Christmas Miracle.

"Wow, Mom, look at that tree! It's so beautiful!" exclaimed Riley.

"Yes, it is beautiful, maybe in the future we'll get one like that too!" Her Mom said putting her daughter under her arm and pulling her close. "One day we'll have a tree, one that makes this one look small and bland in comparison."

"I hope so, but right now... I just want a blanket." Riley's Mom quickly took off her jacket and wrapped it around her daughter to make her warm. Now she felt it, the cold freezing flakes of snow landing on her skin. It made it impossible to think about anything else. "Thanks, Mommy!"

"Of course, sweetie."

"Mom, what day is it?"

"Well, it's Christmas Eve, the day before Christmas?"

"Wow, Christmas is so cool."

"Yes it is."

"Everyone here is buying awesome gifts for each other!"

"Yes, they are."

"It looks like people are buying the bigger gifts for the ones that they love! Like their family! They love their family!" Upon hearing this, the Mom became lost in thought. Did her daughter really think the bigger the gift, the more the person loves you? What would she think of the gift that I got for her?

"I wish we could buy all those gifts for other people."

"Me too, sweetie."

"But I know we don't have any money, so it's OK." The Mom didn't respond to this. Was her daughter disappointed in the situation they were in, especially on a day like Christams Eve.

"Momma, do you think I can go in to one of those stores? Just to look?" Riley stared at her Mom with hopeful eyes.

"Yes, just make sure not to touch anything."

"OK," Riley responded already running off across the street into the store that all last minute shoppers were piling into. The Mom watched her daughter disappear among the crowd.

Later that night she returned with a smile on her face. "What happened sweetie?"

"Nothing," she wrapped herself in her Mom's jacket and went to sleep. Tomorrow was Christmas, Riley's favorite time of the year, and we still haven't moved from this spot in three months, the Mom thought. Am I a bad mother? Does Riley think I'm a bad mother? She too went to sleep with all this in mind, only hoping that tomorrow would go well.

"Merry Christmas!" Riley yelled to wake her Mom up.

"Merry Christmas sweetie!"

"Look what I got you!" Riley pulled out a small snow globe with a large Christams tree in the middle. It was beautiful. "See, that's the Christmas tree we'll have one day!"

"How did you get this?"

"They gave it to me?"

"Who?"

"The elves!"

"The elves?"

"Yeah, they gave it to me and said that you would love it!"

"I do. Thank you Riley. You see, I have a gift to give you too..." The Mom pulled out the same snow globe from under her bag. The same brilliant Christmas tree with glitter flying through the air.

"You got the same one! It's so cool!" Riley said grabbing the globe from her Mom. "Here take yours," Riley said giving the other globe to her Mom. "One day, we're gonna have an even better tree than this! Just wait till next year!"

"Next year?"

"Yeah, the elves said they are gonna set up something big next year."

"Where did you meet this elves?"

"In the store." The Mom said nothing knowing that these "elves" were probably just employees selling her daughter false information.

"That's nice sweetie."

"They said you wouldn't believe me, they said you'd probably think they're employees. But they said you'll come around. And when next year hits, we'll have a new life." Riley just sat there playing with her new snow globe. There's no way Riley actually met elves, Santa's elves, that's... well that's impossible. Isn't it?