He woke suddenly and completely. It was four o'clock, the hour at which his father had always called him to get up and help with the milking. Strange how the habits of his youth clung to him still! Fifty years ago, and his father had been dead for thirty years, and yet he waked at four o'clock in the morning. He had trained himself to turn over and go to sleep, but this morning it was Christmas, he did not try to sleep. Why did he feel so awake tonight? He slipped back in time, as he did so easily nowadays...

The Nativity of Christ, or Christmas Day, marks the birth of Jesus for Orthodox Christians in the UK. Some Orthodox churches in the United Kingdom (UK) use the revised Julian calendar and others use the old Julian calendar...