Happy Hannukuah starting Sunday December 22, 2019
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate and Happy Holidays to all others. this is your holiday treat, Please scroll down below the books for excerpts and two additional surprises.
The following are three excerpts from
Christmas Is Calling
and
Visions of Sugarplums available at Amazon
and The Christmas Card
if you'd like to purchase the book or books just click the title it will take you to a link to do so.
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Angels We Have Heard On High
It was unseasonably warm a week ago and winter’s chill had come in a fury. Now the snow came down in not small clumps, but like someone throwing snowballs. I was cold hungry and I needed shelter for the night.
“I’m sorry; if only you’d come sooner, the shelter is full.” the person at the shelter called the Inn of the shepherd said as I looked in to see a Christmas tree burning brightly.
I had myself a bitter laugh. Here it was Christmas Eve and there was no room at the Inn. I looked around, no stable to be found, but a cardboard box from some large appliance someone was getting for Christmas lay before me.
How I remembered those Christmases of excesses, when money was plenty. When my life was different, and I had the love of my life by my side, but all of that was gone in the blink of an eye. I lost my job and then chased away my love, with anger and bitter words. Mary had then withered and died. Then I had lost my home and dignity, as I now walked the streets, living day to day on handouts.
I lay down to sleep on the cold ground, wrapped inside my box. The wind was bitter and bitingly cold. I pulled my ragged coat tighter round me. And still the cold battered me. I was almost asleep when I heard the heavenly music, the choir singing ‘Angels We Have Heard On High’. Before I had even thought about it my lips were singing the song too and I started wishing for an angel to take me out of the cold on this chilly night.
Suddenly before me appeared a woman, at least at first I thought she was a woman. I somehow knew without a doubt this was an angel. Her hair was dark, her wings hidden close to her back, small and almost invisible; until that is she bent forward and then the wings unfurled to their full size. They were majestic wings that from wing to tip each were six feet long and dark black in colour like a crow’s wings. I questioned why had I been sent a dark angel? Was I so unredeemable?
“Contrary to popular belief, angels come in all shapes and sizes, with all kinds of wings,” she admonished, as if she read my mind. Then she continued, “Lionel, I thought you were different and showed no prejudice.”
“Sorry,” I apologized, ashamed and suddenly frightened.
“Lionel, my dear man, and yes you are a good man; fear not for I have watched over you all your life. You need not dread me.”
“You’ve watched over me? Then where were you when I needed you?”
“I have been beside you. I have seen your best and your worst, and so has the almighty. You’ve learned much in the last week, and the almighty has seen your kindness, when you had so little yourself. He saw you give your last dollar to that teenager who was hungry.”
“Is that why the almighty finally answered my prayer?”
“Lionel, my dear man. Who stood with you when you needed shelter? Who found a meal for your empty belly? Who lifted your feet and made them light, when you felt you could walk no more?”
“The almighty was with me?”
“Yes, he made the unseasonable mild weather. He made the lady see that you needed money for food. Remember how surprised you were that she gave you a twenty?
“Yes.”
“Come Lionel. Come with me to your reward. There will be no more pain, no more trial, no more sorrow, only his light,” she said taking me by the hand and pulling me into glorious light.
Light, all-encompassing peace and joy, everlasting enveloped me and there just in front of me, my dear wish, my wife.
“Hello Lionel. I’ve been waiting for you,” Mary said as she hugged me.
“Poor beggar, he died during the night.” I heard from far away.
But that life had no meaning for me anymore, I became light and felt nothing but peace and joy. So I had one request from the almighty. Let me share this love and joy at Christmas to all those deserving ones. And so God rewarded me. With Mary by my side, we are Christmas angels. We help the most deserving and see they get the Christmases they need. So if you feel that joy and that tug at your wallet this season, open it and share what you can. Make someone’s Christmas as special as mine.
©Sheilagh Lee December 6, 2012
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Home Invasion
He crept swiftly passed the sleeping girl, checking to make sure she didn’t hear his footsteps on the threadbare carpet. She stirred slightly and he paused for moment, taking a huge breath hoping she wouldn’t hear him. He slipped passed the boys room, as the cat almost tripped him. He worried that his large frame would make more noise and awakened the family before this job was done. He continued down the hall past the parent’s bedroom.
Softly his feet patted on the carpet and then a little harder on the wooden stairs as he tiptoed down them.
