The other day, my friend Sara was telling me about a relationship with her colleague that was broken beyond repair. The two of them had been close enough and then one day, Sara had, with the best ________, done something that her colleague hadcompletely misunderstood and had taken ________ at.

Things went ________ and became worse. Sara didn’t know how to repair the relationship. She began to get angry at her colleague for misunderstanding her and judging her. She felt ________ in her anger. The two of them still were not really speaking and certainly weren’t collaborating.

It was time to do something to ________ the situation. I asked Sara what she needed. After much thought, she told me that she needed her colleague to be willing to listen to her with an open mind, to consider that she hadn’t ________ any harm by what she’d done and to apologize for taking things so ________ and making things so bad.

“Ah .….”I said to her.“You want a(n) ________.”She looked at me and then looked away. She’d known me long enough that she knew what was ________.“What do you think your colleague might want?”I asked.

She didn’t have to ________. We both knew that she knew what my ________was.“Did you ever apologize?” I asked her. She shook her head no.“ Do you think you might want to apologize?” I asked her. She shrugged her shoulders ... then shook her head yes.

Sometimes we take so long to apologize. We justify our ________, saying it won’t really make a difference. Or they should apologize first. Or they simply misunderstood us. ________, I’ve found and realized that an apology- a true, heartfelt apology- can________ wonders. It can repair the ________. It can fix just about anything.

With Christmas approaching, I often reflect upon one particular evening in the early 1960s. Back then, we decided to go carolling (唱圣诞颂歌) to spread the Christmas spirit which might ________ someone else’s life. So we needed to take ________ new members, for whom the only ________ was warmth of spirit.

Soon we discovered that carolling brought various ________. Sometimes we were greeted with open doors and open hearts, while other times, folks remained in the safety and cosiness of their homes, watching ________ through their windows.

One stop on our journey particularly ________ our memory. That night, after a couple of songs, one door swung open. A gentleman, gray haired, tenderly ________we go upstairs to sing for his bedridden wife. He added ________, “She loves music and used to be an opera singer.”

We stepped briskly upward into the couple’s ________ apartment. Books, records, and antique furniture whispered stories to us. I reminded myself not to stare ________ showing disrespect to them.

Sitting beside his wife, the gentleman gave us a ________. Then our voices rose and lingered around their small home. Had our voices been given extra ________ and beauty for this occasion? Perhaps they had.

A smile flickered on the woman’s ________, yet beautiful face. She snuggled her head against her husband’s shoulder and both of them heartily enjoyed our performance. Witnessing such a heartwarming scene, we felt it was a holy night, for we were in the ________ of love that was gentle and mild.

At that moment, we found, and maybe even _______, the Christmas spirit.

On his knees, a cute boy is packing the sand into a bucket at a beautiful beach. He turns the bucket upside down and _______ it. To the _______ of the little architect, a castle tower is created. He works all afternoon packing the walls, building sentries （哨兵）with bottle tops and bridges with sticks. And a sandcastle will be built.

In a big city with _______ streets and traffic, a man is working in an office. He packs papers into piles, holds the phone between his _______ and shoulder and _______ the keyboard with his fingers. Contracts gets signed and to the joy of the man, a _______ is made. His pension will be sentries and capital gains will be _______ . An empire will be built.

The two builders of the two castles have very much _______. They both _______smallness into greatness. They both make something beautiful out of __________ . And for both, the tide will rise and the __________ will come. Yet that is where the __________ stop. The little boy sees the end of his castle while the man __________ it. As the dusk approaches and waves near, the child __________ to his feet and begins to clap as the waves wash away his __________ . There is no sorrow, no __________ and no regret. He smiles and goes home.

The man in his office is not very __________ like the child. As his empire is fading, he is terrified, trying to __________ it. "It's my castle!” He __________     at the incoming tide.

Go ahead and build your dreams, but with a child's heart. When the sun __________ and the tides take, just applaud. Salute the process of life and go home with a smile.