This is the true story of Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer:
   On a December night in Chicago, a little girl climbed onto her father's lap and asked a question. It was a simple question, asked in children's curiosity, yet it had a heart-rending effect on Robert May.
   "Daddy," four-year old Barbara asked, "Why isn't my Mommy just like everybody else's mommy?"
   Bob May stole a glance across his shabby two room apartment. On a couch lay his young wife, Evelyn, racked with cancer. For two years she had been bedridden; for two years, all Bob's income and smaller
savings had gone to pay for treatments and medicines.
The terrible ordeal already had shattered two adult lives. Now Bob suddenly realized the happiness of his growing daughter was also in jeopardy. As he ran his fingers through Barbara's hair, he prayed for some satisfactory answer to her question.
   Bob May knew only too well what it meant to be "different." As a child he had been weak and delicate. With the innocent cruelty of children, his playmates had continually goaded the stunted, skinny lad to tears.
Later at Dartmouth, from which he was graduated in 1926, Bob May was so small that he was always being mistaken for someone's little brother. Nor was his adult life much happier. Unlike many of his classmates who
floated from college into plush jobs, Bob became a lowly copy writer for Montgomery Ward, the big Chicago mail order house. Now at 33, Bob was deep in debt, depressed and sad.
   Although Bob did not know it at the time, the answer he gave the tousled haired child on his lap was to bring him to fame and fortune. It was also to bring joy to countless thousands of children like his own Barbara. On that December night in the shabby Chicago apartment, Bob cradled his little girl's head against his shoulder and began to tell a story.
   "Once upon a time there was a reindeer named Rudolph, the only reindeer in the world that had a big red nose. Naturally people called him Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." As Bob went on to tell about Rudolph, he tried desperately to communicate to Barbara the knowledge that, even though some creatures of God are strange and different, they often enjoy the miraculous power to make others happy.
Rudolph, Bob explained, was terribly embarrassed by his unique nose. Other reindeer laughed at him; his mother and father and sister were mortified too.
Even Rudolph wallowed in self pity.
   "Well," continued Bob, "one Christmas Eve, Santa Claus got his team of husky reindeer -Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Vixen ready for their yearly trip around the world. The entire reindeer community assembled to cheer these great heroes on their way. But a terrible
fog engulfed the earth that evening, and Santa knew that the mist was so thick he wouldn't be able to find any chimney. Suddenly Rudolph appeared, his red nose glowing brighter than ever. Santa sensed at once that here was the answer to his perplexing problem. He led Rudolph to the front of the sleigh, fastened the
harness and climbed in.
   They were off! Rudolph guided Santa safely to every chimney that night. Rain and fog, snow and sleet; nothing bothered Rudolph, for his bright nose penetrated the mist like a beacon. 
   And so it was that Rudolph became the most famous and beloved of all the reindeer. The huge red nose he once hid in shame was now the envy of every buck and doe in the reindeer world. Santa Claus told everyone that Rudolph had saved the day and from that Christmas, Rudolph has been living serenely and happy."
   Little Barbara laughed with glee when her father finished. Every night she begged him to repeat the tale until finally Bob could rattle it off in his sleep. Then, at Christmas time he decided to make the story into a poem like "The Night Before Christmas" and prepare it in bookish form illustrated with pictures, for Barbara's
personal gift.  Night after night, Bob worked on the verses after Barbara had gone to bed for he was determined his daughter should have a worthwhile gift, even though he could not afford to buy one...
   Then as Bob was about to put the finishing touches on Rudolph, tragedy struck. Evelyn May died. Bob, his hopes crushed, turned to Barbara as chief comfort. Yet, despite his grief, he sat at his desk in the quiet,
now lonely apartment, and worked on "Rudolph" with tears in his eyes.
   Shortly after Barbara had cried with joy over his handmade gift on Christmas morning, Bob was asked to an employee's holiday party at Montgomery Wards. He didn't want to go, but his office associates
insisted. When Bob finally agreed, he took with him the poem and read it to the crowd. First the noisy throng listened in laughter and gaiety. Then they became silent, and at the end, broke into spontaneous
applause.
   That was in 1938. By Christmas of 1947, some 6 million copies of the booklet had been given away or sold, making Rudolph one of the most widely
distributed books in the world. The demand for Rudolph sponsored products, increased so much in variety and number that educators and historians predicted Rudolph would come to occupy a permanent place in the Christmas legend.

                       Another Gift of Giving
              (As written down by B.J. Cassady)
 
   Looking forward to Christmas 1995, to me, described a paradox.  How can one enjoy Christmas when their
loving spouse recently passed away from cancer, and
yet Christmas is a time for celebration...
 
   I had a friend, recently divorced, who was going
through his first Christmas without his children that
he loved so dearly.  I called my friend and invited
him over to my house for Christmas.  He didn't seem
overly thrilled, but had nothing else to do.  I did
the same for another divorced person who had a day
without family or friends.  I told them to dress nice
but withheld my plans from them.
 
    The three of us, at my house, made Christmas canes
from pipe cleaners, and after an hour I told my
friends to get in my van, as I had a surprise for them. 
 
  So off we went. First stop, a nursing home, left few dry eyes.  We visited the ones who had no company, prayed with them and left them little Christmas canes and some candy.  One lady, feeling really bad, asked us to pray for her.  So we prayed with our hands on her body, and we felt a Power hard to describe.
 
   Second stop, Presbyterian hospital...cancer wing. 
First you need to understand how hospitals work with
the sick.  If possible, patients are sent home for the
holidays.  The ones remaining in the hospital live too
far, are too ill, or have no support from family or
friends.  About 1/2 of the cancer wing was deserted.
 
   We visited the staff and gave them candy and our
little Christmas canes, then we visited the dying and
ill.  How can one describe being humbled?  The
patients asked for our prayers.  We visited with every
patient in the wing.  We left the patients with a
smile.  When we left the hospital, we had nothing else
left to give, but we received much.  Our emotions were
drained, we were exhausted, in tears but felt elevated
to a 'high' impossible to describe.  We all thought
   "But for the grace of God'...
 
   Last stop.  We visited my wife's grave, decorated it,
placed candles and sang Silent Night.  Our voices were
quivering because we found Christmas that day.  We
gave all we had to give, and it cost us about five
hours of our time and about two dollars in pipe
cleaners and candy.  I said a silent prayer of thanks
to my wife for teaching me to give.
 
   May we, in this crazy but special time of year learn
from the Teacher of teachers, Giving IS better than
receiving.  Merry Christmas to all, and a happy new
year.