A Winter Wonder-Miracle

The wind whistles through the open door, dusting the living room with fresh, glistening, white snow. Inside there is an elegant Christmas tree, twinkling in the corner of the room, adorned with unique ornaments, reminiscent of trips shared between a man and his wife. On top of the tree is a lone star devoid of any light. The charming, little, one-story farmhouse is not vacant, though it is so silent that it seemed like a Charlie Chaplin film. An elderly man, George, snoozes in his tattered old rocking chair next to the warm, crackling fireplace. George abruptly awakens, noticing the chill sneaking into the house. He groans and shuffles toward the door in his threadbare robe and raggedy slippers. As he is about to close the door, George peers out at the drifting snow. The white storm brings him back to a memory precisely fifty years ago.

He thinks back to that day, inside the magnificent Water Hill Inn, when the warm air radiated through the vents. In the ballroom lit by candles and scattered with roses, George stood in front of his friends and family. The music was cued as a vision ...