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Allowing my gaze to change focus, I slowly pan the mosaic of plain-clothed men, women and children. Dressed for winter, these visitors, fit shoulder-to-shoulder, move in unison.


Cheerily belting holiday tunes accompanied by a spry pipe organ, lively piano and an attentive violin, the whole makeshift congregation is as one. Some sitting, others standing, all fixed on a magical feast of glad tidings.

Still waiting out in the cold, I notice a Tom cat – plump and jittery – scamper past the feet of strangers. My determination to find what I am seeking has not ceased. Eventually, a small band of folks file out of the Nora Store into crisp December air, leaving room for a few of us to enter.


(Meet me here on Dec. 4, 2020, for the final installment of "Locating Christmas - An Advent Allegory. " Until then, what are you determined to find?)