Shimmering Sunbeam and Christy’s Christmas Adventure
It was November and Christy was getting excited about Christmas. She loved everything about Christmas but Christmas Trees were always top of the list. In Christy’s mind, there was nothing more magical than a Christmas Tree. She loved the lights, the ornaments, the sparkling tinsel and the star on top of the tree. Christy loved stars almost as much as she loved her enchanted beach. Stars were fascinating not only because they sparkled and lit up the night sky but also because they were true time travellers. Christy learned in school that many of the stars she gazed at in the night sky had been around for billions of years and they were just making her aquaintance now . That really sparked her imagination. She knew Shimmering Sunbeam was born from a sunbeam and that he could travel at the speed of light. Shimmering Sunbeam or Sunbeam, as Christy called him, was so fast that he would appear before you finished thinking about calling his name. Some people think that the only thing that travels faster than light are thoughts. Christy thought that must be true because whenever she thought about something to do with Sunbeam, Sunbeam would appear before her eyes. Sunbeam was Rosy Queen of the Sunset’s steed and he pulled Rosy in her magic Chariot. Christy had first met Rosy and Sunbeam as the sun was beginning to set on the Enchanted Beach in Malagash. Once she met them, her life changed and her adventures began.
Now, on this special November day, Christy was thinking about Christmas and how much she really wanted to see the tree from Nova Scotia being lit in Boston, Massachusetts. Ever since her teacher at school had told her class about the history behind the Boston Tree, Christy had a desire to see the spectacle for herself.( The Boston Christmas Tree is the City of Boston, Massachusetts’ official Christmas tree. A tree has been lit each year since 1941, and since 1971 it has been given to the people of Boston by the people of Nova Scotia in thanks for their assistance after the 1917 Halifax Explosion. The tree is lit in the Boston Common throughout the Christmas season.) She asked her parents if they could go and her parents had said, “Someday, Christy, we will go and see the Boston Tree lighting.” “Someday” seemed far away to Christy and she thought about Sunbeam and how fast he could get her to Boston and back before her parents were even aware she had gone. Before she even finished thinking, she felt Sunbeam nuzzling her back. Sunbeam was always like a ray of sunshine to Christy. He brightened her outlook as he brightened any space he beamed upon. She didn’t have to tell Sunbeam what she wanted, because he seemed to know her thoughts as soon as she thought them. Now here he was shining before her and she thought, “We are going to Boston in December, Sunbeam” Sunbeam answered with a joyful, “Neigh”.
When Christy learned about the Halifax Explosion, she was extremely touched by the tragedy experienced by the children who on that day so long ago were getting ready to go to school. Christy’s teacher had told her class about the explosion and she had told about the children who were getting ready for school or on their way to school. Many children were injured by flying glass and many children died.
When Christy heard the stories of the children, she cried. She thought about the children walking to school. She thought about the time of year. She thought that the children might have been thinking about Christmas as they walked to school. Maybe thinking about their Christmas tree. She thought how so many children were so quickly killed. It was so sad. Then Christy thought of how Boston immediately sent aid to the people of Halifax. She thought of how all these years later, that Halifax sent a tree to Boston to thank them for their quick response to help the people of Halifax. She thought how the children would love the beautiful Boston Tree, such a glorious tree it always was with its bright lights and magnificent decorations. Christy then thought about stars and how the stars she might be looking at in the night sky now, may also have shone upon the children the night before they died. The same stars that would have shone during the Christmas of 1917. She told her teacher she wanted to make a Christmas Star for the children because stars were true time travellers and by making a star for the children, she would give to them a symbolic memorial. Her teacher thought it was a lovely idea and she had the class make stars in remembrance of the children who died during the Halifax Explosion. Christy made a golden star. She made it from yellow construction paper and she put golden sparkles on it and Christy wanted to hang that star on the Boston Tree.
Sunbeam, who was really a ray of starlight, knew Christy’s thoughts and he knew Christy wanted to go to Boston the night of the tree lighting. On the night in December that the Boston Tree was being lit, Christy climbed on Sunbeam’s back with her star in her hands. Sunbeam is a ray of light and when Christy climbed on his back she was engulfed in his luminous, glittering energy. Light is a type of energy. It is a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum and radiation given off by stars like the sun. Light exists in tiny packets called photons. Sunbeam was a packet of photons. Christy, when she climbed on his back, became part of this packet. Light travels in waves and with a gigantic leap, Sunbeam and Christy rode a wave to Boston. They arrived as the fireworks were going off. They hovered over the tree. When the lights of the tree were turned on, Sunbeam flew Christy to the top of the tree and she hung her Star from the star at the top of the tree. It was a most spectacular event in Christy’s life. When she put the star on the tree, she called out, “This is for the Halifax Explosion Children. This is the tree you never saw in 1917.” Then Sunbeam made another gigantic leap, and they rode a wave back to Malagash. Her parents were calling to her. They had been watching the Christmas Tree lighting on television and they told her that just as the tree lit up, they saw an unusual streak of light over the Christmas Tree, just above the star. Christy knew that streak had been Sunbeam and herself, as they flew to the Boston Tree star. She knew what her parents didn’t know and that was that Children’s star was on the tree.
“The Halifax Explosion was a maritime disaster in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on the morning of 6 December 1917. SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship laden with high explosives, collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the Narrows, a strait connecting the upper Halifax Harbour to Bedford Basin. A fire on board the French ship ignited her cargo, causing a large explosion that devastated the Richmond district of Halifax. Approximately 2,000 people were killed by blast, debris, fires and collapsed buildings, and an estimated 9,000 others were injured. The blast was the largest man-made explosion prior to the development of nuclear weapons, releasing the equivalent energy of roughly 2.9 kilotons of TNT. Nearly all structures within an 800-metre (2,600 ft) radius, including the entire community of Richmond, were obliterated. A pressure wave snapped trees, bent iron rails, demolished buildings, grounded vessels, and scattered fragments of Mont-Blanc for kilometres. Hardly a window in the city proper survived the blast. Across the harbour, in Dartmouth, there was also widespread damage. A tsunami created by the blast wiped out the community of Mi’kmaq First Nations people who had lived in the Tuft’s Cove area for generations. Relief efforts began almost immediately, and hospitals quickly became full. Rescue trains began arriving from across eastern Canada and the north-eastern United States, but were impeded by a blizzard. On December 6, 1917 at 9:04:35 am, the Halifax Explosion severely destroyed much of the city. Boston authorities learned of the disaster by telegraph, and quickly organized and dispatched a relief train around 10 pm to assist survivors. A blizzard delayed the train, which finally arrived in the early morning of December 8, and immediately began distributing food, water, and medical supplies. Numerous personnel on the train were able to relieve the Nova Scotia medical staff, most of whom had worked without rest since the explosion occurred. Nova Scotian children study the explosion in school and they know “Boston was one of the first responders, and really a lifesaver.” Wikipedia
Boston’s official Christmas tree is lit on Boston Common throughout the holiday season. Christmas in Boston turns the city into a wonderland of festive creative lighting and sparkling Christmas trees, decorations, special holiday music and shows. Boston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and New England