Quotes on Angels and “Papa Panov’s Special Christmas” (Dec. 2023)

Susan’s Thursday morning note December 14, 2023
Papa Panov’s Special Christmas (translated by Leo Tolstoy)
Quotes on angels in our presence.
"I will not wish thee riches, nor the glow of greatness, but that wherever thou go some weary heart shall gladden at they smile, or shadowed life know sunshine for a while.  And so thy path shall be a track of light, like angels' footsteps passing through the night."

Good morning!  Early morning silence.  Strong coffee.  Christmas lights.  Christmas books.  Beautiful silence to collect thoughts.  Again my angel of dawn has woken me with the gift of this new day.  I would like to rewrite out for you in it’s entirety a short Christmas story that helps me keep focus as I enter this season.   Papa Panov’s Special Christmas.  This Christmas story was written by Ruben Saillens and then translated and rewritten around 1890 by Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy.  I instantly am able to enter the quiet scene.  Loneliness.  Love.  Memories.  The presence of God in the basement of a poor cobbler.

“It was Christmas Eve and although it was still afternoon, lights had begun to appear in the shops and houses of the little Russian village, for the short winter day was nearly over.  Excited children scurried indoors and now only muffled sounds of chatter and laughter escaped from closed shutters.  Old Papa Panov, the village shoemaker, stepped outside his shop to take one last look around.  The sounds of happiness, the bright lights and the faint but delicious smells of Christmas cooking reminded him of past Christmas times when his wife had still been alive and his own children little.  Now they had gone.  His usually cheerful face, with the little laughter wrinkles behind the round steel spectacles, looked sad now.  But he went back indoors with a firm step, put up the shutters and set a pot of coffee to heat on the charcoal stove.  Then, with a sigh, he settled in his big armchair.

Papa Panov did not often read, but tonight he pulled down the big old family Bible and, slowly tracing the lines with one forefinger, he read again the Christmas story.  He read how Mary and Joseph, tired by their journey to Bethlehem, found no room for them at the inn, so that Mary’s little baby was born in the cowshed.  “Oh, dear, oh, dear!” exclaimed Papa Panov, “if only they had come here!  I would have given them my bed and I could have covered the baby with my patchwork quilt to keep him warm.”  He read on about the wise men who had come to see the baby Jesus, bringing him splendid gifts.  Papa Panov’s face fell. “I have no gift that I could give him,” he thought sadly.

Then his face brightened.  He put down the Bible, got up and stretched his long arms to the shelf high up in his little room.  He took down a small, dusty box and opened it.  Inside was a perfect pair of tiny leather shoes.  Papa Panov smiled with satisfaction.  Yes, they were as good as he had remembered – the best shoes he had ever made. “I should give him those,” he decided, as he gently put them away and sat down again.  He was feeling tired now, and the further he read the sleeper he became.  The print began to dance before his eyes so that he closed them, just for a minute.  In no time at all Papa Panov was fast asleep.

And as he slept he dreamed.  He dreamed that someone was in his room and he knew at once, as one does in dreams, who the person was.  It was Jesus.  “You have been wishing that you could see me, Papa Panov,” he said kindly, “then look for me tomorrow.  It will be Christmas Day and I will visit you.  But look carefully, for I shall not tell you who I am.”  When at last Papa Panov awoke, the bells were ringing out and a thin light was filtering through the shutters. “Bless my soul!” said Papa Panov. “It’s Christmas Day!”

He stood up and stretched himself for he was rather stiff.  Then his face filled with happiness as he remembered his dream.  This would be a very special Christmas after all, for Jesus was coming to visit him.  How would he look? Would he be a little baby, as at that first Christmas?  Would he be a grown man, a carpenter – or the great King that he is, God’s Son?  He must watch carefully the whole day through so that he recognized him however he came.  Papa Panov put on a special pot of coffee for his Christmas breakfast, took down the shutters and looked out of the window.  The street was deserted, no one was stirring yet.  No one except the road sweeper.  He looked as miserable and dirty as ever, and well he might!  Whoever wanted to work on Christmas Day – and in the raw cold and bitter freezing mist of such a morning?

Papa Panov opened the shop door, letting in a thin stream of cold air. “Come in!” he shouted across the street cheerily. “Come in and have some hot coffee to keep out the cold!”  The sweeper looked up, scarcely able to believe his ears.  He was only too glad to put down his broom and come into the warm room.  His old clothes steamed gently in the heat of the stove and he clasped both red hands round the comforting warm mug as he drank.  Papa Panov watched him with satisfaction, but every now and them his eyes strayed to the window.  It would never do to miss his special visitor.

“Expecting someone?” the sweeper asked at last.  So Papa Panov told him about his dream.  “Well, I hope he comes,” the sweeper said, “you’ve given me a bit of Christmas cheer I never expected to have.  I’d say you deserve to have your dream come true.”  And he actually smiled.  When he had gone, Papa Panov put on cabbage soup for his dinner, then went to the door again, scanning the street.  He saw no one.  But he was mistaken.  Someone was coming.

