The Christmas Spider
Once upon a time in Germany long
ago, a gentle mother was busily
cleaning the house for the most
wonderful day of the year - the day on
which the Christ child was to come
and bring the gifts on Christmas Eve.
Not a speck of dust was left. Even the
spiders had been banished from their
cozy corner in the ceiling. To avoid the
housewife's busy cleaning, they finally
fled to the farthest corner of the
forgotten attic.
'Twas Christmas Eve at last; the tree was
decorated, and the children
delighted. But the poor spiders were
frantic, for they could not see the tree,
nor be present for the Christ Child's visit.
But the oldest and wisest spider
suggested that perhaps they could peep
through the crak in the door and
see Him. Silently they crept out of their
attic, and across the floor to wait in
the crack on the threshold.
Suddenly, the door opened a wee bit,
and quickly the spiders sneaked into
the room. The tree towered so high they
couldn't see the ornaments on top.
In fact, their eyes were so small they
could see only one ornament at a
time. They scurried up the trunk, out
along each branch, filled with a happy
wonder at the glittering beauty. Every
place they went they left a trail of
dusty, grey web. When at last they had
inspected every fit of the Christmas
tree, it was shrouded in a dusty grey of
spider webs.
The Christ Child smiled as he thought
of the happy spiders seeing His tree.
But as he thought of how brokenhearted
the mother would be over the dusty tree.
He reached out His hand and touched the
webs and blessed them. They all turned
to shimmering sparkling silver and gold.
The tree glistened in greater beauty than
before. And so it became a custom to
have a spider among decorations on the
Christmas tree.