Santa Blog

And Then It Happened

In 2009 Greg and I returned to Florida with our 15 boxes of Christmas decorations, which included the broken pieces of my kneeling santa.  We celebrated 2 more Christmases, along the way beginning whta is becoming quite a kneeling Santa collection of statues, ornaments, magnets, snow globes and even earrings.  My love for this concept has never wained.

It was December 12, 2011 that a new direction began for the story written all those years ago.  It started with the no-name worship band we are in with our cousin Tim, and friends, Roy and Dan.  Roy is married to Suzanne, and they are friends who live in our neighborhood.  On that December evening our band was in transit about an hour south of Sarasota to share music in a Christian coffeehouse, Ginjah's Jah Cafe.  As we loaded up at our house, I was carrying a 3 ring binder.  Suzanne asked me what was in the binder and I told her it was a story I wrote years ago. 

"We have a long ride ahead of us," she said.  "Let me read it on the way."

That sounded OK to me, so I handed over the binder and got into the van.  Roy and Suzanne got into their car and we caravanned down the road. 

Suzanne was a teacher in Chicago and Roy was a school administrator in Chicago, so I was kind of excited that these two were going to hear the story. I wondererd how it would be received.  I felt these former teachers might have some good insights into changes it might need or whether they thought it was viable to someday be published.  I never dreamed they would have the reaction they did.

 

The Gift Comes To Life

Gary and I talked about the cost of the artwork, and it was far more than $25/page.  In addition, the book was a lot more pages than I thought!  I would need around 25 double page drawings plus cover artwork.  Gary's contract called for half down and the rest paid before the art was submitted to the publisher.  That meant I needed a lot more money than I had.

Once again God stepped in.

While I cannot say "who" God sent, I can say he definitely sent us help.  On January 5 I began a job with the Sarasota Opera that paid well.  Some of the money I needed for the artwork would come from this employment.  Praise God!  Then another friend, who believed in the project, and believes in God's plan for my life, stepped up to provide a down payment to Gary.  That money got the ball rolling and artwork began.

Having never done a project like this before it was quite a journey.  First we got pencil drawings (all electronic) with a breakout of the poem, showing what would fall on which pages.  Next, we began to get roughed in color, and finally one, by one, the drawings came.  One was more beautiful than the last!  Each set our hearts soaring, as we knew God was unfolding an amazing miracle in our lives.

Gary's deadline when we first spoke was mid March, but because of the need to get the book in sooner for publication in time for the summer conference of booksellers in Orlando, the deadline was pushed to March 8.  24 drawings and the cover in just 6 weeks!  Could we meet the deadline?  Would he be finished?  While Gary executed the drawings, I worked with the publisher to secure an advertising package.  What a package I got!  Front cover of the summer catalog and a full page inside, all set up with payments scheduled from January through May.  (We are on our last payment this week!)  The project was coming together, and Gary was bringing Bea, Dolly and Santa to life!

A Dream Becomes A Plan

Melody's check was the beginning of what has become a whirlwind of publishing activity.  It started with making a down payment on the Xulon publishing package.  At a time when we were financially unable to do anything on our own, talking with the publishing representative, I knew one thing:  The more support we could purchase from Xulon the greater the possibilities to reach a maximum number of children with this book.  Not knowing how we would get the resources for the publishing, I went ahead and agreed to a higher priced publishing package, knowing that God was in control.

When I signed the contract, the publisher's rep told me she know of an artist who worked for $25/page.  I asked for more information and she sent me this artist's name and a list of about a dozen others who had done work on books Xulon published.  Finding the right artist was very important to me, so I began by sending an email to the whole list and asking for samples of work.  Some of the artists never responded.  Others sent me to web pages to see what they had done.  They were all gifted, but their work was very diverse.  There was everything from pencil drawings to oil paintings, but no one seemed to have the look I envisioned for this book.  I thought I would have to settle, when friends lead me to a man who was a Christian artist locally. I asked him for a sample drawing, and he hesitated to work on it without pay.  With no start-up money, I continued the quest.

