Dear Reader:

Something happened today to me that has never happened in the entire twenty-something (or is it thirty-something) years I have been telling a Christmas story at the Christmas Eve service.

I received a book in the mail that I had forgotten that I had thought about as a possibility for this past Christmas Eve service…but dismissed after being given the Legend of the Candy Cane for the MS Christmas presentation and  Christmas Eve Church Service.

Upon receiving it yesterday…the story spoke to me on so many levels following one reading. It was enough to know  it was the chosen Christmas Eve story for next year.

It is about family, tradition, giving, kindness and a homemade miracle…the best kind of Christmas story. All of us have one Christmas we can pick out from our childhood as being more special than all the others for a variety of reasons…and this is definitely the story of a very special Christmas for one member of a devoted family.

I had ordered it on-line from amazon.com under an used book dealership on December 7, 2016. It obviously ran into some transportation and/or communication problems… having just arrived on January 11, 2017 from EBOOKS (GOODWILL) in Santa Ana , CA.

It was a good thing I wasn’t counting on it for this past Christmas Eve…but am, actually, glad it didn’t arrive until after Christmas because I am so in love with this story and knowing that it will be a secret for almost a year before being told… I can treasure it privately until then.

There are already three God Winks associated with the place and timing of this book…I can’t give you a hint about this without giving you too much information but take my word for it that something in the past in California and the present in Summerville coincide in a very strange way.

Add one more God Wink….the author is a well-known children’s author and lo and behold…when I turned to the back there was her hand-written autograph with a message included…I can’t tell you the message for fear someone might recognize it as a favorite saying or “mantra” of the author…but the winks are unbelievable…as you will come to see next December… upon the revealing of 2017’s Christmas story.

Part of me hates to leave you ‘hanging’ like this for so long…a blog “cliff-hanger”… but another part loves it…because I can hardly wait to feel the gasps at the connections between this story and my life and how they came together. A Christmas story in itself.

But then again, isn’t anticipation half the enjoyment of realization? We all thought so as little children at Christmas. I have put the list of the three God Winks inside the cover of the Christmas story book so I won’t forget the setting for how this book came to be. I have stored it in my secret alcove…with a pink ribbon. Another clue to the story.

So until tomorrow…

…because it is!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Safe travels John, Mandy, Eva Cate, and Jake…(They are leaving this evening for Orlando and Disney World over the long weekend…the temps in Disney World are supposed to be in the low 80’s…who would have “thunk” it after this past weekend?)

Snuggle up children and dream of castles, trains, and two big mice! Have fun!