On Christmas Day in New York City, Theo writes a letter to Asher during a dreary snowstorm. He describes missing the openness of field and forest but finds some comfort in the Hudson River and the trees of the city, choosing to stay indoors and “visit” Asher and Brooke through writing.

Theo checks Golden’s weather and imagines Asher and Brooke enjoying the warmth of Glissen House, possibly alongside a newly engaged Samantha. He assumes Mrs. Gidley has received her portrait by late afternoon and pictures her surprise when Lamisha delivers it, hoping the delivery itself made the gift feel even more meaningful.

Theo thanks Asher for completing the portrait on short notice and for enabling the anonymous bestowals in recent months, calling each portrait a kind of Advent and “giving of life.” He then shares a Christmas-morning homily about “faces,” reflecting that newborns instinctively search for a face to bond with, and he connects this to Asher and Brooke’s first moments with Samantha and to Theo’s memories of Tita.

Building on an eye-doctor friend’s belief in the formative power of a parent’s gaze, Theo wonders if people spend their whole lives longing for a welcoming, recognizing face. He links that longing to Christmas, imagining God as a helpless infant seeking his mother’s face, and he closes with blessings and hopes to see Asher soon. In a postscript, Theo asks Asher to tell Ellen he saw a blue jay in Central Park that seemed to be missing a tail feather; the letter and envelope have no return address.