PART 1

Snow spread all over Utah mountains like a white blanket covering all the area around a cosy and beautiful cabin, and the whiteness of the mountains contrasted with the evergreen pine trees and the bluest of the skies, forming a lovely winter scenario. And all this beauty became even more special due to the fact that Christmas was coming soon, and families where preparing themselves to celebrate such an important and meaningful day.

 But that year humans were not the only ones who were busy making plans for the forthcoming holidays, as a closer look at the cabin revealed a tall blond man putting all his efforts into dragging a small fallen pine tree towards the house, and being attentively watched by a beautiful auburn lady and by a chubby black spaniel puppy (who was wearing a light blue sweater to protect her from the cold).

 “You’re going to have the best Christmas ya ever had, wee one! I promise!” she said, holding the animal close to her chest and immediately receiving lots of tiny kisses on her face.

“Monica, if we’re spending Christmas like humans do, don’t you think that it would be a better idea if we bought a Christmas tree, in a store, just like  humans would do?” Andrew asked, exhaustion evident on his face.

“But it wouldn’t be as beautiful as this one! Besides, the wind knocked down this wee pine tree last night and it would be a shame to leave such a beautiful and green little tree outside, useless to everything else. We can give it a new purpose by placing it by the window and hanging many ornaments and small lamps on it!”

Hearing that (and also the tiny puppy bark that followed her words, as if agreeing with the Irish angel), Andrew rolled his eyes to the sky, visibly bothered with the little task his dearest friend had assigned him. But Monica’s enthusiasm was so great that she didn’t even notice his superficial distress and kept on talking. “Besides, you will have to drag it along just a wee bit more, we’re almost at the cabin!” her voice was a mix of excitement and anxiety, “C’mon, I’ll help you!”

“Good! You can...”

Andrew was going to give her one of the ropes he was using to drag the tree all the way up to the cabin, but before he could finish his sentence, Monica left him behind and ran towards the house. Some seconds later, she reappeared bringing a huge vase, which she placed on the porch.

“See? We already have where to place it! Now you just have to bring it up!”

Sighing deeply, the blond angel had no other choice but to keep on dragging the small but rather heavy tree until the cabin, having to make a little extra effort to drag it up the seven steps of the porch.

x

 The two angels spent over an hour to arrange the tree and to place it nearby the window like Monica wanted. Little Joy was trotting around them and watched with curious tiny black eyes as they worked.

“Look at her! Our wee baby is so excited about Christmas! I guess it’s children’s favourite time of the year!”

Chucking at her association, Andrew nodded his head and scooped the little dog. “Yeah, I bet this little one can’t wait dinner time!” he said, tickling Joy’s roundish belly.

Giggling, Monica agreed. “Yes, she loves parties, you know!”

“Yes, I know our little one loves movement!”

Some minutes later, they finally finished their task. And, indeed, the small pine tree they had picked outside was far more beautiful than the one sold at a store, giving the cosy living room a special touch and a charming look, which would be complete as soon as they finished to decorate it.

”I can’t wait to hang the all those little balls and ribbons and little angels! It’ll be lovely, don’t you think?” the Irish angel said, with a broad smile on her face.

Seeing all the excitement and contentment in her sparkling brown eyes, Andrew couldn’t help but smile too. “Yes, it’s gonna be very beautiful, Monica, really!” he glanced at his pocket watch: it was past 9 o’clock, and by that time the shops were already open, “But we have to hurry if we want everything ready for tonight’s dinner! I’ll go change and we’ll set off to town, okay?”

“Ok...” she replied, still straightening the tiniest branches of the pine tree and not really giving him much attention.

Andrew took some minutes to change his clothes and when he came back he found the Irish angel on the top of a chair, placing some little red ribbons on the tree. He rolled his eyes, even though her childlike manners always amused him. “Let’s go, Monica!”

“J-Just a minute, Andrew... I’m coming...” was her feeble reply.

Noticing that she had no intention to go before finishing that task, and sensing that they would be later than they already were, the blond angel looked down at the ground, where a chubby puppy watched the Irish angel working, and took her in his arms for a few instants. “Hey little one, we promise we’re not gonna be late, ok? You’ll take care of the house and behave yourself while we’re out, won’t you?”

