The Gift of a Traveler - Book Review

The tale of the traveler and the young girl is introduced by the interaction between Christine, a young American girl, and her great-grandmother, who she's rather afraid of. On Christmas Eve Christine's mother tells her to spend the day helping the old lady decorate her Christmas tree.

When all the ornaments are on the tree Christine hopes she can leave, but she's told to fetch one more from a special wooden cupboard with locked drawers. Inside is an unusual ornament, and her great-grandmother tells her it might have magic in it. She then tells the tale of how she came by this special and precious item. 

"I turned my head and peered into the darkening woods and saw a shape, a movement, a flash of gray fur. A wolf!"

"My father took the wolf's paw."

It turns out that the wolf is not dangerous, but the companion of the "traveler," a gypsy. This wolf greets friends by offering her paw.

Now the pictures in the book are not too scary, although it mentions that even sitting down the wolf was almost taller than the little girl.

But still, a real wolf (like in this picture) is pretty big, and has big paws!

Anica's family is obviously poor, living in a small cottage in a remote place where they never had visitors. They have a family tradition of making Christmas ornaments and having each child introduce what they have made and then hanging it on the tree.

But this year, Anica has no ornament to hang on the tree. She feels ashamed and sad that she has nothing to give.

The traveler comforts Anica, reminding her that she has given much that day - inviting him and his wolf to share their meal and shelter on a cold night.

Although fulfilling what is expected of her by her family is important, Anica has reached out to a stranger. She has gone beyond her family to share what they have with another.

Anica treasures the gift the traveler gave her for the rest of her life. She tells how her husband did not want her to bring it when they had to escape Romania and come to America because they could not bring much.

But Anica brought the ornament because it was special. Special because the traveler gave it to her, and special because it was from her home in that remote place in the forest in a faraway place and a distant time.

You can't have the special gift made by the traveler, but you can buy these to hang on your tree!

You know they always say no two snowflakes are alike. Well, here we have the uniqueness of snowflakes reflected in so many styles of snowflake ornaments ready to decorate your tree.