It was on a cold December evening that Sophia was with her grandchildren in her small house in Kitchener, Ontario. Her youngest one, Karl, asked, “Oma, what was your favourite toy growing up?”
After some thought, Sophia explained, “When I was little, about your age, my father brought home a beautiful china doll for me. I loved it and loved it, until one day, we had to leave Germany after the war to come to Canada. I dropped it when we were on the docks heading to the ship, and it sank into the ocean.”
Her older child, Stefanie, said, “Did you ever buy a new one?”
Sophia replied, “I’m afraid not. After we came here, money was hard to earn for us, especially because we were German. Back in those days, people treated us harshly.”
After some
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Vendors sold many trinkets, with both German and Canadian culture combined. Karl and Stephanie both loved it. The family went to get food, when they noticed Karl was missing. Chris asked his wife, “Where did Karl go?”
“I thought you were watching him. Go check the crowd, while I wait for the food,” his wife, Janet, suggested.
An hour later, Karl still was not found. His family was starting to worry. They decided to tell the police.
The police had found him in the next half-hour. After that, they left the Christkindlmarket.
When Karl was asked where he had been, he just replied, “I got lost, and I was trying to find you.”
A couple of weeks later, Christmas came along and everyone was unwrapping their gifts. After that came dinner, and when the family was sitting by the fire, Karl came near, holding something in his hand. He said, “Oma, I have something for you.”
He gave a package to Sophia, and when she unwrapped it, her eyes shone with glee. “Karl, you shouldn’t have,” she said. In her hands, she held a china doll like the one she had as a little girl.
“How did you get that?” Chris blurted out.
“At the Chriskindlmarket, I ran off and bought this with my own money. It was hard to find, so that’s why it took me so