The Shepherd on CBC

For years at Christmastime (likely Christmas Eve) I remember listening to CBC and again and again hearing the same story about a pilot running out of fuel and then being guided by a phantom plane to safety. Only a few years ago did I learn the name of this story (The Shepherd) and that it was being performed by long-time CBC personality Alan Maitland. Even without the basic details regarding the origins of this piece it became an important part of my Christmas celebrations.

Presumably I eventually learned these facts about the broadcast when I received a CD copy of the story (along with a few other Christmas classics as read by Alan Maitland) for Christmas a few years ago. Not surprisingly, I was really quite excited to get this CD so that I am able to listen to the story as frequently as I like, and not have to wait for the one a year broadcast on CBC.

For most of the years that I listened (and looked forward) to this story I assumed that almost everyone in Canada felt similarly. I guess I assumed that even if they were not fans of the story they would at least know what it was and know to respect it as an important part of Christmas.

It seems that, once again, I was wrong - listening to this story just isn't as widespread a Christmas tradition as I had imagined. When I tried to throw on the CD a few nights ago when Kirsten and Jeannette were in the car not only were neither of them interested in listening to the story, neither of them had heard it before and neither of them could figure out why it had anything to do with Christmas. Both were incredibly underwhelmed by the whole thing. Though they didn't mean their reactions to be so, they were definitely disappointing to me.

Anyway, if you are one of those people that routinely listens to The Shepherd, as read by Alan Maitland, at Christmas I am pleased to be able to provide you a link to an online version of the recording (which can be downloaded by left-clicking or the equivalent).