My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories

by Stephanie Perkins

“You’re a kaleidoscope. You change every time I look away.”

“Would you rather be great at something you like, or just okay at something you love?”

“I guess I don’t really know what I want to do, either. Sometimes I feel like a shook-up bottle of soda. Like, I have all this passion that wants to explode, but I don’t know where to aim it yet.

Papa signals to the elf band, who launch into a rousing rendition of “Last Christmas,” my dad’s favorite Christmas song. The elves all think it’s Elvis’s version of “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” but I know the truth. Papa loves Wham!

Papa says it’s not an easy thing to ask a child to believe in what they can’t see; he says it’s its own magic. He says that if you have that magic inside you, you should protect it all your life and never let it go, because once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.

The thing about snow is, it’s very quiet. The air is hushed. It’s like church. It’s reverential.