This story is told to us by Jim Gruel;

In 1985 I was working for a major hotel chain, it was at the start of my career and they would often move me around to various locations around the country, mostly in mid size cities or small towns, they would use me as a trouble shooter, filling in whenever there was an emergency or a shortage of help.

I really did not mind that, even though at the time my children were very young, Beckey was 16 months and Bobby was 5 years old.

That particular year my company sent me to Philadelphia because of some management problems, my first time working in a large city on the east coast, and as you can imagine I wanted to impress the higher brass by getting the hotel cleaned up and back on course.

The hotel was located in the historic district where most of the buildings in the area were from the colonial period, having just arrived from the Florida gulf coast, I was greeted with an artic blast, you could say I did not appreciate cold weather, but I remember my wife saying that it did give a nice " Christmasy atmosphere" to everything.

My job kept me very very busy and sometimes it can be a very taxing demanding job trying to please your paying guest. I guess I am telling you that to try to make an excuse for myself at what I am going to tell you.

Having served in mostly smaller towns, I was not used to the number of homeless people that slept on the streets . I remember I had this one "gentlemen" thrown off the hotel property several times, he had been sleeping on a steam grate. as I understand it , center city has tunnels of steam vents that heat businesses.

I did not want a vagrant disturbing my guests,so I had him bodily removed, I remember him well, he would wear this long shabby woolen overcoat that had seen better days.

Well as I was saying , my job kept me busy during the day,so my wife would often take the children to the various attractions in town, she was very impressed with the city.

Everything was going smooth as can be until the 24th of December, I recall it so vividly, at about 10 pm my wife frantically calls me from our living quarters in the hotel, she says that Bobby is missing, I immediately go up to the 7th floor where we were living and we both searched every where, we even had hotel guests looking for Bobby , we searched that hotel from top to bottom.

I went to the police but there is not much they can do but to keep their eyes open. Taking my car, I swear I searched every street, yelling out his name until I was hoarse.

It was such a bitter cold night, and I could not find him , my heart just broke and I wept, the tears gushed forth as if a dam had broken, it was as if a large great weight had descended on me, pinning and crushing me.

I had never been "religious" in my life, but at times like that , you are willing to try anything,I remember praying to and begging God , to please let me find my son!

Remembering a small church that I had passed on 4th street,the one with a large out door Nativity scene displayed with live animals. I remember thinking, maybe if I pray from this church ground I will be heard.

It was now early morning with maybe an hour to go before sunrise, and I was tired, heart broken and possibly delirious . As I approached the creche, I noticed a dark figure on the ground, in the dim light I could barely make it out to be a human being, he was wearing tattered clothes with holes in the bottom of his shoes, he was sleeping in a fetal position shivering in the unmerciful cold.

It was the street person that I had thrown off the hotel property!, he woke up startled, and seeing me he just ran off.

Just then I heard a small voice crying out to me "daddy!" There in the cradle that had held a model baby Jesus was my son, covered with a tattered , ragged , woolen overcoat.

He jumped into my arms as we both hugged and kissed, I carried him to the car looking over my shoulder for the man in the tattered clothes, but I never did see him again.

Latter at the hospital, where thank God, my son was all right, Bobby told me that he had left the hotel to see the animals.

Much earlier in the day my, wife had taken him to this church , he had snuck out of his room and he made his way the 4 blocks to the church but he had become lost, he was tired and cold, so he crept into the cradle with the "baby Jesus", he said he started crying because he was so cold,then he said , this man came up, took off the coat he was wearing and covered him with it.