Life at the barracks felt like a book without words. I was sitting
at the window hoping to see Father come back from the factory. Ice crystals had formed on the glass, they looked like little stars, by now I had counted them all. The days were long and lonesome. Mother was very ill at the hospital and Father was gone for days. Am I totally forgotten? Am I going to stay here all by myself for ever? I knew very well that sitting and feeling so lost will not help and nothing will change, again I had to accept and find a way and reason to feel better in order to get through the day. I decided to take a walk to the little hamlet near by. It was relatively a short walk. A heavy snowstorm had covered the road. The stores were open, people were getting their weekly rations. I stood behind an army vehicle and watched a few children play in the snow. How I wished I could have joined them! My feet were so cold that I could hardly move. My breath seemed to freeze in the frigid weather. It started to snow again, as I tried to make my way back to the barracks, snow drifts slowed down my walk. Blizzard! I could not see anything around me, it felt like walking into a mountain of snow, sharp ice pellets were cutting my face, my legs felt so heavy and I collapsed near a big spruce, crawled under its snow branches to keep warm. It turned dark, very dark. I decided to wait till the storm was over and dozed off. My hunger woke me up. The storm was over, all was calm, beautiful snow peaks shimmered in the moonlight, bright stars twinkled in the sky, it was so peaceful. I sang “Silent night, Holy night.” I felt safe, happy and grateful having been saved for another day. It was my own Christmas Eve, my Celestial Christmas.
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