Mr. Snappy, the old snapping turtle, slowly closed big dark glassy eyes. His big swaying head disappeared into the safety of his cozy shell. Just settling into his afternoon nap, he heard snuffling at the edges of his shell.
Then he was violently rocked back and forth! Snapping his head out from under his shell with powerful neck muscles, he growled: “What’s going on out here!? Didn’t you see that my shell was closed for the afternoon!? That means I’m not home! Not available for your silly games. Remember!?”
It was Ellie. A very excited little grey elephant. Ellie cried out to the old turtle “Mr. Snappy! Mr. Snappy! It’s Christmas time in the human’s village!”
“Christmas time!” Snappy snorted through his sharp, curved mouth. “Why did you wake me up for that? It’s Christmas time every year at this time. And every year some humans are happy and some humans are sad. And a lot of humans get things that they don’t even need or want. All I need and want is some peace and quiet so I can take a nap! So go away and leave me alone!”
Ellie, the little grey elephant pouted “But Mr. Snappy, the human children down at the oasis are having so much fun gathering all manner of things. They said they’re going to decorate their homes for Christmas. They’re having so much fun! What is Christmas anyway?” Sighing and tipping her little grey head, grey floppy ears to one side, her tiny, grey trunk drooped sadly.
“Didn’t your mother ever tell you about it? Why don’t you go ask her and let me sleep?” Ellie was kind of scared when Mr. Snappy sounded so grumpy. “She’s gone off with the herd. She told me to come and find you. So there!”
Ellie’s mother, Mattie, matriarch of a small herd of elephants, was an old friend of Mr. Snappy. About the same age, Mattie and Mr. Snappy had grown up together remaining fast friends for many years. So, when Mattie had matriarch duties to attend to, she sent Ellie to stay with Mr. Snappy.
Ellie was always proud that she gone on her own. She didn’t know that her mother kept her in sight until Ellie was safely there. Ellie liked her visits with Mr. Snappy partly because she was taller than he was, but mostly she liked Mr. Snappy’s stories. At home with the herd all she saw was dumb old elephant legs. Everyone was taller than she was.
“Mr. Snappy, you can’t nap now. You have to tell me about Christmas. Mother said that you knew all about it!” With that she plopped down on her soft grey bottom, threw her little trunk up in the air and started to cry. It was a funny braying sound making the stalks of grass quiver and Mr. Snappy shiver. Big tears rolled down her little elephant cheeks.
“There, there. Don’t cry.” The gruff old voice had softened, but only a bit. “I’ll tell you what I know. It happened a long time ago when I was a tiny turtle, smaller than the bottom of your foot. Then I was bright green with little dots of red. I was small, but quite handsome.”
Mother Turtle always sheltered us very close to the oasis pond so we could slip in and out of the water easily. At night, she made sure our shells were closed up tight when it was time for us to sleep. One night, we tiny turtles had just gone to sleep when the ground started to shake so hard that it scared us wide awake! Peeking out from under my shell in the darkness, all I could see was what looked like big hairy trees with sharp rocks at the bottom. I learned later they were the long legs and hooves of camels. The very camels that would take me on an adventure."
“Shh,” Mother Turtle whispered "The humans are talking about where they had come from and where they are going." One human in long beautiful robes said 'The star is still in the East. It hasn’t moved! It’s been the steadiest guide I have ever seen."
Mr. Snappy continued, “Mother Turtle told us the men, each from different lands, were following a bright star they had seen in the east. They had each been drawn from their different lands to follow the star's bright light that shone so steadily. Unknown to each other, the three men had finally come together at the very oasis that Mother Turtle had sheltered us in.”
“What did you do? Did your mother make you go back to sleep?” Ellie whispered.
“I only pretended to go back to sleep. As soon as I saw all the other turtle shells rocking gently in sleep, I scurried over to the closest camel. I crawled inside the sack that drooped down onto the desert sand at his side. I wanted to see where they were going. I wanted to go with them. I didn’t know that I would be going so far and would not to see my family again for many days.”
“Then what happened?” Ellie was still sitting where she had plopped when Mr. Snappy had been so grumpy with her, but now the little ears were opened as wide as two soft grey pink lined fans. Her tears had dried up and her big brown eyes sparkled with excitement. Her little grey trunk poked the air impatiently with each pause of Snappy’s low and slow voice.
“In the morning, three big camels, carrying their three humans on lumpy camel humps, rose slowly to their feet. The soft sack swayed, tossing me into a corner where all manner of things were jumbled together. One of the camels, Calvin, had seen me crawl aboard the following night. Hearing me sniffling in the sack at his side he groaned a deep camel groan “Don’t be afraid. I’ll take care of you.”
After two long days and two long nights through the dry desert plain, the camels finally stopped. With another groan, Calvin said “Looks like we’re here. Where ever that is.” He slowly knelt down to the ground, making sure the sack at his side was stretched out on the sand. I crawled up to the edge and listened to the camels' riders.
The first human muttered thoughtfully 'That star has led us here, but there does not look to be anything of value in this desolate looking little town! How disappointing."
The second said "Don’t be so certain. We haven’t seen inside of any of these buildings yet."
The third human said "Let’s take our camels to the barn for water and feed. We can stay here for the night and study where we are in the morning light."
Mr. Snappy gruffly said "I still couldn’t understand their words, but it sounded like one was disappointed, one was curious and the other was patient."
“Well then, how do you know what any of them said?”
“Calvin translated into turtle talk, of course!” Mr. Snappy snapped.
“You still haven’t told me about Christmas!”
“Slow down, little Ellie, open your ears up again and listen. We went to the barn that night, expecting it to be quiet and dark. Opening the barn doors into brightness, the three men were surprised. And there was, in the middle stall, a little human family gathered. The bright light was from the star we had followed and it shone over them. And in the manger was the tiniest human I have ever seen. He was clothed in blankets and lay on a bed of straw. That picture of Christmas has stayed with me ever since.”
“That’s Christmas?! I thought it would be something exciting like the presents that the human children are gathering”
“No little one, it’s not. Christmas is a birthday. The birthday of the human little one who carried a glowing spirit-light from that beautiful, bright star. As he grew and lived his life, he shared that spirit-light with all that needed or wanted it.”
“So humans think that presents are the just like a light?”
“Unfortunately many do. What many have not understood is that giving is the spirit-light of Christmas and is more important than all of the presents.”
“So if I give my mom a flower ~ or give you time to nap ~ am I being sort of like Christmas?”
“Yes, you certainly are.”
“But that happens any time, not on any special day.”
“I know, child. That also means that you can give Christmas presents all year long to anyone you feel like.”
With that, Ellie set about gathering flowers in her tiny trunk to give to her mother who would soon be home. Curling her little trunk around Mr. Snappy's old brown shell she said softly “Mr. Snappy, you go for your nap now and I’ll make sure that my mom doesn’t wake you up when she comes to get me. Merry Christmas.”
“Every gift which is given, even though it be small,
is in reality great, if it is given with affection.”
~ Pindar
