Senior (Life)Style with Eileen O’Brien

The following story is my Christmas gift to each and every one of you. If truth be told, it’s been my gift to the readers of my columns for close to fifty years. The story is like a diamond – always brilliant and ready to be passed down to the next generation.

The story is best read on December 25th, accompanied by a cup of coffee, eggnog or whatever else is your pleasure, during that period of the day when what wasn’t accomplished just doesn’t really matter and what has to be accomplished hasn’t been thought about yet. So sit down, get comfy, take a deep breath, and enjoy! 

ONCE UPON A TIME… at a Church not unlike those we know and  love in our own Rockland County, Christmas Day had dawned. The past year had brought with it the usual share of happiness, sadness, prosperity, depression, turmoil, joy and pain. Now the church of which we are speaking of was especially blessed this particular year in that the parish had been able to purchase a beautiful new nativity set. 

The time of this story is approximately 1:30 p.m., and the pastor of the church, who has just finished celebrating the last Christmas Day Mass, was leisurely walking back to the rectory. Passing by the nativity scene, Pastor Kenneth is horror stricken when he notices that the Infant Jesus, who was lying in the manager just an hour ago, is missing! The priest runs into the rectory, ascertains that everyone is as shocked as he, and so he calls the police.

Now on this Christmas Day, assigned to this particular sector of the County, Police Officers Michael O’Toole and Frank Presti are patrolling on their appointed rounds. Mike O’Toole, a fifteen year veteran of the force, is married to Kathleen, is a father of four kids and has a firm desire to be home at this very moment watching his kids enjoy the gifts it took him two weeks to assemble. Frank Presti, on the other hand, has been on the force just four short years, is single and feels he probably will remain so if he doesn’t stop working all  the holidays. It’s not that Frank can’t use the money or doesn’t like the job, but this was the day he had planned to ask Maria to marry him and give her the ring that had been burning a hole in his pocket for a week! Two men, one car, each wishing they were somewhere else, when a message suddenly came through on their radio.

“Car 70, respond to…Church (garbled words)…possible abduction.”

O’Toole and Presti race to the Church and immediately see Father Kenneth pacing in front of the nativity scene. The ensuing conversation goes something like this…

O’TOOLE: Good afternoon, Father Kenneth.

PRIEST: Good day, Officers. I’m so sorry to have to call you here, but I discovered that the Infant was missing.

PRESTI: Of course Father. How long has it been since the child was last seen?

PRIEST: About an hour.

O’TOOLE: Sex of the child?

PRIEST: Male

PRESTI: What was the child dressed in?

PRIEST: Swaddling clothes.

PRESTI: Name of parents?.

PRIEST: Mary and Joseph

O’TOOLE: Name of the child?

PRIEST:  Jesus

Believe it or not, the questioning was about to continue along this vein, when from around the corner came little Miguel Sanchez intently pulling his shiny new red wagon. So involved were the three men in their conversation that they didn’t take much notice of little Miguel until the Priest, out of the corner of his eye, noticed that Miguel was placing something in the empty manger. Upon further investigation, all three men realized that it was the statue of the infant! The Priest found his voice first and asked Miguel what he thought he was doing. Miguel looked up at all three men and his reply went something like this…

MIGUEL: Father, this year Mommy and Daddy told me that Santa couldn’t bring me the red wagon I asked for since Daddy lost his job so he couldn’t help Santa deliver presents. So I prayed to the Baby Jesus and promised Him that if He spoke to Santa to help my Dad find a job and me to get a wagon, I would give the Baby Jesus at the Church the first ride in my new wagon. 

The cops looked at the priest, the priest looked at the cops, they all looked down at Miguel and without a word the men all slowly parted. O’Toole was thinking that maybe it wasn’t so bad having to work today. After all, in a couple of hours he’d be home to help Kathleen and the kids find the pieces of toys that got lost and repair any broken ones. Presti knew that Maria would be waiting with their families and that there were going to be a lifetime of Christmas Days after they were married. It was now almost 2:30 p.m. and after inspecting the Creche one more time, Pastor Kenneth quickly walked to his next scheduled assignment when a prayer came to him that he had learned as a child and hadn’t thought about in many years:

Lord, Your Son was once a child.

Give me the heart of a child.

Forever eager, loving and swift forgiving.

Give me the faith of a child.

And we may call you Father.

TO ALL MY READERS:  May whatever holiday you celebrate be full of joy and may 2026 bring only the best to you, your family, friends, and those you haven’t met yet.

Now all I want for Christmas is more cooking classes in 2026, led by Valerie Muldrow, my favorite community activist, Matt Veronesi, Superintendent of Clarkstown Parks and Recreation (Make sure you ask Matt about his “Big Daddy Mash” recipe!) and Michelle Kleinman, RDN, Rockland County Dept. of Health, who can all three be depended upon to keep us on the dietary, yet delicious, straight and narrow at future cooking classes at Street School’s very popular new program in Clarkstown. Like the recipes we learn to prepare…Perfect together.

Sláinte! (Health in Irish)!                        

Eileen