I’ve had some great replies to my post ‘What makes your Christmas special?‘ 

With the writer’s permission I am posting one here and will add others when I hear back from their authors.

A wonderful story from Cynthia Cunningham Shigo

An African Christmas Memory

That first Christmas in Togo I recall—
A potted palm served as our Christmas tree,
The presents piled beneath it seemed so small—
We’d had no box of gifts from family.
We rose before the dawn on Christmas Eve
To drive all day on dusty red clay roads;
I told my father I could not believe
In Christmas wonder when there was no snow.
“The road to Bethlehem was much the same
As this,” he said,” so long and hot and dry.”
Just then ahead three men on camels came
Over the farthest eastern hill, and I,
Exclaimed, “Look, it’s the wise men from afar!”
My mother laughed and looked up for the Star.