Chapter 5
The daytime part of Christmas Eve moved rapidly for all those involved in the Christmas Eve service at the little country church. It was equally as busy for the all the mice that lived in the walls. When Alexa arrived she gave them all their costumes. Judachew looked so handsome, well mouse handsome, in his tuxedo.
It was a big evening. It had been tradition for all the villagers to attend the little country church on Christmas Eve. The choir members beautifully decorated the church. Mr. and Mrs. Heartrite had brought in dozens and dozens of poinsettias. Soft candlelight glowed in every window and boughs of evergreen and holly hung over every door.
The choir members were the first to arrive. They headed down the hall to put on their choir robes and warm up their voices. Mrs. Bailey had arrived earlier to prepare things for the evening. She worried about the program and how it would come off. She worried that Alexa would do well when she sang the special solo. Alexa thought her mother's worries were silly because the Christmas Eve program got better and better each year since she took it over from Mrs. Bigfitter.
Soon the local mayor, the village council, town doctors and dentists filed in. The pews were filling. For decades families would gather in the quaint little village to wish their Christmas greetings to one another and then attend church together. It was a festive village with lights and sleigh rides up and down Main St. If you drove by Santa's Toy Factory they had giant sized versions of their toys sitting on the lawn for children to see. It was a special town, a special village especially at Christmas time.
As the beginning of the service neared Pastor Goodbook noticed that snow had started to fall slowing both driving and walking traffic. “We may have to start a few minutes late. Would you let Miss Hightop know?” he asked Mrs. Bailey. Miss Hightop was the new church musician.
A few minutes before the hour Mrs. Goodbook arrived with her sons pushing her wheelchair and all her grandchildren trailing behind. They took their seats at the front of the church. There was only one pew empty and the entire village knew not to sit in it. It was the back row and it was the Bigfitter family's pew. Few people in the village wanted to make her angry. Even though there was no sign that said reserved everyone knew not to sit there.
Alexa, with Judachew in the pocket on the back of her dress, had gone to the rear of the church to watch her mother lead the songs and wave to her dad who was playing in the band. As she stood there a family came shivering in the door. They were cold and wet and had obviously walked from their home to the church in thin, worn out coats. The mother was a widow and she had in tow her daughter and two sons. Her daughter had walked on crutches through the snow for who knew how many blocks.
As they entered Alexa heard them say, “We're late. All the seats are taken,” the widow said. Her oldest son pointed to the empty back row. The widow shook her head no because she had met Mrs. Bigfitter once before under bad circumstances and did not want to be yelled at ever again.
Judachew whispered to Alexa, “Why don't they take the back pew seats?”
“That would be a horrible idea. That pew belongs to Mrs. Bigfitter and she would stop the service and make a mockery of those nice people,” Alexa whispered back.
“I guess I forgot to tell you. Mrs. Bigfitter came in the church yesterday after you left and humiliated the Pastor. She said that she and her family would not be in attendance along with all of her highly important friends,” Judachew reported.
“I see all her friends made up their own minds," she said as she gestured over the full pews. "Then I think I will tell them they can have the back pew,” Alexa said as she confidently walked up to the widow and her children. The widow refused but Alexa insisted. Their wet, thin coats and snow soaked feet would be happy to have a warm seat. The family sat down.
That action wasn't without incident. The entire church turned around and gasped. Then a thin, small, elderly lady shouted “Amen” and all the church began to laugh. It felt as if their was a great burden lifted from the church and the joy of Christmas swept in on a fresh wind.
The first carol began. By the time the third carol was being sung Mrs. Bigfitter smashed open the front door with a bang. People could hear her saying loudly and meanly, “How could they dare start the Christmas Eve Gala without ME?”
The congregation turned to see what would happen next. Old John the Janitor was hoping for a tussle but his wife told him not to encourage such things and to sit down. He responded, “It's about time that someone put that nasty old witch in her place.”
Mrs. Bigfitter was marching her family over to her pew in the back. She would evict those wet and cold squatters and take her rightful place. Then she will march right up to the front and have a word with the Pastor about this new infraction right in front of the congregation. He would never work in a church again.
As Mrs. Bigfitter took her first two steps Alexa stepped directly in front of her. Mrs. Bigfitter looked down on her and said, “Get out of my way, you wretched Bailey child.”
