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THE CHRISTMAS
CHILDREN
Irene Brand
Steeple Hill Publishing
ISBN: 0-373-87244-5
December 2003
Inspirational
Paul and Carissa are single
forty-something's who come to Yuletide, New York
looking to find religious reaffirmation of Christmas. Paul and
Carissa's
first meeting is literally explosive. Carissa clunks Paul over
the head with
a fireplace poker, thinking him a burglar. She is a professional
businesswoman who, because of her mother's sordid past, has
lived her life
secluded and alone. She has recently sold her business, making a
tidy
profit, yet feels like her life is still missing something. A
lot of Carissa's
wealth has found its way to charity, but she feels like she
needs to find
Christ and Christmas before she can truly go on with her life.
So she
changes houses with a friend, and moves from Florida to New York
for a month.
Unaware that his sister went to Florida, Paul finally comes home
from his overseas construction job. After being away for years,
the last thing Paul expects is to be mistaken for a burglar and
hit over the head. Despite their first meeting, they start
to talk and find that they like each other. Neither is looking
for a relationship but the potential is definitely there. Before
anything can really develop, three children, Alex, Lauren and
Julie, show up trying to sneak into the house. A few months ago
their mother passed away and the children are on their own
because neither the people in their town nor any of their
relatives can or will take care of them. In an effort to keep
his family together, 14 year old Alex takes his sisters and runs
away. (They haven't seen their father in five years.) Carissa
has no maternal instincts and does not hesitate to admit that
she knows nothing about children. Through trial and error she
and Paul start to bring these children some stability and
growing love. Two
big problems become instantly obvious, Paul needs to go back to
work after
Christmas and Carissa needs to go back home to Florida, where in
this
picture do three children fit?
Bring into this mix the fact that the town of Yuletide has not
celebrated Christmas in over twenty years because of a tragedy
that happened involving a
down-on-her-luck woman and her baby. Both of whom died because
no one in
the town took the time to help them. The town feels guilty and
has refused
to celebrate since. So, NOW we need to bring Christ and the
Christmas
spirit to a whole lot of people. The townspeople see these
children as a way
to redeem their past mistake.
The idea of predestination runs very strong throughout this
story.
Everything that happens does so because of an ultimate plan of
God's. From one
step, to the next and to the next, there is nothing left open to
chance, nor is
there any free choice offered to our characters. For each player
in this
book every incident that has happened, has led them to this one
place in time
so they could affect the others at this place as well. We are
reminded of
numerous sayings from the bible and what Jesus would have done
or said in a
given situation.
For someone looking to reaffirm their faith, this is a perfect
holiday book
to pick up. |
Reviewed by Sarah
Sproha
Rating:
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