The Inside Story of “An Immigrant Christmas” by Angelina Fast 

“Tell us your stories, Grandma. Tell us about the war, about immigration,” my oldest grandson said as he was preparing one of his pizza creations for me to enjoy.

Kindness carves inroads into hearts lost in strange places.

We sat down at a small round table in front of a window in the café where my grandson serves as a cook. While I sipped my coffee and waited for the pizza, I thought, Tell you stories? You mean open this vault of memories that I’ve so safely locked away?

That vault had cracked open one day as a friend and I were visiting a display of World War II in a museum in Ottawa. We both fled the space, shaking, sick to our stomachs. Seeing images we thought we had blocked from memory had brought on an overwhelming surge of emotion.

And now you want me to open this vault again?

My mind wandered to Scripture passages that encourage us to tell our children about the Lord and especially relate to them the work the Lord has done in our lives.

So I took courage, slowly opened the locked door of this memory bank, and… out poured a book.

I chose the title Finding Shelter, because what emerged was the amazing blessing of being sheltered. Sheltered in the midst of enemy soldiers yelling, calling us horrible names, taking everything we had, from our bicycles to our food, our schools, our homes, our family, our friends…

When peace finally returned, our parents thought it best to leave our war-torn country and find a place which promised more of a future for their children. Today we see many images of immigrants fleeing war-torn countries with everything they own on their backs. We see many of them flee on foot, others on unsafe water craft. We came by boat, a solid safe one. As we were leaving Europe, sailing for our “promised land” named Canada, one question preoccupied the minds of those of us gathered at the railing: “What will be waiting for us?”

Waiting for us, back then, was not government assistance nor health insurance; what was waiting for us were the people of Canada. Canadians had liberated us from the oppressive enemy, and now Canadians were waiting to welcome us.

One of the things I brought with me from my country of origin was the memory of a small, blond, curly head—one of the starving children of the war. Despite all she had suffered, she still had a song in her heart. A Christmas song. I carried her song with me to our new home, and Canadians—ordinary citizens—fleshed out the message of her song. Then I wrote the story of our first Christmas in Canada for this book.

Angelina Fast is a 20-year cancer survivor who begins each day with thanksgiving. Her writing includes nonfiction books, articles, and poetry. She has won three first-place awards for writing. Her books include The Valley of Cancer and Seven Angels for Seven Days. Widowed twice, she walked with her second husband through a decade-long struggle with dementia. In her next book, she hopes to encourage other caregivers. She makes her home in St. Catharines, Ontario.

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