Alexa put on her sweetest smile. It was the type of smile that would melt a snowman. She spoke confidently to the mean-spirited woman. “Those seats are taken but you are welcome to stand in the back.”
Mrs. Bigfitter gasped. Her two daughters gasped. “No one has ever spoken to me this way before. That will be something else I will talk to the Pastor about and it is time that your Bailey family be excommunicated, thrown out, hogtied, and restricted from my church.”
Judachew whispered, “She forgot tarred and feathered.” He giggled and so did Alexa.
Alexa stood her ground but Mrs. Bigfitter prepared herself to roll over what she often referred to as ‘that miserable little child.’ She motioned for her two daughters to stand next to her as she moved forward like an army battalion. Alexa was too small to stop them and the ushers too frightened of her mean-spirited wrath to be of any help.
Suddenly twenty mice, dressed in red Christmas plaid vests, swarmed at their feet. The Bigfitter family let out blood curdling screams and then fled out of the front door banging into it as they raced from the church foyer. Nathan Mouse turned to Alexa, stood on his hind haunches and flashed her the thumbs up sign.
Mrs. Bailey decided to change the song order for the service and called out, “Let's sing that great old carol that is so appropriate for a moment like this, ‘Joy To The World.’” The congregation laughed heartily before starting the song.
The service moved quickly from that time forward. Alexa and Judachew had to hurry from their spot in the back of the church to the door they used as an entry.
Pastor Goodbook was finishing his message. It seemed to everyone that he had gotten his old zing back. He punctuated his points with stabs in the air and was laughing at jokes that weren't even funny. As he prayed to conclude his sermon Judachew moved to Alexa's shoulder and hugged her around the neck then returned to his pocket on the back of her dress.
Pastor Goodbook ended his prayer and said to all, “As you all know, my wife Mrs. Goodbook, has been ill. She is not able to sing her well-loved version of ‘Oh, Holy Night.’ Tonight we have a new soloist that we pray will extend the tradition of that carol being sung in this little country church on Christmas Eve for many, many more years. Here is Alexa Bailey.”
Alexa moved into place and picked up her microphone. She whispered a little prayer before nodding she was ready. It was something she had seen her mother do before a song. She nodded to Miss Hightop and the music began.
Alexa opened her mouth and out came the first lines.
"The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear Savior's birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!"
Alexa could not believe the sound coming out of her own mouth. She had never sounded this grown up when she sang before. She looked down at M
rs. Goodbook. She had opened her eyes as Alexa started the song and her smile slowly overtook her face as the song continued. Alexa didn't understand what was happening until a small voice came from her back saying, “It's our Christmas Eve miracle.” Judachew was right. Her voice was a miracle.
As she started into the refrain Judachew crept up her shoulder. He started singing before anyone could see him. Folks in the congregation looked everywhere for the owner of that beautiful voice. They stood and moved from side to side to located the great tenor voice. People were nudging one another to say, “Do you hear that voice?” Judachew reached Alexa's shoulder just as they sang “oh night divine” together.
The congregation, the choir, the pastor, and Mrs. Bailey gasped with shock. A mouse was singing. That alone was a miracle but he was singing so majestically beautiful that the shock of the miracle overcame everyone except for Gramma. She whispered to herself, “So that's what she was up to. That's my girl. She takes after her Gramma.”
As the two went into the second verse those watching were viewing it all through tear-filled eyes. As the second refrain began twenty mice dressed in red Christmas plaid vests stepped from the side and crawled onto the top of the modesty skirt. They harmonized beautifully with the duet.
The congregation was moved beyond their belief but as the duo reached the third verse of the carol a third voice joined the other two. It was the clear, strong voice that had made this song synonymous with Christmas Eve. It was Mrs. Goodbook.
She sat upright in her wheelchair and held her head high as the beautiful, strong notes issued from her frail body. The three continued singing until the end of the song.
The congregation was on their feet in applause as Alexa, Judachew, and the mouse choir bowed in appreciation for the applause. Pastor Goodbook hurried down to be at his wife's side. She looked up at him and said, “Help me to stand. I have to hug my little Christmas Eve miracles.” Pastor Goodbook raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Thank you, Lord, for answering a simple Christian's prayer for a Christmas Eve miracle.”
The End
Have a miracle filled Christmas
Words by Chappeau de Roquemaure
Translated by John S. Dwight
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