Marsha Enright

Editor's Note: Christmas carols celebrate the Nativity as being, above all else, an event that brings hope to mankind. "O Holy Night," one of the most beautiful carols, makes the point explicitly: "a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn." But I suspect that Christmas is not unique among winter festivals in this emphasis on hope.

About the author: Formerly a psychotherapist, Marsha Familaro Enright, co-founded in 1990 the Council Oak Montessori School (elementary level), of which she is the president and administrator. Another cofounder of the school and its corporate secretary, Doris Cox, currently teaches middle school children at Council Oak.