Christmas Gifts by habu

Christmas Gifts by habu
Publisher: eXcessica
Genre: Inspirational

Review Copy Received from Author

Summary: The Christmas season reawakes the desires and encouragement to give of oneself and to help others in need. Christmas Gifts offers up a dozen inspirational stories of unexpected opportunities and second chances. This collection provides an opportunity for those conflicted in various ways or swept up in the busyness and hustle and bustle of holiday routine to pause, contemplate, grasp, and be heartened and set in motion by the true spirit of the season. These stories, themselves Christmas gifts, are great mood lifters for those who feel overwhelmed or marginalized by the commercialism of Christmas.

These stories share an element of unexpected gifts. In “Blue Christmas” the gift is a young man's call home, in “How Big the Ocean” it is one of companionship and good humor in the face of adversity. The almost paranormal “Déjà vu Christmas” provides the earthy gift of paying for talk rather than sex, whereas the gentler and more poignant “Betsy's Birds” bestows the gift of a sense of true community and “Fading Star's” gift hinges on a jarring medical diagnosis. The gift of “The Italian Crèche” is one of selfless sacrifice and “Time for Grace” unwraps the gift of social consciousness. The five-storied novella that concludes the anthology focuses on the gift of second chances.

Jaime's Review: Blue Christmas: Clara has not been out on a Christmas Eve in eight years. When Elizabeth begs her to help at the Church's Soup Kitchen, she can't refuse, and it sets in motion a chain of events that remind her Christmas was not always about loss and failure. This was a poignant tale that would make a great after-school-special, but is still written with a kind of sensitivity that leaves the reader with a good feeling in the gut, even if they aren't a church-goer. Clara's strength to follow through on her promise despite the hurdles and her own resistance make her very likeable. While the progression of events make the conclusion pretty inevitable for this story, it's easy to see how, in life, so many of us would have given in to the dark and given up on the promise. It speaks to a character well written that we can believe her choices and feel her strength and determination and not have those things feel forced or inauthentic.

Jaime's Review: How Big the Ocean: Sandi fancies herself a bad Christian because despite having made it through school to be an ordained minister, she just can't seem to land herself a job at a church ministering to the souls of the congregation. Instead, every time she turns around, she finds someone in need of her time and her help, and she just can't bring herself to say no. She knows she's a disappointment to her friend Helen who's been trying to set her up with job interviews, but somehow, people in need find her, and it isn't in her to turn her back on them. Let's redefine what a good Christian is, shall we? Sandi has done everything right, and perhaps it's society that needs a bit of a wake up call to what it really means to be Christian. This story is a perfect example of how often we overlook the true meaning of "do unto others" in favour of doing what the world expects.

Jaime's Review: Christmas Deja Vu: Like other deities, sometimes, Santa works in mysterious ways. Nadine hasn't had a real Christmas since she was five, and her parents disappeared on Christmas Eve. This year, she's determined that this Christmas Eve her present to herself; she's going to party, going to have a good time, and nothing her friend Stella says can changer her mind. It takes a John wanting to talk, not use her, to help her see how she's missed the point of Christmas, of family and help her get back to what's important. So, the hooker seeing the light is not a new theme, and the John who just wants to talk not a new plot element. In fact, this story is an amalgam of tried and true plot devices puzzle-pieced together making the story less original than the first two, but still heartfelt and with a happy Christmas outcome. To me, though, it felt rushed and skimped. I think this story could have been much longer, much more heart-felt than there was time for in this venue.

Jaime's Review: Betty's Birds: Not actually set at the holiday season, I would say this is not really a holiday story, though it is all about giving. Betty has spent her life giving of herself to her neighbors, and Connie has gone blithely along with the status quo. In this story, the tables turn, and it's nice to see that Connie has not lost the lesson she did not know she was learning from Betty all those years. When Betty is in need, Connie is there for her. This story is a sweet little reminder that we should never forget what it means to be part of a greater whole.

