It was Christmas time in the Lewis’ one room house and nobody was happy. It was the beginning of the Great Depression and all they heard on the radio was news of endless debts and stories of helplessness and homelessness. So, even though the Lewis’ mom had loved the radio when she was alive, they turned it off. They were all depressed, annoyed, and sad at Christmas time. This was the time their mother died, and of course they had little money to give gifts to one another. No one in their house was in a giving spirit, but that was all about to change.
It was the morning of December 23 and Kerry, the eldest daughter of the Lewis family was making the usual, disgusting, plain, porridge for breakfast. She went over to the cabinet, where they kept their money and looked at the dwindling supply as she got some spoons and set them behind the bowls of porridge she had already made. Having set out the family breakfast, Kerry went to do the laundry. Laundry wouldn’t clean itself, and it was her day to clean. When she came back she heard music, calming classical music. “That’s weird,” Kerry thought. Nobody in her house was awake and no one listened to music in her family. She tried to change the channel to the news but it wouldn’t budge. Then, after everyone awoke, Rosita, the youngest Lewis daughter, asked for Kerry to put up her hair; and Abita asked to borrow Kerry’s coat. Normally no one asked for anything, they just told each other what to do. Soon lunch came and after the lunch portion of porridge the radio moved to the door and sat down, but the Lewis’ didn’t notice. They were busy listening to the music and talking like the family they used to be. They listened to the radio. For the first time since their mother died, the Lewis family avoided the hustle and bustle of the streets and stayed home together. They started to go back to their old attitudes and fell asleep with smiles on their faces.
December 24 rolled along and Rosita, the Lewis’ youngest daughter, was making breakfast when she heard Christmas music pop on the radio. It wasn’t even on before; it had turned itself on. Rosita scurried over to it and tuned it off. It switched back on again. Rosita having a wonderful voice started singing the Christmas carols her mom once sang with the radio. “It was so nice to sing again,” Rosita thought, “but wouldn’t her dad be mad at her.” But surprisingly, when her father woke up he said that they had to get their Christmas decorations up. After all, there was only one day until Christmas! Rosita, Kerry, and Abita, the Lewis’ daughters, got the decorations out and were happy to make their dreary house look lively again. The Depression was out of their minds and, for once, the family seemed happy again. The day was spent hanging up stockings with care, decorating a small tree from the woods behind their house. It didn’t matter to them that they didn’t have money for fantastic presents. All they cared about was loving each other.
Christmas was perfect in the Lewis’ house that year. When the work of the radio was complete, he turned himself off and waited, listening to see if they would need him again.
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