The girl walked so slowly and quietly, hugging the walls of shops and houses, that it was a while before he noticed her.  She looked very tired and she was carrying something.  As she drew nearer he could see that it was a baby, wrapped in a thin shawl.  There was such sadness in her face and in the pinched little face of the baby, that Papa Panov’s heart went out to them.  “Won’t you come in,” he called, stepping outside to meet them.  “You both need a warm by the fire and a rest.”  The young mother let him shepherd her indoors and to the comfort of the armchair.  She gave a big sigh of relief.  “I’ll warm some milk for the baby,” Papa Panov said, “I’ve had children of my own- I can feed her for you.”  He took the milk from the stove and carefully fed the baby from a spoon, warming her tiny feet by the stove at the same time.  “She needs shoes,” the cobbler said.  But the girl replied, “I can’t afford shoes, I’ve got no husband to bring home money. I’m on my way to the next village to get work.”

Sudden thought flashed through Papa Panov’s mind.  He remembered the little shoes he had looked at last night.  But he had been keeping those for Jesus.  He looked again at the cold little feet and made up his mind.  “Try these on her,” he said, handing the baby and the shoes to the other.  The beautiful little shoes were a perfect fit.  The girl smiled happily and the baby gurgled with pleasure.  “You have been so kind to us, the girl said, when she got up with her baby to go.  May all your Christmas wishes come true!”

But Papa Panov was beginning to wonder if his very special Christmas wish would come true.  Perhaps he had missed his visitor?  He looked anxiously up and down the street.  There were plenty of people about but they were all faces that he recognized.  There were neighbors going to call on their families.  They nodded and smiled and wished him Happy Christmas!  Or beggars – and Papa Panov hurried indoors to fetch them hot soup and a generous hunk of bread, hurrying out gain in case he missed the Important Stranger.

All too soon the winter dusk fell.  When Papa Panov next went to the door and strained his eyes he could no longer make out the passers-by.  Most were home and indoors by now anyway.  He walked slowly back into his room at last, put up the shutters and sat down wearily in his armchair.  So it has been just a dream after all.  Jesus had not come.  Then all at once he knew that he was no longer alone in the room.  This was no dream for he was wide awake.  At first he seemed to see before his eyes the long stream of people who had come to him that day.  He saw again the old road sweeper, the young mother and her baby and the beggars he had fed.  As they passed, each whispered, “Didn’t you see me, Papa Panov?”  “Who are you?” he called out, bewildered.  Then another voice answered him.  It was the voice from his dream – the voice of Jesus.  “I was hungry and you fed me,” he said.  “I was naked and you clothed me.  I was cold and you warmed me.  I came to you today in every one of those you helped and welcomed.”  Then all was quiet and still.  Only the sound of the big clock ticking.  A great peace and happiness seemed to fill the room, overflowing Papa Panov’s heart until he wanted to burst out singing and laughing and dancing with joy.  “So he did come after all!” was all that he said.

“The golden moments in the stream of life rush past us and we see nothing but sand; the angels come to visit us, and we only know the when they are gone.”  George Elliot

“Children often have imaginary playmates. I suspect that half of them are really their guardian angels.” Eileen Elias Freeman

“Make yourself familiar with the angels and behold them frequently in spirit; for without being seen, they are present with you.”  St. Francis De Sales 

“I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.”  Michelangelo

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”  Hebrews 13:2

“I will not wish thee riches, nor the glow of greatness, but that wherever thou go some weary heart shall gladden at thy smile, or shadowed life know sunshine for a while. And so thy path shall be a track of light, like angels’ footsteps passing through the night.”  Words on a Church Wall in Upwaltham England

Sweet souls around us watch us still, press nearer to our side; into our thoughts, into our prayers, with gentle helpings glide.  Harriet Beecher Stowe

Beautiful silence.  A small possible afterthought in the mind of by our creator.  The gift of the silence with dawn.  Giving thoughts a chance to see the beauty of this gift handed right now at our door.  Life.  Will we notice what makes it beautiful?  Even if the holiday brings memories that seemingly cover up the gift of today?  Today.  What will this day bring?  Will we be able to keep our mind focused on the gift?  Several times today there will be moments of silence.  Will we capture the silence to look around and notice?  Will we accept the silence as a moment of rest in our song today?  Even if there is no moment of silence will we give our mind the gift of a few moments of peace?  Will we capture a few moments of the sand as it passes through our timers?  The sand that doesn’t stop, but gives us each grain at a moment to notice?  Eyes.  Will we look into eyes and realize there is a story behind all?  Tonight.  Tonight we will be given again the stone to write the epitaph of the moments today.  Will we have any moments worthy of carving into our stone?   Thank you for letting me enter your Thursday.  Thank you for coming over to the store for your gifts and your friendship.  We’ll have the coffee brewing extra strong and a peaceful few moments ready to hand you as you enter our door.  Susan

Latin for this week:
angelus angel
Angelus domini – angel of the Lord

Works Cited:
Tolstoy, Leo.  Papa Panov's Special Day.  Chicago  Victor Press.  1988.