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I was asked to write the Christmas story for my church's Christmas party, which I didn't do because of time issues. Anyway I have written something, but I'm not happy with/sure about the ending. Yes, I know how the story ends, but I'm not sure how to end my story. Anyway, I thought I'd throw it up here and see if someone could help.
A Christmas Tail
As the sun was setting the west, Sassafras strolled from the inn to the stable. The sheep and the goats were slightly better company than humans, and there were definitely too many of those around.
Sassafras looked over her shoulder at the latest arrival. A man leading a woman on a sorry looking donkey. The woman's stomach was very round and Sassafras realized she was expecting a litter.
Wonderful. More humans. As if there aren't too many all ready, thought Sassafras as she jumped up to the open window.
Even the stable was more crowded than usual because of all the humans in town. Of course, the Governor decreed that everyone should come to Bethlehem to be counted instead of Jerusalem. Why clutter up his city?
Her quick eyes spotted a tiny manager filled with a straw that was empty. Perfect.
"Sassafras, yoo hoo, Sassafras," said Mrs. Jumper, the elderly ewe. With all of her children grown and sold off to other farmers, she had nothing to do all day but gossip. Not that Sassafras minded a good gossip usually, but today she was severely behind in her nap taking and wanted nothing more than to catch up.
"What is it, Mrs. Jumper? I really don't have time to chat," said Sassafras as she made her way to the manager.
"What could you possibly have to do besides chat?" Mrs. Jumper thought talking was the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world, with the possible exception of eating. Eating was really most wonderful too.
"I'm terribly behind in my napping for the day and then I have to talk to Mr. Squeakers. He promised not to be obvious about still being here and in return I promised not to eat him. The human's food is much better than mouse, but the male human has been complaining about mice here in the stable. If he doesn't back off, they'll stop feeding me their food."
"Well, really what do you expect from mice? Scavengers, the whole lot of them."
"I didn't see you complaining when it was your mess our scavenging cleaned up." Mr. Squeakers had left his vantage point on the top rafter and was halfway down the post when he spoke. He took special care to stay well away from Sassafras. He trusted her to keep their agreement, but it never hurt to be too careful.
"That has no bearing on ...." Mrs. Jumper hated being caught saying something behind someone's back that she wouldn't say to their face. That fact that this happened fairly regularly should have given her pause before doing it again, but it didn't.
"Mrs. Jumpers, I believe Mrs. Moon has heard about something about a new grain shipment coming in. Rumor has it that it's clover."
Mrs. Jumper raised her head with a twinkle in her eye. "Really? Well, if you'll excuse me."
As Mrs. Jumper made her way out of the stable, Sassafras turned to Mr. Squeakers. If she were lucky, she could clear up this mess with him and nap straight through to dinner. The humans were going to have fish for dinner tonight. If she got there while the female human was preparing the meal, she could get some before it was "cooked." It lost all flavor after that.
"Mr. Squeakers, what was our agreement?"
"That my family and I stay out of the barn and you won't eat us."
"So why has the male human seen traces of your family in the barn?"
"The nights have been very cold and I made sure we stayed far away from where he normally goes. But there is another mouse family that has been coming into the barn that last two nights and they haven't been very careful about keeping their presence hidden."
"New mice? You expect me to believe that?"
"It's the truth!"
Now Sassafras did believe him, but it was just so much fun watching him panic. Just as she was about reassure him, she heard the voice of the male human outside the stable entrance.
"We truly don't have any room for you and your wife, but since I know no one else has any room either, and you are willing, you may stay in the stable."
Sassafras looked at Mr. Squeakers. Mr. Squeakers looked at Sassafras and ran lickety split back to the top most rafter. Sassafras looked longingly at the little manager and sighed. The male human had very odd ideas about where cats belonged. Since Mrs. Jumper would be out with Mrs. Moon for a while, her bed of hay would have to do.
"I can't thank you enough for your generous hospitality. If Mary wasn't so near her time, it would be different."
Sassafras' male human entered with the man and woman and donkey she saw on her way to the stable. Sassafras looked closely at the woman and decided she would have her litter very soon. While the woman looked tired, she also seemed to radiate something Sassafras found very soothing.
"Now, Joseph," said Mary, looking at her husband with a mixture of affection and reproach. "You're the one who insisted we rest as often as we did. I would have been fine."
"You and the baby are the most precious things in the world to me. Can you blame me for being cautious?" Joseph stood next to Mary, with one arm around her shoulders and his other hand on her belly.
