Good news! Only 58 days until Christmas! And if you’re looking for books to give as gifts or to get you in the holiday spirit, my first-ever Christmas novella, “The Wish Book Christmas” is now available.
If you’ve read my WWII novel, “If I Were You,” you’ll recognize the main characters, Eve Dawson and Audrey Barnett, who come to America with their young sons as British war brides. In this mini-sequel, you’ll get to read the next chapter in their lives and see what they’ve been up to since the first book ended. How are they faring in America? And did either of them ever find love again?
But I think you’ll still enjoy the Christmas novella even if you haven’t read the first book. It takes place in 1951 and starts, as the title suggests, when two kindergarten-age boys discover the Sears Christmas catalogue. They begin obsessing over this “Wish Book,” choosing dozens of toys that they want Santa to bring for Christmas. Their worried moms decide to search for ways to teach their sons the true meaning of the holiday. I know that many parents share their concern, so I hope my story will offer a few ideas to try this Christmas.
I had a lot of fun researching and writing this book. It brought back so many memories of Christmas when I was growing up. Like the boys in the novella, my two sisters and I spent many hours studying the Wish Book and choosing toys. The real catalogue from 1951 is available on the internet, and it’s still fun to peruse the pages. The cover from 1951 looks a lot like the cover of my book, don’t you think?
Here are some of the actual pages. The prices seem super-cheap:
Remember when Christmas trees looked like this, with glittery tinsel dangling down? My sisters and I would drape piles of it on the tree, but I seem to recall Mom complaining that she would still be finding tinsel months layer.
Then there were those pesky strings of colored lights where if one blew out, the entire string would go out. Dad would have to test each light, one at a time, until he found the offender. And remember bubble lights?
The mothers in “The Christmas Wish Book” encourage their sons to give presents to the special people in their lives. In order to buy them, they have to earn extra money doing chores. This is something that my own parents also encouraged. We would save ten or twenty cents from our allowance each week and deposit it in a Christmas Club account at the bank. Shortly before Christmas, we would shop for presents for our parents, grandparents, and for each other using the money we’d saved.
One of the gifts that the boys in the novella want for Christmas is a dog. You’ll have to read the story to see if Santa actually brings them one. Each year, there was always one special present that I would wish for, and it would be the first thing I would search for beneath the tree. One year I wished for a doll that drank water from a bottle and then wet her diaper. I loved that doll! I kept her very well hydrated—which meant lots of wet diapers.
But my parents made sure that the story of Jesus’s birth was always the central focus of Christmas. We took part in pageants at school and Sunday school, sang favorite carols, and always went to the candlelight service at church. A manger scene took center stage beside our Christmas tree, and Mom read the Bible story aloud to us year after year. When my children were young, we held birthday parties for Jesus with a cake, candles and ice cream so they would know that Christmas was a celebration of His birth.
Do you remember the Christmas Wish Book from when you were a child? Was there a special gift that you wished for? I would love to hear some of your memories.
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I remember the wish books quite well. They were so thick! Full of all kinds of toys I dearly *needed*. I was in the generation that hoped most fervently for a Cabbage Patch Doll. Santa came through, but not without a lot of effort. LOL The only one my mom was able to find and purchase was Dawn Taffy, an African American Cabbage Patch. I grew up in a very rural area where diversity wasn’t high. In fact, at that time, it was nearly non-existent in our small town. But I was thrilled! I actually still have Dawn Taffy some 30+ years later. She’s been well-loved but is still in mint condition. I probably have her birth certificate tucked in a box somewhere, too! I vividly remember the year my mom explained that sometimes Santa wasn’t able to bring what was on our wish list but I’m not sure if it was the same year she was frantically searching for that doll or a different year. LOL
What a sweet story. Moms will go a long way for their children. Thanks for sharing, Joy.
I loved pouring over the wish book as a child. And I’m definitely getting this novella for my Christmas reads this year! 🙂
I hope you enjoy it, D’Ann.
Loved this nostalgic, Christmas-y post! I wish you all the best with this novella, Lynn. 🙂
Thanks, Becky. And congratulations on your Christy!
I can’t wait to read this book! A lot of what you described does bring back memories for me, even though 1951 was a few years before my time. As a teenager I snuck open one gift one year, and it was a necklace with one of those huge “gem stones” – looked like a faceted tear drop, and mine was in my birthstone color. I loved it. Of course I re-wrapped it, and it taught me a lesson I still follow. Don’t peak and don’t cheat! It spoils the actual Christmas Day thrill of opening the gift.
Have a safe and wonderful holiday season!
I remember the Wish Book definitely, as a child. Later on in the late 60’s and early 70’s, we relied on that book for our children to select favorite toys when we were living overseas. The Christmas tree is very familiar, too, and my Nanny (grandmother) had the candle lights on her tree. Thanks for bringing back these memories.
Oh my, this has certainly brought back some memories! Yes, we had the beautiful tree draped with tinsel, which was very artfully draped by my dad. And a few years after 1951, I received the farm set. How I loved setting it all up! The animals were a special favorite. And now I’m sure I’ll need to read the book, too!!
And yes, we did have a lovely creche, too…and still do.
Loved the book. We loved looking at the Christmas catalog growing up. We would each get a page and trade for something on the others page. We spent hours doing that. We didn’t have much but we had lots of love.