Jaime's Review: Fading Star: There is a theme running through many of the stories in this book, having to do with characters finding what they need because of a truth they think they know that later turns out to be false, or somehow, not what they expected. In this story, Janice has almost let her life and her family fade away. She's lost herself somewhere in mundane bitterness and it takes a shocking revelation to show her what she's been missing. That she discovers how much she missed being present in her own life seems to come too late to be of any real value. At least in her mind. But the real treat of this tale is that when she does find her way back, it's to discover she was never really all that far away to begin with, and she manages to find her strength and her happiness before she really thinks she has any right to be happy. Throughout the beginning of the story, there is a visceral feel to the bitterness and anger Janice projects. The underlying sense of futility is strong as well, as she finds her way back to her family, so I was a little sad about the happiness falling slightly flat at the end.

Jaime's Review: The Italian Crèche: Christmas traditions and memories are a focus for many of us over the holiday, and Emily, in this story, is no exception. She has vivid memories of her childhood Christmases and the focus of her family's celebrations; the Italian Crèche her mother took out every year. When the crèche was lost, along with Emily's parents, all she had to celebrate were the memories, so when she finds an identical crèche in a shop window, she knows finally, it's time to make her own memories. She does the only thing she can do when she finds she isn't the only one coveting the crèche and the happiness it embodies; she makes new memories. Another well-written offering, this story is a nice, easy read.

Jaime's Review: Time For Grace: The narrator in this story is unabashedly human. I liked this offering, because the thoughts, as uncharitable and ugly as they are, are thoughts so many of us have and don't want to admit to. I have to applaud the author for not shying away from revealing that uglier, more selfish side of human nature we are all guilty of on occasion. That makes the resolution of this story all the more real, because they came from a real place we can identify with, and the story might inspire us to try a little harder, because this person has managed it, and so might we if we take that extra step. There doesn't have to be a reason why. We don't have to be able to define the reason. We just have to take the step and reach out a helping hand. The first person point of view and the present tense of the story was a good choice to strip away the barrier between reader and character and make the story a little bit more immediate.

Jaime's Review: Second Honeymoon: Without going into a lot of detail, this story looks at what draws people together and how the Christmas spirit can bring them back around to what mattered in the first place. It's a well-crafted story, once again, and an easy read, leading the audience through the progression of thought along with the characters without spelling out every detail. I appreciate that freedom to interpret. It gives the characters a little more reliability than if everything is spelled out in detail.

Jaime's Review: Second Sister: Loosely connected to the last story, this one looks at how easy it is to misinterpret what people don't say. Just the gift of knowing the things people don't say out loud can make all the difference in the world. It's a good object lesson about taking the chances you get to tell people how you feel before the chances slip away.

Jaime's Review: Second Chance: Just as the title suggests, the gift of a second chance turns the prospect of an unpleasant Christmas into an event to look forward to, and even gives the glimmer of hope that the forward progression will continue beyond the holiday. Clairice's character is a strong woman, willing to make the hard choices, and she's easy to like.

Jaime's Review: Second Christmas Tree: It's the simple things we do in life that can bring about the best results sometimes. A phone call can help a friend, a box of sugar puffs can be just the ticket to happiness. This story illustrates well how easy it is to lose sight of what matters, and how important it is to get back in touch with the details of life we sometimes forget. Once again, the anguish of the main character is well brought out in this piece. Her inability to find her equilibrium is well portrayed, though I would have liked to get as clear a picture of her recovery as well. The happy part once again seemed to fall a tad flat for me.

Jaime's Review: Second Sight: The culmination of the group of stories at the end of this book tied up all the loose ends well, bringing the reader back to the two main characters who started the whole chain reaction. It was nice to get a deeper glimpse into their lives and see that they did, in the end, find peace in their decisions, and to see things work out for them.

Overall: My overwhelming impression of this Anthology is that it was long. Most of the stories were well crafted, and had a decidedly important (if slightly repetitive) message to relay. I personally would have liked it to be a bit shorter, a bit more refined. The last grouping of stories was delightful in the interconnectedness and the overall point that giving is more important than receiving. Some stories were rushed through far too quickly and didn't add anything to the overall enjoyment of the anthology, in my opinion. All in all, a little more judicious pruning would have done this book some good, though I thought the writing style was fluid and easy to read.

My Recommendation: This is a good book to tuck in to bed with over the holiday season when you need a nice warm fuzzy feeling to go to sleep to.

Rated 3 1/2 Delightful Divas by Jaime!



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