Finding Christmas

J. Egbert Michael

Description

Everyone knows that Christmas comes once a year. For most people, it's a time to celebrate with their loved ones, but not for Steve Bryant. Steve has struggled finding the purpose of Christmas all of his life. For Steve, Christmas was something he had to do, it was never something he wanted to go through. It wasn't until his father passed away that Steve understood how much he resented the holiday season. It's during this year's Christmas season Steve realises that every decoration, ugly sweater and holiday themed song remind him of how miserable he was. The meaning of Christmas was lost to Steve; that is until he met Sam. Through Sam's example, Steve would see the world for what it could be and not for what it was. Follow Steve and his wife Sarah as they learn the love and perseverance it takes to find Christmas.

Sujets

• Christmas

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 30 septembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528993623
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Finding Christmas
Michael J. Egbert
Austin Macauley Publishers
2020-09-30
Finding Christmas About the Author Dedication Copyright Information © Acknowledgements Chapter 1 The Office Party Chapter 2 Fighting the Lake Effect Chapter 3 A Father’s Gift Chapter 4 A Chance Encounter Chapter 5 An Unplanned Meeting Chapter 6 The Christmas Village Chapter 7 Christmas Eve Chapter 8 Christmas Morning Chapter 9 A Night Alone Chapter 10 Back to Work Chapter 11 A Final Revelation
About the Author
Michael J. Egbert started his writing career developing marketing and communication strategies for small businesses. His love for writing began at his alma mater, Dixie State University, where he studied Human Communication. Michael continued his education by enrolling into a master’s program at the University of Southern California Annenberg, School of Communication and Journalism.
Michael is married to his college sweetheart, Delight. Together they reside in Las Vegas, Nevada, with their three children.
Dedication
This novel is dedicated to Charles Dickens whose literary work A Christmas Carol has inspired the world to find the spirit of Christmas.
Copyright Information ©
Michael J. Egbert (2020)
The right of Michael J. Egbert to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528993616 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528993623 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2020)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Acknowledgements
Thank you Delight for supporting and believing in my writing before anyone else did.
This story would have stayed as a thought in my head if it wasn’t for your love and support.
Chapter 1
The Office Party