Sassafras was quite taken with the look on this human's face. It was as though every single bit of love in the whole wide world was captured in his eyes and directed not only at the woman by his side, but everyone.
"More company?"
Sassafras' tail twitched as Max came and sat beside her. A few years older, the dog had been there when she arrived as a kitten. They had never been especially close, but they did have like each other more than they were willing to admit.
"Mated humans. The female is going to have a litter soon."
"How soon?"
"Very."
"Just what we need, even more humans."
Although Sassafras preferred staying inside the inn, this night she made her way back to the stable. It was crowded and noisy and far too warm, but the humans who were staying there intrigued Sassafras. She did not like that at all, yet could not stop herself. She had never seen anything like this pair. There was a sense of peace and promise and fulfillment that surrounded them and enveloped everyone, human or animal, around them.
Sassafras was sitting on the window sill, looking for a place to curl up that offered a good view of the couple, when the female dropped her bowl of food and cried out in pain.
The male was by her side in an instant. "Mary, what's wrong?"
"It's time, Joseph. He doesn't want to wait any longer. He's ready to see his Father's world."
"I'll get the innkeeper's wife. She'll know what to do."
"Don't. Stay with me. God will see us through this. He won't let anything go wrong."
"I've never...."
"Neither have I, but I have faith in you as well as Him."
"If you're sure."
"I am." With that Joseph made Mary as comfortable as possible.
Sassafras didn't understand this God they were speaking of, but she did understand the female's litter was coming. She looked around and saw Max burrowed under an old blanket.
"Max."
The blanket moved a little, then settled down again.
"Max!"
She could see his tail thump once, twice and still. Since he wasn't going to listen to her, it was time to employ the claws. She jumped down lightly from the window sill and padded quietly over to Max's blanket.
With her claws still mostly retracted, she didn't want to hurt him, just get his attention, she took a swipe at where she was pretty sure his nose was located.
Max yelped and jumped and just managed not to get tangled up in the blanket.
"What is the matter with you? I was sleeping."
"I noticed. The female is having her litter. Go get our female to help."
"Why can't her mate go?" Max had been having a lovely dream where he was chasing rabbits and had come very close to catching one. He just knew he would have caught that last one if Sassafras hadn't woken him.
"Because she needs him here."
"Why can't you go?"
"Because they don't listen to me. They will listen to you."
"All right, but you owe me, Sassafras. Big."
"Fine, just hurry."
Max went to the inn and it took him several minutes to convince their female to come out to the stable. The male human was convinced someone was stealing from him and that's what had Max so upset. Max had to resort to catching her skirt in his mouth and tugging, almost unbalancing her before the male human remembered the couple in the stable.
The female gathered some water and cloths and a knife. They al hurried out to the stable.
Now Max had only three ways of telling how much time had passed. The position of the sun in the sky, but since it was night, that was no help. Whether or not his stomach was empty, which it wasn't at the moment. And whether or not his bladder was full, which again it wasn't, but there was a new fence post the male human put in that he hadn't gotten around to marking yet. So while Max couldn't say for sure how much time had passed since he left the stable, he didn't think it had been long. So he was more than a little surprised to see that the baby human had arrived.
He found Sassafras and sat beside her.
Every living creature in the stable, human and animal, was watching the mother hold her new baby. Light seemed to encircle them both and shine out into the farthest reaches of the stable so there was no darkness anywhere.
There was some noise in the courtyard, but no one went out to check on it. Presently, several men entered the stable. One of the younger men was carrying a little lamb. It's wriggling soon became too much for the young shepherd to handle and he set his small charge down.
The lamb went over to the baby and started to sniff him. The baby's mother laughed and gently pushed the little lamb away. Apparently satisfied with whatever he had found out, the lamb went over to Max and lie down.
"Who are you?" Sassafras was protective of her little kingdom, but even more so now.
"The shepherds haven't bothered to name me yet."
"What are you doing here?" Sassafras could not believe the lamb knew nothing of polite society.
"The shepherds came to see the baby the angels told them about."
"Angels were talking about our baby?" said Max.
"What do you mean 'our baby'? All you did was get the humans and too late to help at that."
"Are you two finished?" Max and Sassafras looked at the lamb like she was crazy. "The shepherds had just settled down for the night, making supper and telling stories. Anyway, my shepherd saw a bright light on the horizon. At first, they thought it might be a fire, but it got brighter. When it was almost directly overhead, we saw that it was a band of angels singing the most beautiful song about good news and great joy. Then one of the angels spoke and told us the Messiah had been born tonight in Bethlehem and told us how to find him and here we are."
"What's a Messiah?"