He entered the family room and spotted some baked goods left on a plate. Tempted he took one off the plate and thought about eating it. He then looked down at his round belly and almost stopped but then he thought dieting for woosies. Besides he could diet in the New Year after this job. The baked good dry and appetizing almost made him not eat it. But he was hungry, or at least he thought he was, even as he felt it go to his stomach like a lead weight, he continued eating. When he finished the baked good, he walked around the living room. Where he looked was bare, hardly anything filled the room. A well-worn chair well-loved covered in duct tape to hold it together stood in the corner. A sofa long and looking saggy was there covered in a crochet blanket to hide its flaws.
In the corner of the dark room stood a Christmas tree; if you could call it a tree, calling it a tree would be kind. The tree looked like something out of Charlie Brown’s Christmas. He stared at it for a few moments, watching the twinkling lights. A single strand blinked at him. He then decided to get the job done before this family woke. He took out his bag looking for his tools. He found them and quickly completed the job. Placing the tools back in his bag, he packed up and snuck out of the house.
The girl woke first and as she went into the living room, she squealed waking the boy who came running in response. The parents came next, worried about the screaming from their child.
The parents stood their shocked and puzzled staring into the living room. The whole family gazed and looked in shock at their living room. Where once a duct taped chair stood;. its depilated state an eyesore in the room, a leather chair was now positioned.
And not just any chair, a La-Z-Boy chair that could recline. The sofa was leather too and matched perfectly. A rug, a beautiful tapestry of figures on horseback, and with golden threads, appeared under the furniture. And in the corner where their Charlie Brown Christmas tree had stood, a beautiful Douglas fir stood in its place. It fairly glowed with the five hundred lights strung around it. The ornaments they’d placed so lovingly on their tree were there, with many more new ones filling the branches. And underneath the tree a bounty of riches, many pretty packages layered beneath the tree.
“I don’t understand this,” retorted the father, shaking his head.
“Me either,” the mother claimed, covering her mouth in wonderment.
“It was Santa Claus,” insisted the children.
“It must have been,” mother agreed. “Thank you, whoever did this. Because of you, my children will have Christmas. God bless you ten-fold.”
“Yes, thank-you Santa and God bless you,” the girl child reiterated, opening a present and squealing to find a Justin Bieber doll.
The man who had crept into the house sat in his home, his feet in front of the fire warming them.
“Did they hear you?” asked his wife.
“No,” he replied.
“Did your brother, Paul help you with the furniture?” she enquired.
“Yes, we got it all in and I used my tools to make sure it was all put together right.”
“And the tree did it fit?” she wanted to know.
“Yes, and it was beautiful,” he commented “The presents are all under the tree?”
“Yes, dear, including the Justin Bieber doll, Ellen wanted,” he stated happily.
“They don’t know who did all this. Do they?”
“No, they’ll never know their neighbours got together and did this,” he answered.
“Good. I hope they believe Santa Claus did all this.”
“Of course after all it was Santa Claus,” he replied, with a wink and touched his nose.
“Santa needs to go on a diet,” his wife commented.
“Yes, a little treadmill and then his belly won’t be so jolly,” he laughed. “I need a couple of hours sleep then we can have our Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, come to bed Santa.”
“Merry Christmas, to you too honey, and to all a goodnight.”
~0~
©Sheilagh Lee December 6, 2012
The Christmas Card
She remembered the Christmases of long ago; the smells
of cloves and clementines, the taste on your lips of sweet candies, mints and
striped candy canes. She wanted to see the interactions of people at the stores
this time of year. It was almost like she could pretend she hadn’t gone through
hardship her entire life and that she was one of those happy shoppers. That she
wasn’t invisible in this life. That she didn’t spend every day cleaning offices
at night, seeing no one.
Grace Philips made a decision she would go home grab
her mad money, get some breakfast and then shop for some foods for Christmas,
maybe she’d even buy a small present for herself. As she walked to the nearby
dinner she saw her mailman hefting his brimming mail bag.
“Hello, Grace. I have some mail for you,” he said
handling Grace what appeared to be some bills, then he continued delivering his
load of mail and parcels.
Grace continued onto the diner, opening bills as she
walked. When she reached the diner she sat down and ordered and began to open
her mail. Opening an envelope out popped a Christmas card. Who would be sending
her a Christmas card? Inside the card tied with a lovely red ribbon a ring with
a small diamond and a matching wedding ring. She read...,
Dearest Grace
Forgive me for not writing to you sooner, I’ve not had
time to write, as the war drags on, and we try hard to kill the enemy and keep
ourselves alive. Suffice to say, I can’t even tell you where I am right now, or
what I am doing. I can’t tell you much more than this as loose lips, sink ships
and campaigns in this war. But know that you dwell in my heart and mind.
