Lacy didn’t sleep well at the homeless shelter, but her Mom seemed to. So, nine-year-old Lacy grabbed her blanket and decided to sneak out and take a look at the downtown area. It was very quiet in the middle of the night. She looked up and recognized very tall buildings that she had seen on TV but had never seen in person.

Lacy came around a corner and the sight took her breath away. There it was! The giant Christmas tree that the mayor had turned on just a couple nights ago while Lacy’s favorite singer sang “O Christmas Tree.” Lacy felt that she was dreaming as she imagined the scene she saw on TV just a few nights ago. She ran over to where the singer sang to the crowd. Then, she ran over to where the mayor hit the big switch to light the tree.

Joyfully, Lacy ran a couple laps around the giant tree that had all of its lights on. Finally, she laid down on the concrete and stared at the light at the tree’s top and how it blended with the stars in the night sky. Curious at how surprisingly warm the concrete was, Lacy rolled over and crawled under the tree’s long, bottom branches. She wrapped herself in her blanket and in this magical place under the branches that had no wind and was amazingly warm, Lacy relaxed and fell asleep.

Early the next morning, tourists to the city came to look at the tree as they were headed to the morning TV show that broadcast live from the far end of the courtyard. One woman screamed when she saw something beneath the tree. Another called 911. Another woman called the TV show that was just half a block away.

The police and a camera crew both arrived in just a few minutes. An officer climbed under the branches and called back, “It’s a little girl and she is just waking up.” The camera crew was broadcasting everything that was happening.

“Arrest her,” one woman said. “For trespassing on the city’s favorite Christmas property.”

“She’s just a little girl,” another woman responded.

“Well then, arrest her parents,” the woman answered.

The officer and Lacy crawled out.

“You gave us quite a scare,” the officer said. “We thought you might be…um…” He never finished his sentence.

“Where are your parents?” called out a woman.

“My mother is at the homeless shelter a few blocks away,” Lacy said. “I couldn’t sleep, so I looked around the city.”

“Homeless!?” the woman said. “She might be contagious with something.”

An ambulance arrived and Lacy was checked out.

“Arrest her for trespassing,” the woman repeated. “We came to the city to see the glorious sites of Christmas, not this.”

“I will stay with her until she is reunited with her mother,” said another woman.

The producers decided to continue to broadcast the scene because the controversy made for good TV. People flooded the TV show’s social media about what should be done with the child.

Lacy got to tell her story on live TV with the caption beneath her “Arrest her or help her?” Soon, every radio and TV program were talking about Lacy and what should be done.

The police officer and the caring woman escorted her back to the shelter while a television crew followed along behind. The TV program was conducting a poll about what should be done with Lacy. It was about evenly split between arresting her and helping her. The story was picked up nationally and soon famous TV anchors from other cities were flying to this city to interview Lacy. Soon, Lacy’s face was on all networks as the debate raged on.

Finally, one TV host spoke out on her show. Instead of arguing about Lacy, the people of the city should do something. She challenged her listeners to take care of a homeless person that year during the holidays. The woman who walked beside Lacy agreed to take in Lacy and her mother through Christmas and up until New Year’s when she would then help them find an affordable place to live. Many callers called in to get the addresses of the shelters in the city. People were calling the shelters and stopping by unannounced.

Amazingly, homeless shelters that Christmas were empty. There were no Christmas dinners at churches or shelters because there was no one there to feed. And after New Year’s, the shelters reported that only a few people checked into their places. The good people of that city lived up to the challenge and promised to do it again next Christmas. It was a city-wide miracle!