Spirit of Love at Christmas

The unadorned red flannel stocking filled with simple plastic toys was hanging on a corner of my daughter's baby bed as I opened my eyes to the gray dawn of Christmas Day in our hospital room.

For the last ten days my sixteen-month-old baby had fought a deadly battle with spinal meningitis, and she had won!

When my exhausted, grateful eyes saw the red flannel stocking, they filled with tears as I fully realized the spirit of love at Christmas.

You write it: Which Christmas memory comes to mind when you think of the spirit of love at Christmas?