Her name was Stella.  This year it would be her sixteenth Christmas Eve, and her fourth Christmas Eve alone.  Stella didn’t like Christmas at all, nor did she like the people who believed in Christmas miracles.  Everything that had to do with Christmas made Stella sick, because she knew it would never be the same without her parents.   Stella was a misfit, she didn’t have a family or a nice warm home to attend to every night.  A week after Stella’s twelfth birthday her parents were killed in a head on car accident with a semi.  Before Stella had it all, beautiful house, with the perfect parents.  After the accident she realized that some people have the easy life handed to them while others have to fight daily for their lives.  Usually Stella lived in an orphanage, but in the summer she ran away do to the abusive living arrangements.  This Christmas Eve Stella was homeless, hungry, alone, sick, and only sixteen.
The crisp, clean, frigid air on her skin was like being thrown in an ice bath.  Stella was getting more fragile and unsteady by the minute.  She walked for an hour longer till she stumbled upon a dazzling  victorian mansion.  She needed food and water so she decided to go up to the house and beg.  Stella knew begging wasn’t the way to get things but she had no choice.  It was either die, or live at this point.  Once Stella reached the door she was trembling with fear, she wondered if they would call the cops.  She bottled up all her fear and pressed the doorbell.  Moments later a elegant woman with strawberry blond hair, olive  skin, and crystal blue eyes opened up the door.  Stella was now crying, she had no idea what to say, her words would not come out of her mouth.
The beautiful woman noticed something was wrong with Stella.  She immediately welcomed her inside.  In the family room there was a young boy about nine years old, and a girl just about Stellas age.  Around the corner their dad was sitting in the kitchen.  The woman spoke taking Stella out of her trance, “Are you hurt,” questioned the lady. 
Stella pleaded, “I need help I’m hungry, sick and freezing.  I have no where to stay, this summer I ran away from my orphanage do to the abusive person running the joint.  Please help me ma’am.” The lady seemed to understand the condition Stella was in and the lady answered.
“You will stay with us for the night, and Abigail show this girl where the shower is and lend her some clothes for hers’ are tattered.”
“Oh you don’t have to do this ma’am, all I need is some food and I’ll be on my way,” Stella replied.
“No one deserves to be alone on Christmas Eve, and call me Julie,” answered the lady.  Stella followed Abigail upstairs to shower.  Thirty minutes later Stella was downstairs eating a meal with the family.  The family asked if Stella wanted to spend Christmas with them, at first she was reluctant but then realized this family reminded her of her own.  She knew she would give anything up just to have a family again.  Right before they all ended dinner Julie went around the table asking what everyone was thankful for.  Stella answered that she was thankful for their hostility and how they took her in for the night.  The next question was a hard one for Stella to answer.  Julie’s husband Mark asked everyone what they wanted for Christmas.  Stella answered plain and simple that she wanted a family that cared and loved her.  Julies expression to Stellas answer shocked her.  A tear trickled down her face, then she asked to be excused from the table.
“Did I say anything wrong,” asked Stella.
“No, she’s just a bit emotional that’s all,” answered Mark.
After they were done eating dinner they all gathered in the family room, and popped in Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer.  It was a tradition in that household to watch that movie every Christmas Eve.  After Rudolf was over Mark got out ginger snap cookies and vanilla ice cream, while they all told each other their favorite Christmas memories.  Stella didn’t have many memories, but it was fun for her to tell any stories of her own family that she remembered.  After the fantastic dessert Abigail showed Stella to the guest room where she would be staying.  The moment she slipped into those silk sheets she was dead asleep. 
Andrew who was the young boy in the family, barged into Stella’s room screaming.  “It’s Christmas!  It’s Christmas!  It’s Christmas!  Get up, I saw a card down stairs for you!”  This surprised Stella so she ran down stairs where everyone was gathered next to the tree.  Next to the tree was an envelope with Stella’s name on it.  She slowly reached for the letter anxious to see what was inside.  Inside was a letter from Julie, and once she reached near the bottom her heart nearly stopped.  They wanted to adopt Stella.  Apparently they have been looking for a kid to adopt for years.  And here Stella was needing a good family and a home.  Stella was now trembling, and all this time she didn’t believe in Christmas miracles.  Now she knew for certain why people had faith in them.