Christmas is a refugee looking for a place to stay.

Something about Christmas always hurts. It’s often so painful, we can barely think about it. Do I cry? Do I laugh? But Christmas rolls in with the winter. It’s dark and we want to be comforted. And little by little the red & green lights appear around us, the glitter and shortbread. We hear snippets of songs that go right into our psyche, and squeeze.

Toronto Star photo

The story, My First Christmas with Rachel, was inspired by the cold and relentless quality of winter, the injustice of life and how it can be magnified at Christmas time. I celebrate people who are homeless on Christmas with this story, especially people who have others depending on them, but who, themselves, have little say about their own circumstances. Today it has resonance for the hundreds of thousands of homeless refugees around the world, and the mothers of these families who have created the next generation, but have little power of their own destiny.

Here’s an uplifting tale of a transcendent moment at a difficult time.