down I said yes.

My parents taught me that I should not talk with strangers, but they seemed so nice and a beautiful light surrounded them that I didn't care about the fact I didn't know them, and before I knew it, they started to talk to me.

The woman, Eli, asked my name...

"My name is Rebeca"

I answered while a tear was running down my cheek.

She took out a handkerchief and wiped off my tears with such warmth in her eyes. Then the man, Edward, asked me why I was crying.

"Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, Baby Jesus will be born at twelve o'clock in the night and we don't have anything to celebrate it"

They both listened with close attention to my words...

"I'm little, but I know that most people are worried about the food, the gifts, the celebration itself. I don't care about any of that, I'm worried about my parents, my dad doesn't have a job, mom's hands are full with us, I don't know how to help them"

Edward then asked me:

"If you could ask one whish, what will it be?"

"I don't want gifts, I want my parents with their hearts at peace, with the hope that some day things will be better, and happy that we are alive and together"

Eli looked upon me and smiling said:

"The sky is pretty tonight right? You know, if your heart is good and pure, miracles can happen. All those stars you see up there are millions and millions of miles away from us, but we can still see them, that by itself is a miracle.

Look, a Shooting Star!

When you wish upon a star marvelous things can happen. Ask your wish, and I promise, you will have a wonderful Christmas".

Before they left, Edward left me a picture of a stary sky, just like the one we were staring at that night, and it had the word "Read" in it. I asked why, and he said:

"Stars tell stories as well. If you care enough to read them, they might give you some answers, don't forget it..."

I went to bed that night happy about those two strangers and how kind and warm they were to me, little did I know that they were right, a miracle was about to happen.

On December 24th I woke up and mom was happily decorating the house with the few things we had stored. Dad had left early as always to see if he could make money for the day but had already returned one time to leave breakfast for us, a delicious Ham Bread fresh out of the oven.

I couldn't believe it!

Mom then told us that he had a client that tipped him big just for the sake of Christmas.

Throughout to course of the day, he came back several times to leave the ingredients for what he called a Christmas Barbecue, not the traditional Christmas Dinner, but a great treat! That had everything a proper Venezuelan Barbecue should have and my parents were so happy.

By 7 pm dad was back home and we started the fire; the coal shined as bright as the stars in the sky and I just kept thinking about those two strangers that talked to me the night before and how they were right, miracles do happen.

The next day it was Christmas Day, and dad got a call very early and when he hung up tears were coming out of his eyes. It was a former colleague of his, saying that they were getting reinstated in their old jobs and that the Ministery was going to pay them the two years they were out of duties. Mom and dad hugged and cried because everything was going to be better from that moment on.

Many years later, at a moment of despair, I found on the web something called read.cash, a blogging platform in which you can earn some money. I signed in and to my surprise, I found that I was comfortable and happy there, the despair was gone, and I met wonderful people there, especially two people, a man and a woman: Eli and Edward.

Could they be the same ones from my childhood?

I don't know, but they reminded me of that beautiful part of my past and that miracles do happen when you wish, and read, upon a star...

This is my entry for @TengoLoTodo #ChristmasChallenge2021!

I have to tell you, this was a fun experience, I have never combined fact and fiction before, so being a story so close to my heart, I had to think very well what and how to insert the fiction part in it.

Luckily, I was inspired by some people here, I dare you to guess who they are...

You still have time to enter, check out the challenge's rules ----> HERE.

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This is 100% Original Content.

All uncaptioned images are mine.

Gifs were edited in Canva.

See you next time.

✨✨Blessings✨✨

@rebeysa85

December 22nd, 2021.