The night we met was
the greatest night of my life. The room crowded and warm, everyone disappeared
as I looked at you. Dance after dance, I felt your body, warm and inviting next
to mine, as the music played. When the music ended, I never wanted to let you
go. I fell in love that night and I longed to spend all my time with you and
did so every chance we got.
I want you to know I
have enjoyed your beautiful letters and your stories of your everyday life.
They have kept me sane, when bullets reined over my body and the sounds and
echoes of rockets burst over my head. I look at your picture every day and
carry it close to my heart. I love you with all my heart. I know the ring
enclosed isn’t large, but it’s all I can afford. I’ll be home for Christmas and
if you feel the same as I do meet me in the diner where we first met on
December twenty-fourth wearing my ring and tell me yes. I can hardly wait for
you to be mine. If you agree we will be married on Christmas day.
If you don’t show,
I’ll understand and take that as a no, and never bother you again.
Love your, Roberto
She didn’t know any Roberto. This card wasn’t meant
for her. She glanced at the envelope, it said Grace; but the last name was smudged.
In the corner of the envelope she read December thirteenth, nineteen forty-two.
How was this possible? It was twenty fourteen. The card had been lost in the
mail. Obviously the first place to look was at the address.
It was the same as hers. This Grace had lived in her
apartment. Poor Roberto, had he sent this ring to be rejected because it was
lost in the mail. And what about Grace had she still found her Roberto? Grace
decided then a there she would look into this mystery and return this ring to Grace.
As she entered her apartment building, she found herself happy and looking
forward to the future. Maybe, just maybe, she could find out who this Grace
was. Then at least she could let Grace know Roberto loved her.
It had been eons though since this Christmas card had
been sent, what if the recipient had died? Or Roberto died? It was time ago.
What if she told Grace or Roberto and detonated a long term marriage? Maybe she
shouldn’t be looking into this? No, if she were Grace, even if she’d moved on she’d
want to know that once Roberto loved her. Who could she ask? The first person
to ask was the lovely old lady in 3 G. Mrs. Donnelly had been here since the
thirties. Of course, Mrs. Donnelly, her landlady, the woman had lived her a
long time. She was ninety-five years old, but spry and very aware. Maybe she
could tell Grace where she could look? Mrs. Donnelly might know Grace
of the Christmas card. She had a Christmas present for Mrs. Donnelly; she’d
take it to her and ask about the mysterious Grace who had the same first name.
( read the rest of the book by buying in either kindle or paperpack with link The Christmas Card
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Finding Christmas Spirit
“I have no Christmas spirit this year,” I commented, “The rouleau on the tree even bores me.”
“Rouleau you sound so pretentious just call it trim.”
“The point it the orphic symbol of Christmas doesn't excite me.”
“ Using pervious words doesn't change the fact that, that makes two of us, Holly,” my brother Zach answered, “I miss them too.”
“I’m so selfish forgetting you lost them too. You saw through all my silly words. How do you do that?”
“I have an idea what will make us happy,” Zach answered.
“What have Christmas… just the two of us? You’re always full of ideas, but it’s the follow up that’s the problem. I’ll be cooking the dinner.”
“Come with me to the mall,” Zach begged.
“You’re crazy; the mall is zoo this time of year, a week before Christmas.”
“Just follow me Holly. Come with me and you won't be sorry.”
Holly reluctantly followed her brother. He took her to the toy department and she felt like a kid again as they laughed and played with some of the toys. Zach put some of the toys in a cart. Then he went to the toiletries department and bought things that Holly could use. But why was he buying all of these things in front of her she wondered? Zach laughed and whispered in her ear and Holly understood.
Holly picked up toys and some men’s toiletries and put them in her cart. Then she and Zach split up Zach going to the women’s clothing her to the men’s department. When they were all done they met at the front of the store laughing and smiling they paid for the goods. Them they went into the mall and in the centre of the mall near Santa they placed all their gifts. They had found Christmas after all.
©Sheilagh Lee December 12, 2017
Wonder
The wonder of Santa Claus
Seen through children’s eyes
Brings back treasured memories
Of Christmases long ago
The anticipation of Christmas morning
The family gathering too
Seen through rose-coloured glasses
The bittersweet remembrance
Siblings gone too soon
Of parents gone too
Forgotten for a moment
Lost in the anticipation
Of the celebration
So long ago.
©Sheilagh Lee December 5, 2017
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanuakah,Happy Holiday whatever you celebrate I hope you have fun.
