The days before Christmas are cold this year. There is snow in the air and a bitter wind is blowing. Frederik is sitting inside by the gas heater. He is cold and not feeling well. Maybe he has a flu. He is dreading celebrating Christmas alone again. His wife died a few years ago and his children live on the other side of the world. With difficulty he has put up a small Christmas tree and a stable underneath. He lovingly puts the old figurines in their place in the stable that was made by his father. Then he feels a stab in his heart, but fortunately it stops again. He is happy when his daughter calls him from Australia at the end of the morning. Christmas has already started for them.
It is Christmas Eve. Anne and Peter are sitting on the sofa, next to the Christmas tree that Peter has hastily put there that afternoon. Anne has put her arms around her large belly and feels the baby move. She and Peter are very tense. Their baby could be born at any moment. Her contractions suddenly become more intense and they have to rush to the hospital. ‘It’s time, Peter,’ Anne whispers. Peter supports her as they walk to the car.
When they arrive at the hospital, Anne is immediately taken to a special room. The baby is not in the right position and she needs immediate help. The doctor is experienced and everything goes well. Peter watches and sees how the baby is born. Is he imagining it, or does it suddenly become much brighter in the room? But then Anne suddenly starts bleeding, which won’t stop. Peter sees how Anne is getting paler. A blood transfusion is necessary. The doctor looks worried. Anne has a difficult blood type and there is not enough donor blood available.
Frederik actually wanted to go to midnight mass, but he doesn’t feel up to it. He has chest pain again. Then he is called and asked if he can rush to the hospital. There is a delivery going on and the woman is bleeding badly. She has Resus 0 and Frederik is the only one in the wide area who also has that blood group. He feels that he has to do this. That way he can help the mother and the baby. It is a dark evening and he can hardly see the road. It also starts to snow softly. Fortunately, he arrives safely at the blood bank. ‘We are taking a bit more blood than usual, Mr. Janssen. There is someone who needs it very badly.’ Frederik smiles. He is happy to be able to help. He is given a cup of coffee and a honey cake and then goes back home.
Hans: ‘I’m driving home for Christmas,’ Chris Rea sings on the radio. It’s Frederik’s favourite song. He sings along softly, but he still doesn’t feel so good. It looks beautiful outside, because the snow is still lying there. Frederik feels dizzy from watching the snow swirling in front of the car. Then he suddenly loses his grip on the road and slides into the verge with the car.
He makes a big bang and suddenly sees a big light and around it angels coming towards him. They sing Gloria in exelsis deo and carry him upstairs to a beautiful hall with thousands of candles. How nice not to have to celebrate Christmas alone this year, Frederik thinks. He feels wonderfully light and enjoys the beautiful colours and the choirs of angels.
The pain in his heart has disappeared and he sees gold all around him.
Two attentive police officers find him in the ditch shortly afterwards and determine that he is unconscious. They contact the control room.
Anne recovers quickly after the blood transfusion and the bleeding stops. She is allowed to go to the ward, but she has to take it very easy. Together with her husband and their newborn child Lucy, they have their own room.
A nurse makes rusk with aniseed and asks if they know what the name Lucy means. ‘Bringer of light,’ says Peter proudly.
‘Appropriate for this Christmas night with the birth of Jesus,’ says the nurse.
Outside, in front of the entrance to the hospital, a Christmas choir sings beautiful songs.
‘Silent night, holy night’. Anne and Peter look at each other excitedly. ‘What a beautiful Christmas child you gave me, darling,’ says Peter, looking at Anne with love.
Then the serene silence of Christmas night is rudely interrupted by an ambulance with a three-tone siren. The nurses in the ambulance do everything they can to save Frederik. He is then urgently operated on by a hastily summoned vascular surgeon. He performs miracles and succeeds in bringing Frederik away from the brink of death. A few stents are placed and there does not seem to be any permanent damage to his heart. He does have to stay in the hospital for some time.
A day later, when Frederik wakes up in the morning, he is already doing much better. He does think back with some nostalgia to the beautiful visions he had seen when he was unconscious. A nurse comes in and then he is surprised to see a young couple with a child enter the ward behind her. The mother is sitting in a wheelchair with the baby in her arms. They have been informed of the heart attack and the accident of Anne’s blood donor. The ward doctor felt that in this case the privacy rules did not have to be followed. With tears in their eyes, the young parents stand by the man who saved Anne’s life. Anne takes Frederik by the hand and gives him a kiss. They get along very well. And there on that beautiful Christmas morning a bond for life is forged. From that moment on, Frederik celebrates Christmas every year with Anne, Peter and his godchild Lucy.