"I don't know, the shepherds were very excited."
Conversation ceased as they went back to watching the baby sleep.
Please let me know what you think.
A Christmas Tail
As the sun was setting the west, Sassafras strolled from the inn to the stable. The sheep and the goats were slightly better company than humans, and there were definitely too many of those around.
Sassafras looked over her shoulder at the latest arrival. A man leading a woman on a sorry looking donkey. The woman's stomach was very round and Sassafras realized she was expecting a litter.
Wonderful. More humans. As if there aren't too many all ready, thought Sassafras as she jumped up to the open window.
Even the stable was more crowded than usual because of all the humans in town. Of course, the Governor decreed that everyone should come to Bethlehem to be counted instead of Jerusalem. Why clutter up his city?
Her quick eyes spotted a tiny manager filled with a straw that was empty. Perfect.
"Sassafras, yoo hoo, Sassafras," said Mrs. Jumper, the elderly ewe. With all of her children grown and sold off to other farmers, she had nothing to do all day but gossip. Not that Sassafras minded a good gossip usually, but today she was severely behind in her nap taking and wanted nothing more than to catch up.
"What is it, Mrs. Jumper? I really don't have time to chat," said Sassafras as she made her way to the manager.
"What could you possibly have to do besides chat?" Mrs. Jumper thought talking was the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world, with the possible exception of eating. Eating was really most wonderful too.
"I'm terribly behind in my napping for the day and then I have to talk to Mr. Squeakers. He promised not to be obvious about still being here and in return I promised not to eat him. The human's food is much better than mouse, but the male human has been complaining about mice here in the stable. If he doesn't back off, they'll stop feeding me their food."
"Well, really what do you expect from mice? Scavengers, the whole lot of them."
"I didn't see you complaining when it was your mess our scavenging cleaned up." Mr. Squeakers had left his vantage point on the top rafter and was halfway down the post when he spoke. He took special care to stay well away from Sassafras. He trusted her to keep their agreement, but it never hurt to be too careful.
"That has no bearing on ...." Mrs. Jumper hated being caught saying something behind someone's back that she wouldn't say to their face. That fact that this happened fairly regularly should have given her pause before doing it again, but it didn't.
"Mrs. Jumpers, I believe Mrs. Moon has heard about something about a new grain shipment coming in. Rumor has it that it's clover."
Mrs. Jumper raised her head with a twinkle in her eye. "Really? Well, if you'll excuse me."
As Mrs. Jumper made her way out of the stable, Sassafras turned to Mr. Squeakers. If she were lucky, she could clear up this mess with him and nap straight through to dinner. The humans were going to have fish for dinner tonight. If she got there while the female human was preparing the meal, she could get some before it was "cooked." It lost all flavor after that.
"Mr. Squeakers, what was our agreement?"
"That my family and I stay out of the barn and you won't eat us."
"So why has the male human seen traces of your family in the barn?"
"The nights have been very cold and I made sure we stayed far away from where he normally goes. But there is another mouse family that has been coming into the barn that last two nights and they haven't been very careful about keeping their presence hidden."
"New mice? You expect me to believe that?"
"It's the truth!"
Now Sassafras did believe him, but it was just so much fun watching him panic. Just as she was about reassure him, she heard the voice of the male human outside the stable entrance.
"We truly don't have any room for you and your wife, but since I know no one else has any room either, and you are willing, you may stay in the stable."
Sassafras looked at Mr. Squeakers. Mr. Squeakers looked at Sassafras and ran lickety split back to the top most rafter. Sassafras looked longingly at the little manager and sighed. The male human had very odd ideas about where cats belonged. Since Mrs. Jumper would be out with Mrs. Moon for a while, her bed of hay would have to do.
"I can't thank you enough for your generous hospitality. If Mary wasn't so near her time, it would be different."
Sassafras' male human entered with the man and woman and donkey she saw on her way to the stable. Sassafras looked closely at the woman and decided she would have her litter very soon. While the woman looked tired, she also seemed to radiate something Sassafras found very soothing.
"Now, Joseph," said Mary, looking at her husband with a mixture of affection and reproach. "You're the one who insisted we rest as often as we did. I would have been fine."
"You and the baby are the most precious things in the world to me. Can you blame me for being cautious?" Joseph stood next to Mary, with one arm around her shoulders and his other hand on her belly.
Sassafras was quite taken with the look on this human's face. It was as though every single bit of love in the whole wide world was captured in his eyes and directed not only at the woman by his side, but everyone.
"More company?"
