It was a beautiful afternoon and were sitting at her kitchen table rolling the centers for the mints we were going to dip. My baby was due soon and I was complaining to her how bad I felt that my baby would probably have a birthday around Christmas time.
"It is such a bummer," I told her, "His birthday will always be eclipsed by Christmas and he'll have to wait a whole year before he gets any presents again!"
She listened to me and then smiled at me in a knowing way. My father, her fourth child, was born only a few days before Christmas. She told me about how she'd worried she'd be in the hospital on Christmas and prayed that he would come before then.
But then she looked at me with her deep, wise eyes and said, "But you know Heather, there is something really special about having a baby-- especially a baby boy-- at Christmas time."