He received a bark and lots of wet kisses in reply and, laughing, he stroked the dog’s soft black fur. “I love you too, sweetie! And I’ll tell you a secret: there’s a bowl full of food at the kitchen waiting for a certain little puppy…”

He carefully placed Joy on the ground and the smart little dog wasted no time in rushing (always clumsily) to the kitchen. Then, the blond angel looked at Monica, who was still busy with their new Christmas tree, and had no other choice but to grab his dearest friend by the waist.

“Andrew!” she squealed, as his attitude caught her completely off-guard.

“C’mon, angel! We can finish it later!” he replied, carrying her along the way outside the house, up to where Tess’ Cadillac was. Only there, he placed the squealing angel on the ground.

“I wouldn’t say that this kind of behaviour is appropriate to the Christmas spirit!” she complained, crossing her arms in front of her chest and not pleased at all.

And he couldn’t help chuckling at her slightly upset expression on her face, which he found completely adorable. “I wouldn’t mind carrying you along a little bit more. Let’s say, for the next hundred years!” he said, smiling mischievously at her. And, try as she might, the Irish angel wasn’t able to hold the upset pout for more than a few seconds. She rolled her eyes and  smiled broadly at him.

“Now, let’s go, ‘cause we’ll have a pretty busy day!”

They got into the car and set off to the town located in the foot of the mountains.

PART 2

 The trip from the mountains to the city lasted nearly an hour. When they arrived there, Andrew drove up to the biggest shopping center in town and after parking the Cadillac, the two angels held each other’s hands and started to walk along the corridors, in search of presents to give their angelic friend.

“It was a good idea to make a list of things that Tess would like to get and I think we didn’t forget anything. And this way we won’t waste much time trying to remember...”

Andrew was holding the paper in his hand but his voice trailed off when he realised that his dearest friend’s attention was completely turned to the beautiful windows displays of the many stores that lay ahead of them, and it was impossible not to notice all her enchantment with such a wonderful Christmas decoration. Andrew chuckled at her childlike enthusiasm and she dragged him along with her to every ornamented shop they passed by.

Eventually, that wasn’t a bad idea, as the two angels ended up buying some presents in their list in some of these shops.

When they were walking along the shopping center corridor, Monica spotted, not far away from where they were, a huge toy store, with the biggest and most beautiful window display in the entire place, all set with dozens of angels.

“Oh Andrew! Take a look over there!” she exclaimed, in surprise.

“Monica, we still have to finish our shopping and go to the supermarket to buy the food for the dinner...” he remembered, but, unable to resist the pleading look she shot him, he smiled and nodded his head. “... but I guess there won’t be any problem if we go in there for a couple of minutes...”

Smiling gratefully, she grabbed his hand and they headed to the store.

But what was meant to be some minutes, turned to be over an hour, as the Irish angel was simply astonished by the many toys she laid her eyes upon. And, after looking around the entire shop, she was fascinated with a little porcelain doll, with long curly brown hair and bright green eyes, dressed up in a fancy flowered dress and wearing delicate white shoes.

“She’s so beautiful!...” Monica said, with her own eyes sparkling as if she was a little girl. Andrew gazed at her with all the love in his heart evident on his handsome face and, slowly, he backed away from her, disappearing for a few minutes. The Irish angel was so absorbed in shop seeing that she didn’t even notice his absence.

A few minutes later, she felt his gentle hand on her shoulder. “Monica, we have to go, we haven’t finished yet, there are more presents to buy.”

She sighed deeply. “Yes, you’re right...” and both left the shop.

*

They finished to buy the presents for their dear supervisor and friend (and Monica didn’t miss the opportunity to buy a beautiful coat for Andrew), and, carrying lots of bags, they were leaving the shop when the blond angel suddenly changed his direction.

“Andrew, the exit is that way...” Monica spoke.

“I know that, Angel Girl, but I have to do one more thing...”

With her eyebrows raised and a curious expression on her face, she followed him, and, in some minutes, they were back at the toy shop. “But... We’ve already been here, don’t you remember?...”

“Oh yes, I do!” he replied, smiling mysteriously and heading to the counter. The shop attendant immediately recognised him and grabbed a package decorated with many little angels.