On December 28, I received this email:

"Hi, Karen,

I hope life is going well for you on this day. :)

Thank you for contacting me regarding illustrations.  I am available to work on a project that can be completed by March or April 2012.  I have attached a sample portfolio of books/projects that I have worked on this last year, which include prices and styles to chose from.  I require a simple contract to be signed before a project starts, and for children's books I require 90 days for completion from the time of initial payment.  I require.....  Once again thanks for contacting me and God bless you.

Gary Sanchez"

This email began a journey for Gary, who lives in Reno, Nevada.   It has been an incredible journey with a wonderful, God-loving guy, who I am very happy to  now call my friend.  Gary sent me a FREE sample of what his work for the book would look like.  When I got it I cried...my husband cried...we knew this was the one God had sent.  That illustration is now the cover of the book.  His work is amazing!

 

A Hope, A Dream, An Opportunity

    That night in December of 2011, I read the story at Ginjah's coffee house and felt it was a new beginning for the story of Bea, Dolly and Santa.  I didn't know what God was going to do from there, but I knew he was moving in my life and in this story.

    Just days after the coffeehouse experience, I got an e-mail from Xulon Press, a Christian publishing house in Orlando, Florida that said, "Just 2 weeks to save on publishing packages."  The email came out of nowhere.  To the best of my recollection, I never signed up with this company or even Googled this company before.  That day was the beginning of their email coming regularly to my box...all by itself!

   With the memories of the experience at Ginjah's still fresh on my mind and heart, I decided that day I needed to contact this company and see how much it costs to publish a book.  I knew that if this was to happen I would need to find an illustrator and God was going to have to bring some funding from somewhere.  Calling Xulon, I was connected with a very sweet saleswoman, who explained all the packages the company offered, explained what they do and said she knew of illustrators that worked as cheaply as $25 per page.  That really got my attention as the cost of hiring an artist was a big hurdle to publishing the story.

    The best package, with the most help and opportunity through Xulon was expensive, but if I was able to put a deposit on it before the end of December, I could save $1000 (and get a free Kindle Fire!).  Christmas was just a week away, and I just didn't have the funds for a deposit.  That didn't dampen my enthusiasm, however,   I felt God was going to act to help me get this contract signed and save the $1000 on the publishing.  

    A few days before Christmas, I shared some phonetime with my lifelong friend, Melody.  I was brimming with excitement about what had happened so far and how I knew God wanted the book to be published now.  I told her that I didn't know how , but I knew God was going to provide the funds for this contract to be signed before the end of 2011.  I wished her a Merry Christmas, and we said goodbye.

    Two days after our family's Christmas celebration, I opened my business e-mail to find Melody had written to me three days before...on Christmas Eve!  She sent the email to let me know that she and Greg (her husband) had decided to loan me the money for the contract to be signed before the end of the month, so I could save the $1000 in publishing costs!  The e-mail said "The check is in the mail."  It arrived the next day!

God Speaks in a Still Small Voice

Suzanne stepped out of her vehicle with tears in her eyes.   As she approached me, she asked "Why?" 

via karendove.typepad.com

God Speaks in a Still Small Voice

Suzanne stepped out of her vehicle with tears in her eyes.   As she approached me, she asked "Why?" 

"Why?" I responded to her.

"Yes, why haven't you published this story?"  she replied physically overcome with emotion.  

I began to explain how I had written the story a long time ago, and the more I told Suzanne, the more amazed she bacame.  She seemed incredulous,that it was written 15 years ago and sat on a shelf all this time, only shared with select small groups during the holidays.

She told me about Roy's reaction to the story as they drove.  Roy was not known to be an emotional guy.  In the months we had spent working together in the band, nothing got a rise out of Roy.  Nothing seemed to penetrate his controled, demeanor.  Yet, here was Suzanne, his wife, telling me how excited this story had him as he listened during their ride.  

 "I would stop reading to compose myself, because I was so emotional, and Roy would say, 'Why are you stopping?'," she said.  "This is an amazing story and it needs to be published now."

Roy followed Suzanne's lead by telling me himself of what a wonderful story he thought it was, and how he thought the world needed this story.  Between the two of these dear friends, there was no doubt in my mind that God was sending me a message...it was time.  A Gift for Santa was to be published.  I  didn't know how God would make that happen, but I knew without a doubt that he would.

