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How a Stranger Helped Us Find the True Meaning of Christmas
The Girl Who Came for Christmas
With sculpted cheekbones, warm brown eyes, and an elegant figure, the girl stood out from the crowd. But it wasn’t her beauty that drew me to her. It was the haunted expression in her eyes.
Together with sixty other background performers, we were on the set of a Christmas movie. Despite the overwhelming heat of the late August day, we were all dressed for a frigid winter’s day. But it was clear to me that the discomfort of being so overdressed in the scorching summer heat wasn’t what had put that sad, empty look in the girl’s eyes.
A certain comradery often develops between complete strangers when faced with common adversity. People chat together as if they were old friends, sharing stories they’d never dream of sharing with someone they’d just met. Our mutual misery put us in just such an environment.
At lunch I found myself sitting beside the quiet, young woman, who I shall call Alice, to protect her privacy. As we ate, my motherly-spidey-sense kicked in, and I knew this young woman was hurting. A few well-placed questions and she began to share her story.
It would take a few more days of working together, spread out over the next month, for the story to unfold. I won’t share details, but…
