When The Christ Child Disappeared

This is old Austrian Christmas tradition: the Christchild comes invisible before Christmas eve and puts the gifts under the tree.

Ringing – the bell rang and full of excitement, we went to the living room door. This opened and a paralyzing fright overtook me, complete emptiness! What had happened? Our apartment had an eat-in kitchen, a hallway from which you entered the living room. Attached to it was the bedroom.

Whenever it was Christmas time, the mysterious time would begin and, in the week before Christmas Eve, we children were forbidden to enter the living room, because the Christ Child was already working there. But since we all slept in the bedroom, there was an exciting procedure every evening. Mom put a blindfold on us, dad took us in his arms and carried us through the living room into the bedroom, where we had to go to bed right away.How I strained all my senses to somehow grasp something of the mystery. Mmm, it smelled so good like fir brushwood and somehow also often like gingerbread. I sharpened my ears: hadn’t something rung very quietly? Could it have been the Christ Child? In complete expectation and excitement, I always fell asleep quickly so that the Christ Child could continue to work undisturbed.

One day, my brother and I could no longer stand the tension. We decided to look into the living room through the keyhole. My stomach was tingling at the thought, and even though my parents weren’t home at that time, I felt like I was being watched. Would we see the Christ Child? What would happen if we peeked through the keyhole? We had been told that if we went into the room, the Christ Child would fly away. But if we just risked a peek through the keyhole? We did – what a magnificent sight was the beautifully decorated Christmas tree!

Suddenly, the apartment door opened, the parents stood there and saw our deed. “Now the Christ Child has surely flown away,” my mother said, “we will see that tomorrow on Christmas Eve.” What a shock and remorse ran through me at that moment.

And then Christmas Eve came. As always, the first thing we would do was eat in the kitchen. I could hardly eat anything because of the excitement and then the bell rang! We ran to the living room – and stood frozen in front of a completely empty room. No decorations, no gifts, no Christmas tree! The Christ Child had disappeared with everything because of our stupidity. There was a flood of tears from my brother and me, and sobbing we explained how sorry we were. But did the Christ Child hear this distress of my heart?

After a serious lecture, my parents sent us back to the kitchen, where we remained for some time, crying and trembling. Then the bell rang once again. Again, we stepped in front of the living room door and waited. When it opened, my heart made a joyous leap. There it stood, the wonderful Christmas tree and the sparkling burning candles were shining. Underneath there were the gifts!