That night, standing in front of Kozy's Cafe, God spoke.  He spoke through the still small voice of my friend, Suzanne, and her husband Roy.  Lots of miracles would have to happen to make this Christmas different than the 15 that proceeded it.  God would need to take the reigns and bring the right people into my path.  I was willing to follow, but he had to lead.

From then Til Now

From that holiday season in 1997 until now, A Gift for Santa has been read to many people Christmas after Christmas I would take it out and read it.  We brought it to the Kingsley Center for Girls and read it to incarcerated teens.  It went to the nursing homes, to Christian coffeehouses, churches and of course it was read at home.  The story grew dearer to our hearts after the sudden, unexpected death of Bea in 2003.  In fact, I always said that if the story was every published I would bring Bea a copy and leave it at her grave, because her love and friendship was such a big part of my life.  I want her to have one of the first ones printed!

The years passed by and life changed dramatically several times.  We moved from Florida to Illinois in 2001, where we bought a home in Rockford.  After Hurricane Katrina my brother and his wife came to live in Rockford, too for a time.  The stress of loosing all their posessions was too overwhelming for my sister-in-law Chris, who was in fragile health and she succombed to death from Multiple Sclerosis in 2007.  About the time Chris took sick, we moved to Wisconsin for a job, and left my brother and our daughter's family, including our three grandchildren in Rockford, Illinois.  Within a year of our move further north, the family all moved back south.  Christmas came and went, and for the next few years, A Gift for Santa would sit on the shelf, unread as our lives went through a transition.  God was working to teach us what it meant to totally rely on him.

The years 2007 - 2009 found us fairly destitute in terms of income.  I lost my job in Wisconsin, and we lived on God's good graces on part time work here and there, gas cards and food cards given us by our wonderful, loving church family.  God taught us much about total reliance on him through the year and a half after the job was gone.  I wrote about this experience in the beginnings of another book, Miracles Come in Teaspoons, which I also hope to publish one day.

We began the year 2009 believing God was going to bring a new direction in our lives, and he did.  Almost as the New Year was being celebrated, I was offered the opportunity to write grants for a national education consultant.  I was given 2 grants to write, which brought us several thousand dollars, enough to consider a move back home to Florida.  After prayerful consideration, we announced on February 5 to our friends and church family that we were heading back south.  A Gift for Santa, written in the south and carried to the north was once again in transit and so were we...southward bound!   visit our website www.agiftforsanta.com

And Away We Go!

As we pulled out of Slidell, Louisiana, with the road stretching hours ahead, I took my steno pad and pen out of the grocery sack and got ready to write.  For some people writing is a challenge and to some a daunting task.  For many, it might seem I had taken on a huge endeavor which would require much more time than the road offered.  That thought never even crossed my mind.  It was a moment of pure obedience to the Holy Spirit working in my life.  I knew that in that small space in the back seat of the Geo Prism, I was to write.  So write I did!

I've always been a writer, as long as I can remember.  When I was only 15 I was the editor/publisher of the newsletter for the Crescent Zone Walther League in New Orleans.  This youth group was comprised of Lutheran kids from all over the City of New Orleans. 

Some of my close friends were in Walther League leadership, so I hung out with these "cool kids."  Always being the quieter one in the group, I wasn't on the governing committee, but instead chose to write and published news, updates and upcoming events of the organization to be sent out to our Walther League members monthly. 

In addition to my writing for this newsletter at 15, throughout high school, I would be published several times in the school newspaper, and become advertising editor for the school yearbook.  After high school, I would work on the college yearbook staff and eventually become an English teacher, then a newspaper columnist and eventually a grant writer for nonprofit organizations.  For me, writing was a Gift from God, lead by the spirit through prayer.  Even today, as I  sit down to write anything, even a grant, I pray, "Lord, please give me the words you would have me say today, that I may be successful to your glory."

That post-Thanksgiving day in the car was no different.  I uttered a prayer, took pen in hand and away I went.  I can't really remember how much time went by, but it wasn't 12 hours.  In fact, just a couple of hours into the ride, I remember saying to Bea and Greg, "Do you want to hear my Christmas story?"

