None — "For as long as I can remember, each and every Christmas has included my father reading aloud from Papa Panov's Special Day, a classic French folktale adapted by Leo Tolstoy. Papa Panov isn't your usual Christmas story – there are no carolers or stars or shepherds – but it is a wonderful, touching reminder of the true meaning of Christmas.
Papa Panov, the elderly village shoemaker, lives all alone. On Christmas Eve he sits down to read the Christmas story and, eventually, as old men are prone to do, he dozes off in his armchair. That night he dreams that Jesus will come to visit him the next day.
He awakes with great excitement on Christmas morning, anxious to see if it was just a dream, or if Jesus really would stop by for a visit. While watching eagerly from the window, he takes the time to share some hot coffee with the dirty village garbage man (frozen from the bitter cold), offer hot soup and bread to beggars, and to give a needy single mother a new pair of little shoes for her baby. But all the while, Papa Panov keeps one eye open for his Very Important Visitor.
Yet at the end of the day, Jesus has not come. Disappointed, Papa Panov slumps back into his armchair and begins to cry. It was just a dream after all. But suddenly, Papa Panov sees before him all the people he had helped that day. And as the garbage man, the beggars, the single mother and her baby, and all the others pass by, each one says "Didn't you see me, Papa Panov?'
And Papa Panov hears the same voice from his dream the night before, this time saying, "Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me – you did it to me." (Matthew 25:40).
We have lots of other wonderful family Christmas traditions – seeing the lights in McAdenville, attending church musicals, family gatherings, and more. But in the midst of the rush and busyness of the American holiday season, it's nice to remember what giving, and love, and life, are really all about.
And now that I'm a father? I make sure my kids gather with their grandfather every year to listen to Papa Panov's Special Day."
~Jamie