He was on the point of retreating when his eye fell upon the fireplace–one of those vast tavern chimneys where there is always so little fire when there is any fire at all, and which are so cold to look at. There was no fire in this one, there was not even ashes; but there was something which attracted the stranger’s gaze, nevertheless. It was two tiny children’s shoes, coquettish in shape and unequal in size. The traveller recalled the graceful and immemorial custom in accordance with which children place their shoes in the chimney on Christmas eve, there to await in the darkness some sparkling gift from their good fairy. Eponine and Azelma had taken care not to omit this, and each of them had set one of her shoes on the hearth.
The traveller bent over them.
The fairy, that is to say, their mother, had already paid her visit, and in each he saw a brand-new and shining ten-sou piece.
The man straightened himself up, and was on the point of withdrawing, when far in, in the darkest corner of the hearth, he caught sight of another object. He looked at it, and recognized a wooden shoe, a frightful shoe of the coarsest description, half dilapidated and all covered with ashes and dried mud. It was Cosette’s sabot. Cosette, with that touching trust of childhood, which can always be deceived yet never discouraged, had placed her shoe on the hearth-stone also.
Hope in a child who has never known anything but despair is a sweet and touching thing.
There was nothing in this wooden shoe.
The stranger fumbled in his waistcoat, bent over and placed a louis d’or in Cosette’s shoe.
Then he regained his own chamber with the stealthy tread of a wolf.
From Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
Christmas is an expensive time. Just to buy presents and a Christmas tree and all the special ingredients for Christmas treats and tickets to all the Christmas entertainments for our family of eleven is a budget-breaking endeavor. But find something in your budget to give away, to reward that “hope in a child who has never know anything but despair.” Here are a few suggestions:
Prison Fellowship’s Angel Tree Project
Mennonite Central Committee Giving Projects
Southern Baptist Disaster Relief
Or click on the kettle on the side bar to contribute to the Salvation Army. They do good work all year round, and my kettle goal is $100.00. Please consider giving generously in honor of our Saviour’s birth.
Joel Robert Poinsett died on this date in 1851. He was the first Ambassador from the United States to Mexico (1825-1829) appointed by President James Madison. Poinsett studied medicine and law and became a diplomat, but his avocation was botany. He brought the poinsettia plant back from Mexico to his plantation greenhouse in South Carolina and proceeded to propagate and send plants to all his friends. 
“Unfortunately, as ambassador, Poinsett meddled so much in the affairs of Mexico and the rest of Latin America that the Mexicans coined a word, poinsettismo, which means obnoxious and interfering behavior. Finally, with his life in danger, Poinsett was recalled to Washington and fled Mexico on Christmas day 1829.” —
