Steve reveals a little more about what happened to the snowflake tree topper.

When I was a kid, our local library had a large number of Peanuts books, collections of comic strips that appeared in syndication and were then collected and anthologized in these books. I loved reading those books because I learned more about the characters, their pasts, and why they behaved in the comic strip I would see each week in the Sunday newspaper.

The evolution of my understanding of giving and receiving catalyzed largely through the exposure I had to the story of Jesus and his very humble birth. While I don't practice Catholicism anymore, I can't deny that much of my way of interacting with other people in the world has roots in the teachings of Jesus. And I don't mean the literal words of the Bible, but rather the interpretations of what this person had to offer through His stories and parables. If Itake the Bible at face value, as a chronicle of Jesus' time on Earth, then He was one of the very best storytellers to ever live. He found ways to teach people by telling stories, and those lessons have influenced the world for generations. The very best kind of theatre artist.

In Scene 3, Claire blows off some steam after dealing with her sister Julia.  Wow...

It's that moment in the semester when I'm faced with all the data from the work of my students at NYU, and it's time to somehow assign each of them a grade. The process of wading through their essays, my own notes on student presentations and performances, and peer assessments of other students' work can feel incredibly daunting, especially when faced with the holiday season and the deadlines that swirl around because of that.