Today the Kindle edition of The Sheep Walker’s Daughter went on sale for $0.99. I am tasked with promoting the sale, so I thought I’d share some excerpts of the different ways Dee celebrated Christmas.

If you have read Dee’s story in my two books, you know her struggle. Life events come into sharp focus in the way we celebrate (or don’t) our holidays.

Valerie (The Sheep Walker’s Daughter)

“Mother and I managed to make it through Christmas—she by working a lot and me by reading a lot. On Christmas Day we saw Roman Holiday. After the holiday Mom and I had, I’m ready for a holiday of my own.

“Thanksgiving and Christmas are always awkward because none of the women in or family cooks. Now that we are a family of two, it’s easier. My grandmother always wanted to go out to eat, but Mom and I don’t have the heart for it this year. I’m not sentimental about holiday traditions, but where am I headed when I spend Christmas with my mother in a movie theatre filling up on popcorn and Coke instead of Christmas dinner?”

Dee (The Lyre and The Lambs)

“Valerie and I are the decorations and food committee. After much discussion, we have decided to leave the aluminum tinsel tree in the box. We send Roger to the Christmas tree lot for the biggest fir tree he can hunt down and load in the truck he borrowed from Carlo.

“It has been challenging to turn the living room into a wedding chapel the Saturday before Christmas.”

No 12 foot tree for us this year!

Christmas Past

I suspect we all have some holidays that hold painful memories. Usually they are attached to difficult relationships and unmet expectations. The path that Dee walked pointed to a future where she learned how to make happier memories. Toward the end of The Sheep Walker’s Daughter, Dee tells Valerie:

The things we leave behind aren’t important. What’s important are the memories we carry forward and what we do because of them.

Christmas Present

Do you have a memory that needs to be reshaped to accommodate a new reality, one you are living now or one you hope to live?

This season I wish for you the hope that is expressed in Psalm 27:13:

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Whatever your circumstances, may the light of hope shine through the window to your soul and give you peace.

photo credit: Maigret Lampwork via photopin cc