the donkey's dream.

What ingredients go into your favorite Christmas drink or beverage?

Chai tea, eggnog, and nutmeg.

Today I want to share one of my favorite Christmas picture books with you.

Once there was a gray donkey. He was walking along as usual, with a load on his back. A man was leading him. And as they walked on and on through the starry night, the donkey began to dream.

He dreamed he was carrying a city, with gates and towers and temple domes. He dreamed a child cried in the city. And doves flew all around.

He dreamed he was carrying a ship. It rocked like a cradle. It shone like the moon. And the sea danced all around.

He dreamed he was carrying a fountain. Its water splashed and sang like a child’s laughter. And a garden sprang from the desert sand all around.

He dreamed he was carrying a rose, soft as a mother’s touch and sweet as the sleep of a baby. Angels stood all around.

Then he dreamed he was carrying a lady full of heaven. They had come to a town. But only the village dogs ran to greet them. The man knocked on a door. It did not open, so they had to go on. The donkey followed him down narrow alleyways paved with cobblestones.

They came to a place that smelled of hay, with a watering trough and a cave for a stable. The man helped the lady down from the donkey’s back. Then he took the donkey’s saddle off and followed the lady into the cave.

But the donkey was left alone outside. He had walked so long, his back was aching and his legs were sore. One star high above him shone in the watering trough below. The tired donkey drank.

Just then, a cry rang out in the cave. And its echo rang like a bell, over the hills, all around. The night was so still, even the stars heard it. The man came out of the cave. He whispered to the donkey, “Come.”

Together, they went inside the cave, where the lady lay on a bed of hay. The donkey’s saddle was her pillow. She smiled. “Come,” she said to the donkey. “See what we have carried all this way, you and I.”

It was only a tiny child. Yet, when the baby opened his eyes, the cave was full of light. The donkey blinked. But he was not dreaming now. He was awake.

And suddenly, the donkey was not tired anymore, though he had carried a city, a ship, a fountain, a rose, and all the heavens upon his back.

-The Donkey’s Dream by Barbara Helen Berger