Nativity

"Nativity" is a modern retelling of a Christmas story that follows Michael Stuyvesant, a wealthy man desperately trying to reach his family for the holidays. As unexpected events unfold—including encounters with a pregnant girl named Cheyenne and a Santa Claus figure—his carefully ordered life is turned upside down. This story, part of Joseph Bottum's trilogy inspired by the Gifts of the Magi, examines themes of fate and transformation in a 13,000-word holiday narrative.