It was six months ago when I lost my dad. His death didn’t come as a surprise, I figured he was eventually going to pass away. After all, he was getting on in years. Though, there’s something odd when you realise you’re alone. Until recently I’ve always had one of my parents around to help me.
It wasn’t until five years ago, when my mother passed away that I started contemplating death. It’s when she died that my dad came to live with me and my family. At first, it was difficult, but over time, my family grew accustomed to having him around.
It was hard watching him die, but I think it was harder for my two kids. Especially my son, Garrett. It’s unrealistic for anyone to expect a nine-year-old to fully comprehend the permanence of death. Sometimes, I worry about him, Garrett and my dad shared a special bond. If I ever worked late, my dad was there to help him, the same way he helped me.
Even though, initially, she was affected by it; my daughter, Lizzie, seems more adjusted to the change. When she went back to school, everything seemed to get better for her once she was around her friends. However, this school year is different. She’s at an age where she’s starting to notice boys. I miss the days when she came to me to help her with a scraped knee, now when she talks to me, I feel lost.
Every day she comes home and its “Jodie said this” or “Adam saw that.” Stuff that requires a seasoned hand. I’m ashamed to admit this, but I’m no longer good at helping her. Instead of trying, I defer Lizzie over to Sarah. It could be a mother/daughter thing or even a woman thing, but most of what she says passes over me. I have a law degree and I’ve stood in front of multiple judges and committees, but I’ve never felt more unqualified than I do when I try to help my daughter. That’s when having my dad around was useful.
As a whole, our family seems okay with losing my dad that is everyone, except me. In a way, I feel broken. For the first time of my life, I have no one to turn to. I’m alone. There’s no one to ask for help. For six months, I’ve been trying to figure things out on my own, well not entirely. I do have Sarah. Still, I’m worried about everyone looking to me for answers. What if I don’t have them?
Of course, Sarah helps, but we’re trying to figure things out together. Anyone with kids knows that raising them at five is different than at ten. With each year, new challenges are guaranteed to follow. Lizzie, my oldest, turned eleven a couple of months ago. With my parents around, I had someone to lean on. Now I’m dealing with dating and puberty and it’s a whole new ball game.
What makes matters worse is that Christmas is almost here. One of the unspoken truths about losing a loved one is for the first year after their death, every day becomes your first day without them. Every trip you take, or movie you see is the first time you did it without them. It’s a harsh reality noticing when someone’s gone.
I first noticed it at Halloween. Over the years, I got used to my dad sitting on the front porch, handing out candy. He was always there in his worn-down Davy Crockett costume. That costume was covered with patches on its pants and shirt, the coonskin hat had lost most of its fur. No matter what we did, there was no way of getting him to wear something else. I really missed that, coming home to an empty house on Halloween hit me hard. I think, I spent the rest of the night staring at his old room, I kept imagining he was still there.
It’s the same for Christmas. This will be my first Christmas without either of my parents. I go around and see everyone happy and merry, whereas I can’t seem to get out of this funk I’m in. In fairness, it’s not entirely my dad’s fault, I’ve always struggled with Christmas. There’s something about it that seems disingenuous and I know it’s blasphemous to speak ill of Christmas, but I’ve never felt quite at home with the Christmas season. I admit that it’s possible that my problem is not even Christmas, but with something else. Still it’s been a rough couple of weeks.
However, I do get annoyed with everyone’s cheerfulness. Every year, it’s the same stories, trips and traditions replayed over and over. At least with work, I’m given two weeks off for the holiday, but I always come back more worn out than before I left.
I’m sure I wasn’t always so gloomy with past Christmases, but I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t phoning it in. I honestly don’t remember the last time I was excited for the holiday. Over the years, Sarah’s done what she could to create new traditions for us, things that might bring out the ‘joy’ in Christmas.
Unfortunately, each new tradition never quite worked for me. In the past, we worked at a local soup kitchen and tried singing carols, but somehow I’ve noticed that when we do these things I seem to be around, but never really there.
Strangely enough, I’ve noticed something else over the past couple of weeks. I’ve somehow started to pick up on the sadness of other people. In a weird way, I can tell who’s been depressed or sad. Even the people like me who are trying to fake it, I’ve been able to see through it and see what they’re hiding.
The other day, at the store, I kept noticing people. I could see who was in pain and who was sad. It’s likely I’m picking up on things because of my own misery. Even though, I tried faking my Christmas cheer in the past it seems there’s no way of faking it this year. With only a week away till Christmas, I feel caught in a downpour of Christmas spirit and I’m only hoping not to drown in it.
Since Christmas is coming, I’d been preparing myself for every encounter with someone who was about to wish me a Merry Christmas. Fortunately, I’ve done a good enough job handling each wish. What’s ironic is that while I spent so much time preparing myself for everyone’s wishes, I started to think about other cultures and how they celebrate the holiday.
It started off as a thought of telling everyone that I started celebrating a different holiday, but somewhere along the line I couldn’t stop wondering if anyone else struggles with their holiday traditions the way I struggle with mine.
Surprisingly, the thought of store shelves kept creeping into my mind. I kept thinking about other countries and what their stores might look like. Whether any of them had Christmas displays in them, if they did, how long have they been there? It was two weeks before Halloween when I first saw Christmas decorations finding their way to the store shelves. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if other countries do the same thing for Christmas or if it’s only an American thing to put up a tree, decorate a house and sing carols to random strangers.
What’s funny is, in all the time spent reflecting on other people’s Christmases, I realised a curious thing. I determined the best way to understand someone’s culture is by looking at their stores’ shelves. I believe it’s one of the easiest ways to learn about someone. All you have to do is watch what they buy. Better yet, what they bring home.
I figured out that I can learn more about people if I watch where they put their money. Nobody would buy something unless they needed it or really wanted it. I guess it might be the best way to find out what matters most. By watching the store’s aisles, I could learn what matters to that city. I would know if people were buying food fresh or processed.