“Here it is, sir! Have a Merry Christmas!”

“Thank you! And Merry Christmas to you, too!” the angel said, and turned to his best friend, who was burning with curiosity right beside him.

“Andrew, what is it?”

“Well, if this year we’re going to spend Christmas like humans do, I guess that pretty little doll will be my Christmas present to you, Angel Girl!” he was delighted to see her contentment and joy.

“Andrew...” was the only word that the Irish angel could utter.

“You know what’s the only problem in shopping together with you? It’ll spoil all the surprise!” he joked, not missing all the emotion in her eyes.

And, at that moment, Monica let go of the bags she was carrying with her and wrapped her arms around his neck, in a tight hug. “I love you so much!”

“I’d say that, by coincidence, I love you too, but, as we know there’s no such thing as a coincidence, I guess the Father knew exactly what he was doing when He put us together!”

Smiling, he held her for some time. Then, the Irish angel finally pulled away and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek, “Thank you...”

“You’re more than welcome! Now, we’d better get going cause we still have to buy the food for tonight’s dinner!”

*

At the entrance of the shopping center, there were a man and a woman, each one of them holding a big basket full of home made sweets and chocolate bars. On the baskets, as well as in the wrapping paper of the candies, it was written: “Thank you for helping the St. George Orphanage”.

The couple was unsuccessfully trying to call people’s attention, but nobody stopped to listen to what they were saying, as people seemed to be in a big hurry, and some of them even looked at them in an unfriendly way, mumbling something under their breath whenever they tried to come closer. Andrew and Monica were leaving the mall and noticed their feeble attempt to talk to the passers by.

“Excuse us... Could you give us a minute?...”

“Could you buy a candy and help the St. George Orphanage?...” they spoke, unsuccessfully.

Seeing that, the angels looked at each other and walked over to the couple.

“Excuse us, could you give us a minute, please?” the woman asked, for the 100^th time on that day.

Monica nodded her head. “Sure. As a matter of fact, we were just observing you!” the angel’s soothing voice causing them to smile.

“Is there anything we can do for you?” Andrew asked, in a friendly way.

“Yes... We, my wife and I, we run the St. George Orphanage, not far away from here. The address and phone number are here, in the wrapping paper of the candies and the chocolate bars.”

“We keep the orphanage with our money and donations, made by some good people who live in this town. They’re not much, but help us to keep the institution.”

“Every year, on Christmas eve, we give the children a special dinner; they get together around the Christmas tree and “Santa” shows up and gives them presents!” the man said, with a wink, and Monica and Andrew smiled at the image he had just described.

“We gather the money for the presents by selling home made candies...”  the lady explained.

“What a lovely idea!” the Irish angel said, “Have you sold many candies already?”

Deception was evident on their faces. “Not a single one...” the woman lamented, looking at the full baskets she and her husband held, “It seems that people are out of money this year or just too busy to stop and give us a little help... But... if you could buy a candy, it would mean a lot...”

“Of course we can buy, can’t we, Andrew?!”

“Sure!” the blond angel was pensive for some seconds and smiled. “In fact, we can buy all the candies you have!”

The couple’s eyes widened in surprise at what they had just heard. “I beg your pardon?”

“Yes! Andrew is right!” Monica agreed. But the man and the woman still didn’t believe in what those two strangers were saying.

“We came here to buy some presents for our friend, and we still have plenty of money left; it won’t be a problem if we give some for people who need it. Besides, we’re going to the supermarket, to buy food for tonight’s supper, and, of course, desert would be included. But, now, we already have it!”

The happiness in the couple’s faces was indescribable; the two were so grateful that they helped the angels with their bags all the way up to the car. Andrew paid for the sweets and made an extra donation to the orphanage.

“You can buy the children some candies!” he joked.

“We can’t even begin to thank you for what you’re doing for us!” the man said.

“I can hardly believe it!”

“It seems that God put you two right in our way...”

“Well, I guess He actually did, as He is always placing signs of hope and reassurance in our way; we just have to pay attention to them!” Monica remarked.

The man and the woman shook hands with them, “Thank you very much!”

“Merry Christmas to you!” the angels said.

“Merry Christmas to you both!”

Then, the two angels got into the car and left the shopping center.