25 Dec As We Are
Sobot is a robot made of scraps of wood. His head is colored red. He has big brown eyes. Glued to the top of his head is a small piece of mirror, already scratched and worn, pulled from the same bin of odds and ends Ella used to make the rest of him.
She made him years ago, when she was little, at my parents’ house. My dad keeps a big bin of leftover wood from the things he builds. When the girls visit, that bin becomes an invitation. They spread the pieces out on the floor. They hammer and glue. They add color and sparkle. They make things with whatever is there.
Ella made Sobot during one of those afternoons. When she finished, she handed him to my mom and told her she could keep him.
My mom loved him immediately.
Every year, she puts up a small Christmas tree in their house. It’s filled with handmade ornaments collected over decades. And at the very top, instead of a star, she places Sobot. As you walk by the tree, you catch a glimpse of yourself in the small mirror, an imperfect reflection, fitting for the story at the heart of Christmas, when perfection was never the expectation.