Broadway is bright with the lights of the holiday season. There is a feeling of Christmas in the air. Each patron greets and smiles at their fellow as they enter under the flashing Marquee. The holiday decorations are beautiful and have an old-world Victorian charm. We feel as if we have time traveled back to the time of Dickens and Tiny Time and Bob Cratchit.

The Curtain is rising above the stage. The band is playing a snappy Christmas tune. On stage are the Holiday Players and their singing voices are in the theatrical range. Our hearts swell with emotion and we are filled with love for our fellow man and woman and boy and girl. We wonder why we do not feel this passion all year through. The Christmas audience is resplendent in their yuletide best. The brightness and the panoply of sounds, sights, and smells are overwhelming. The wise men enter from the back of the House. One sings in a profound and resonant bass voice. Things will be different we think…after this Christmas Moment we are changed.

The little girl holds her tattered coat closed about her freezing body. She sits on the cold metal steps in the dirty alley at the back of the glittering theatre.