Sassafras' tail twitched as Max came and sat beside her. A few years older, the dog had been there when she arrived as a kitten. They had never been especially close, but they did have like each other more than they were willing to admit.
"Mated humans. The female is going to have a litter soon."
"How soon?"
"Very."
"Just what we need, even more humans."
Although Sassafras preferred staying inside the inn, this night she made her way back to the stable. It was crowded and noisy and far too warm, but the humans who were staying there intrigued Sassafras. She did not like that at all, yet could not stop herself. She had never seen anything like this pair. There was a sense of peace and promise and fulfillment that surrounded them and enveloped everyone, human or animal, around them.
Sassafras was sitting on the window sill, looking for a place to curl up that offered a good view of the couple, when the female dropped her bowl of food and cried out in pain.
The male was by her side in an instant. "Mary, what's wrong?"
"It's time, Joseph. He doesn't want to wait any longer. He's ready to see his Father's world."
"I'll get the innkeeper's wife. She'll know what to do."
"Don't. Stay with me. God will see us through this. He won't let anything go wrong."
"I've never...."
"Neither have I, but I have faith in you as well as Him."
"If you're sure."
"I am." With that Joseph made Mary as comfortable as possible.
Sassafras didn't understand this God they were speaking of, but she did understand the female's litter was coming. She looked around and saw Max burrowed under an old blanket.
"Max."
The blanket moved a little, then settled down again.
"Max!"
She could see his tail thump once, twice and still. Since he wasn't going to listen to her, it was time to employ the claws. She jumped down lightly from the window sill and padded quietly over to Max's blanket.
With her claws still mostly retracted, she didn't want to hurt him, just get his attention, she took a swipe at where she was pretty sure his nose was located.
Max yelped and jumped and just managed not to get tangled up in the blanket.
"What is the matter with you? I was sleeping."
"I noticed. The female is having her litter. Go get our female to help."
"Why can't her mate go?" Max had been having a lovely dream where he was chasing rabbits and had come very close to catching one. He just knew he would have caught that last one if Sassafras hadn't woken him.
"Because she needs him here."
"Why can't you go?"
"Because they don't listen to me. They will listen to you."
"All right, but you owe me, Sassafras. Big."
"Fine, just hurry."
Max went to the inn and it took him several minutes to convince their female to come out to the stable. The male human was convinced someone was stealing from him and that's what had Max so upset. Max had to resort to catching her skirt in his mouth and tugging, almost unbalancing her before the male human remembered the couple in the stable.
The female gathered some water and cloths and a knife. They al hurried out to the stable.
Now Max had only three ways of telling how much time had passed. The position of the sun in the sky, but since it was night, that was no help. Whether or not his stomach was empty, which it wasn't at the moment. And whether or not his bladder was full, which again it wasn't, but there was a new fence post the male human put in that he hadn't gotten around to marking yet. So while Max couldn't say for sure how much time had passed since he left the stable, he didn't think it had been long. So he was more than a little surprised to see that the baby human had arrived.
He found Sassafras and sat beside her.
Every living creature in the stable, human and animal, was watching the mother hold her new baby. Light seemed to encircle them both and shine out into the farthest reaches of the stable so there was no darkness anywhere.
There was some noise in the courtyard, but no one went out to check on it. Presently, several men entered the stable. One of the younger men was carrying a little lamb. It's wriggling soon became too much for the young shepherd to handle and he set his small charge down.
The lamb went over to the baby and started to sniff him. The baby's mother laughed and gently pushed the little lamb away. Apparently satisfied with whatever he had found out, the lamb went over to Max and lie down.
"Who are you?" Sassafras was protective of her little kingdom, but even more so now.
"The shepherds haven't bothered to name me yet."
"What are you doing here?" Sassafras could not believe the lamb knew nothing of polite society.
"The shepherds came to see the baby the angels told them about."
"Angels were talking about our baby?" said Max.
"What do you mean 'our baby'? All you did was get the humans and too late to help at that."
"Are you two finished?" Max and Sassafras looked at the lamb like she was crazy. "The shepherds had just settled down for the night, making supper and telling stories. Anyway, my shepherd saw a bright light on the horizon. At first, they thought it might be a fire, but it got brighter. When it was almost directly overhead, we saw that it was a band of angels singing the most beautiful song about good news and great joy. Then one of the angels spoke and told us the Messiah had been born tonight in Bethlehem and told us how to find him and here we are."
"What's a Messiah?"
"I don't know, the shepherds were very excited."
Conversation ceased as they went back to watching the baby sleep.
Please let me know what you think.
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Can I have it to read to my kids next Christmas?
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