That day, as the story of A Gift for Santa was born, an amazing thing happened.  Unlike any other time I have ever written, the words came, I wrote them on the tablet, and I did not scratch out a single word or make a single change to the manuscript.  Beginning to end, God gave me this story.  He dictated it to my heart and mind, and I wrote it on the paper.  And when I finished reading it out loud... both Bea and Greg were crying.  I knew this tremendous gift from God was just as he intended it to be.  And I knew he had a plan for it.  I just didn't know what that plan would be.

The story was completed.  The task had been done on November 29, 1997.  From that day to this, less than 10 words have been changed in A Gift For Santa!  The story you will read in the book, coming out in spring of 2012, is exactly the one found in the steno tablet, which I still have today.  God brought a miracle into my life, which I hope and believe will bless your life as well.

..... to be continued....

Thanksgiving Ride

After Thanksgiving, Greg, Bea and I prepared to head back to Sarasota.  We had a 12 hour ride ahead of us.  As always, my dad had packed an igloo ice chest with fresh frozen fish he caught on his weekends on the bayou.  The rest of the Geo Prism was packed with road snacks, Christmas presents we were bringing back for the kids and suitcases.  The front bucket seats were occupied by Greg, who was driving, and Bea.  My tiny space in a corner of the back seat seemed claustrophobic.

Kissing Mom and Dad goodbye, we finally all got into the car and headed east on I-10.  By the time we got to Slidell (about half hour east of New Orleans), I knew I couldn't make 12 hours in this little space with nothing to do.  We stopped to gas-up the car, and I went into the station, emerging with a dictation steno notebook and a new pen.  Today was going to be the day I began my story about the kneeling santa.  

The road stretched before us in a 12 hour timeline.  I would have plenty of time to get the story going, but where would I begin?

And Life Goes On...

Part of the story of A Gift For Santa says "The days and year passed quickly by."  In our lives, those years truly flew.  Year after year I would get that snow globe out of the closet and put it out for Christmas, sadly putting it away on January 6.  Every year I would say "I should write a story about this."  And....every year I didn't.

The girls grew quickly from 7 and 12 to 15 and 20.  Dramatic changes took place in our lives included going through a traumatic divorce and moving several times.  The kneeling Santa story never came, but the snow globe remained a part of our annual Christmas celebrations.

In 1996, God gave me a wonderful Christian husband, Greg Dove.  It was a challenging time with a 14 year old sharing our home with a new man, who was not her father.  As many remarried parents know, it had many highs and lows.  My oldest daughter graduated from high school the year of the divorce, and married shortly afterward.  She now had a baby girl and a husband to care for, and was happy being a new mom. 

Holidays had also forever changed.  Instead of traveling to New Orleans as a family, my youngest would share holidays between two different parental households.  At Thanksgiving 1997, my new husband, Greg, his mother Bea and I would travel to New Orleans to spend the holiday my family.   My oldest, Betsy would spend Thanksgiving with her new family, and Brooke, my 15 year old would spend the holiday with her father.

It would soon be Christmas and we would once again take out the kneeling Santa snow globe.

 

...to be continued....

 

A Story is Born

When my children were little, we always went home to New Orleans for the holidays.  The drive back a day or two after Christmas was a long one, and we would break up the roadtrip with a stop at the Wayfarer Antique Store on I-75 in Florida.  I loved their after Christmas sale!

One year, we were on our way home and made the annual stop.  My girls were about 7 and 11 at that time.  As I browsed the items in the 50% off After Christmas Sale, I came upon a unique snow globe, the likes of which I had never seen before.  Inside the water-filled ball was a Santa kneeling at the manger with a baby Jesus on the hay.  This kneeling Santa came home with me, and I began a quest to find a story for the girls that would bring Santa to the manger.  There was no internet way back then, so the task took time, but I pressed on with eager enthusiasm to find this special book.

Finally, I found a single children's book with a picture of a kneeling Santa on the front.  I read the story, and was very disappointed.  This is not the kind of story I had hoped to find.  It did not bring Santa to his knees in repentance, but just in an effort to see a little baby on the hay.  I determined...one day I would write a story about this kneeling Santa.  One day God would give me the real story of the kneeling Santa I had found, and I began to wait.

To be continued....