🌟 A Christmas Memory That Never Really Leaves

Issue #25-359 12/25/25

Author

Sandy Zuniga
25 Dec • Reading Time: 14 minutes

COS Town Tidings #25-359

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🌟 A Christmas Memory, A Swallow, and the Kind of Love That Stays

Recipe: 🥐 Pecan Scones

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🌟 A Christmas Memory, A Swallow, and the Kind of Love That Stays

By Sandy Zuniga

A Christmas Memory, A Swallow, and the Kind of Love That Stays

When I was a little girl, I had a quiet Christmas tradition that was all my own. While the rest of the house settled into its familiar holiday rhythms, I would slip into our sunken living room, turn on the Christmas tree lights, and sit cross‑legged in front of the big wooden stereo console (yes, it even had an 8‑track player).

The room smelled like spruce and cinnamon, the scented candle that always meant the holiday was here, and the glow from the tree made the whole room feel still, like time had slowed down.

And in that quiet, I would listen to a story I returned to year after year: The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde. 🎧

It’s a fairy tale filled with beauty and sorrow, the kind of story that seems simple on the surface but carries a depth you only understand when you are ready. It follows a compassionate statue and a little Swallow who work together to bring comfort to those in need. Their journey is full of selflessness, sacrifice, and the kind of love that does not announce itself. It simply gives. 💗

The first moment that struck me was when the Happy Prince asked the Swallow to pluck his sapphire eyes from his face. One eye went to a starving playwright shivering in his attic trying to write his story. The other went to a little match girl who had dropped her matches in the snow and would be beaten if she returned home empty‑handed.

The Swallow knew that giving the second eye meant the Prince would be completely blind. He knew winter was coming. He knew he should leave.

But he stayed. Not out of obligation. Not out of fear. But because that was the heart of the Swallow…loyal, devoted, quietly brave.

Later in the story, after staying too long, the Swallow dies at the Prince’s feet. The townspeople mock the statue and the motionless Swallow. They tear it down the statue, melt it, and discard what they cannot understand. The Prince’s heart will not melt, so they throw it onto a rubbish heap. There, beside it, lies the lifeless Swallow. 🕊️

And when God asks for the two most precious things in the city, an angel brings Him the heart of the Happy Prince and the body of the Swallow.

That was the moment that broke me open. I remember sitting there in the glow of the Christmas lights, tears streaming down my face before I even understood why. Something in that recognition…that quiet honoring of love and sacrifice, reached a place in me I didn’t yet have language for.

The story reveals what is truly precious in this world, and it isn’t gold or beauty or anything that sparkles on the outside. It’s the heart that loves quietly. The loyalty that stays. The kind of devotion that doesn’t need applause to be real. ❤️

As a little girl, I didn’t know why this story moved me so deeply. I only knew that something in it felt true. Now, looking back, I think I understand. I longed to be worthy of the kind of love I had to give, to be appreciated for the heart I carried, the one I hoped might someday be seen as something precious too.

And in this story, it was not the townspeople who understood the Swallow’s devotion. It was the angels. 😇

They saw the love that was quiet. The sacrifice that was unseen. The loyalty that cost everything. And they called it precious.

I hadn’t heard this story in years, until I recently found a version on YouTube that still has that nostalgic, scratchy sound of an old record. Listening again brought me right back to that little girl sitting alone by the tree, letting the story wash over her, feeling things she did not yet have words for.

And it reminded me of something I think we all need during this season. A moment to pause. To breathe. To reflect. To honor the love have, even when it goes unspoken.

🎁 So today, I want to offer this story to you simply as a gift.

If you can, sometime in the next few days, give yourself thirty minutes. Find a quiet corner, turn on a soft light, and let yourself listen.

May this season bring you warmth, reflection, and the quiet reassurance that the love you carry, the love you give…is appreciated, valued, and more precious than you know.

🎄 Merry Christmas, from my heart to yours. 🤗

 

💖 Carrying on the theme of selfless love…have you seen the Bargain Box story? 👇

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🥐 Pecan Scones

Recipe by Amy’s Healthy Baking

These breakfast scones are lightly sweetened, and they use a special (but common!) ingredient to achieve a classic bakery-style flavor. You can whip up this easy recipe any day of the week, they only take 30 minutes to make!

 

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