An Old Radio Flyer

 

 

                                                                      

 

                                                                       An Old Radio Flyer

 

It’s Christmastime and you may have to give your son or daughter a boost to get that star up on top of your Fraiser Fir, but the Hallmark Channel doesn’t need any help boosting its ratings due to the myriad of Christmas movies the channel offers. The cable network, known for its simple Christmas films, reached an average of 1.53 million viewers last season on cable in the 8-11 p.m. slot. The boost cane as the Christmas season truly got underway during the week after Thanksgiving, along with the network releasing  new movies for the holiday.

The most-watched Christmas movie that Hallmark ever debuted was A Biltmore Christmas, which garnered 3.1 million viewers. Other Christmas films from the network that earned at least 2 million viewers were Haul Out the Holly: Lit Up with 2.38 million viewers, Holiday Road with 2.13 million, and Catch Me If You Claus with 2 million.

Add to this list, other movies offered by various providers including classics such as Elf, Home Alone, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Scrooged, Polar Express etc., and toss in a few real oldies like Miracle on 34^th Street (1947 original) and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), and you have a Christmas Cornucopia from which to select.

 

My favorite Christmas show is an oldie as well, long forgotten I suspect by most. It is seventy years old.

So it begins:

It was sunny December 22^nd, at The Old Mission Church located in a little plaza in downtown Los Angeles at the corner of Sunset and Main streets. To the Spanish-speaking it is known as La  Iglesia Nuestra Senora Reina de Los Angeles or as it is often called La Placita, meaning “The Church of our Lady of Our Lady Queen of the Angles.”  It is a proper name since this is where the settlement of Los Angeles (City of the Angles) was first established. The oldest church in L A., this small Roman Catholic church was founded in 1784 and completed in 1822. Ravaged by earthquakes, the church was rebuilt, but on the same site. The church as it stands now dates to 1861, still one of the oldest structures in all of Los Angeles.

The altar inside is gilded in gold sections, that highlight the paintings on the wall, adding to the simplistic beauty and old country feel of the church that hearkens back to a much simpler time. So does this seventy-five-year-old story.

The five- pound black Western Electric rotary-dial phone with a forty-inch-long brown fabric covered cord rang only briefly before the property crimes detective answered it. There had been a theft from the church. A statue of the Baby Jesus was missing. It was part of a nativity scene on display until Feast of the Epiphany (Three Kings).

Two detectives arrive at the church and meet with a parish priest. Father Xavier Rojas,  explains the church was open to the public after Mass, in fact all night long. The officers find this incredulous. “So, any thief can walk in Father?”  “Particularly thieves,” is the priest’s reply. A church after all is a hospital for sinners and not a museum for saints.

The figure itself has little monetary value. It was part of the beautiful nativity scene, although one of the wise men had a chipped face and the donkey was cracked, possibly because of an earthquake. Father Xavier Rojas explains this nativity scene has been at the church for decades and has great sentimental value to the parishioners.

The officers interview parish staff and altar boys trying to get a lead on the investigation.

They check pawn shops and meet with an owner of a store nearby that sells religious art trying to determine if anyone had tried to pawn or sell the statue. No luck,

The officers return on Christmas Eve, enter the church, and explain to the priest they frankly came up empty handed. “Sorry Father but we could not locate the statue.” Then a little boy comes walking down the aisle towing a red wagon with the missing statue safely wrapped inside. In Spanish the boy explains that he prayed for a new wagon and promised the baby Jesus the first ride if he received it. He was now returning the infant statue to the crib fulfilling his promise.

The wagon was not as shiny as you might expect from Santa’s worship, it was an old Radio Flyer. Local L.A. fireman collected used toys and reconditioned them for children of poor families - financially poor, yes, but rich in Faith.

 

What’s in your wagon this Christmas?

 

The story you have read is true. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.