Frances Rosalie Murphy was a little girl who lived on Mill Street. It was Christmas Eve, and she was waiting for St. Nicholas to come, but more immediately, she waited for her Uncle Ambrose. They couldn’t start the Christmas feast without him, and he hadn’t arrived yet. She waited at the window, but there was no sign of him.
Every Christmas, he would tell her the story of Christ’s birth, bringing it to life with his beautiful voice. He told her of the angels that came to herald the newborn king, and she could almost see the angels in the retelling.
The roads were getting slick, and this made Frances worry. Her uncle had a bad leg, injured as a boy and never fully healed. She didn’t want him to slip on the snow on this most important night. Where was he?
The snow fell thicker and thicker, the wind blew harder, and finally the family decided to eat. But even after the dishes were washed, Uncle Ambrose still had not come. Mother was frantic and decided to send Father out to look for him, but then he came.
It was late when he arrived, and he told an amazing tale. He had been walking through the snowdrifts, his leg aching, when he fell in the snow and had no way of getting back up. Suddenly a huge dog appeared and helped him to his feet, then walked with him the remainder of the way, only to disappear as soon as Ambrose was safe.
He still believes in angels, and that they don’t always take the form we believe they will.
This book is based on a true story passed down in the author’s family.
(This book was published in 1998 by Philomel Books and was illustrated by Robert J. Blake.)
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