At that one wall of the living room lit up. On it appeared a young woman in a Christmas sweater and jeans. Behind her was a Christmas tree. Through the window could be seen the morning sun through frosty pains. �Hey, you didn�t tell me you had snow!� John exclaimed. �I guess we�re just used to it up here.� At that a young man entered the room with Martha holding two children in red and green pajamas. �Good morning Jane� John said in a sing song way reserved for toddlers. At that the 3 year old girl rubbed her eyes. �Merry Christmas� he added. The child in the screen gasped. �Santa came!�

John laughed, �Let me get Mark and Sarah. I remember when they were that little. Christmas was a surprise. They have probably been out here half the night monitoring your transmission. At that a ten year old boy came out into the room with John. �So where�s Sara?� John asked. �In the bathroom� responded the boy a little perturbed. John responded, �If she�s anything like her aunt Martha we might have to wait until the new years to open our presents.�

At that the smaller child at Martha�s house walked into the wall as if it could pass from one room to the other, and began feeling the hard surface as if looking for a hidden passage from his parents' house to his Uncle�s.

Martha giggled, �Look at Josh.� �You used to do the same thing when we were little,� John reminded her. Martha interrupted, �Oh that reminds me. Mom and Dad are on the other channel.� �Well, patch them through.� At that the image of Martha�s house moved over to half the wall and an elderly couple in a well lit rustic den appeared. �Merry Christmas Mom, Dad.� The man spoke first, �Didn�t think we would forget our grandkids on Christmas morning did you?� The woman looked at Josh still trying to get through the wall. �I know how he feels. A video link is not the same as being there now is it� the old woman said as she shook her head at the attentive baby.

As she spoke liltingly at Josh, he cooed back at the woman he immediately knew as his grandmother. At John�s house his wife walked into the room and at Martha�s the three year old Jane was tugging at her mother�s arm, �Mommy, mommy, mommy!� Martha responded, �What is it Jane?� Impatiently she whined, �Can we open our presents now?� Her grandmother on the other side of the electronic wall interrupted, �We are all here. I don�t see why not.�

At that there was a frenzy of tearing paper and oos and ahhs. Jane opened the big box first. It was a doll. Once she took it out it started talking, �Hello, what is your name.� �I am Jane.� �Hi Jane, that�s a pretty name. Can you give me a name?� �Um, how about Clara.� �Hi Jane, I am Clara. Can we be friends?� The computerized doll then asked a few basic question about where Jane lived and then asked her to tell her what she had gotten for Christmas.

Everyone was intently watching the conversation between Jane and her computerized doll when Mark shouted �Oh wow! It�s a Virtual Boy.� By the time everyone turned to look, the boy had placed plastic goggles, which looked like a pair of cheap sunglasses, on his face and was slipping on a pair of gloves. As soon as the gloves were on he began to go through motions of a sword fight with his virtual foe. Grandpa quietly leaned in his mother�s direction. �Psst. Did you get the Internet chip for that.� �Shh! It�s in his stocking.� The lad tore off his goggles, �You got the Internet chip!? Great I can get a football game up with my friends!� �You can interface with your friends later. Right now you stay here!� she responded in a rather motherly tone.

The mother/son moment was interrupted by barking from Martha�s house. Martha had started up a robot dog for Josh. It walked up to Josh sniffed his leg and then begged. Josh sat down hard as only toddlers can do and the robot puppy proceeded to lick his face like a real puppy.

�Mom, look!� The voice was Sara�s. She was holding what looked like an ordinary burette in her hands, but when she placed it on her head it turned into a beautiful hair bow. Then when she handed it to her mother it changed colors to match her mother�s robe. Then she pulled an earring out of the box and when she held it up to her ear it transformed similarly too. �Mom you�re the greatest. Who told you I wanted hologram jewelry?� and she hugged her mother.

Things went on like this for a while. Then as if on cue Sara said, �Is that the end of Christmas this year?� And her grandfather responded without hesitation, �No, there�s one more gift.� �And what might that be?� said Mark as if reading from a script. �Give them the disk� Grandpa ordered. John pulled out a small square and placed it in a slot in the end table. In a moment a translucent screen rose from the table. On it was a Victorian depiction of the nativity. Then the screen expanded to a three dimensional cube. After a few seconds the animals and people in the 3-D depiction of the painting began moving and one could hear muffled bleating of sheep and the sounds of people. A one inch tall Joseph stood guard in front of the manger entrance.

Grandpa cleared his throat. �Christmas started over 2,000 years ago when an angel came to a young Jewish girl and told her God had a gift for her and humanity.� As if on cue a lone angel entered the scene and hovered above the manger. �On the night of his birth angels came from heaven and announced the birth of God�s Son saying �glory to God in highest and peace to all the earth.�� At that a handful of shepherds wandered into the street and make their way to the manger. �So they went to Bethlehem where the angels told them the child was and found him wrapped in swaddling clothes just as the angles had said. And so God gave His Son to the world. A ray of heavenly light shining in the darkness. That was the first Christmas gift. And it will always be the last!�

After the storytelling session the good-byes were said and the children ran off to play with their toys. The wall turned off and became beige plaster once again. After the last person had left the room the tree lights turned off. But the manger hologram continued to run and three wise men on camels entered pointing to a star that appeared where the angel had been.