The Christmas House
A verified Amazon review-The Christmas House is the embodiment of the Christmas Spirit. Magical, wondrous, full of the warmth generated by the company of family and friends during good times and hard. This book hits you with a healthy dose of reality, but it also takes you on a fantastical journey filled with hope and joy, grace and forgiveness. If you don't examine it too closely, but just let the words transport you on a trip that will engage your emotions and give you cause to ponder what can be real, what may be true - if "close your eyes" and open your heart, this book will bring it all to life and make you believe. I found this book engaging from the first chapter, it kept drawing me in, pulling me into the world of the house and those who live there, as well as those individuals who visit once every year at Christmas. This story is not without tragedy, but it is also infused with the glorious strength and bright light that the human spirit is capable of producing, with a little divine help and the steadfast support of the people who love you. I stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, wanting to see what happened next, anxious to find out what happened to the characters in the book I had grown to care about. The story surrounds your senses and brings the sights and smells, the many textures of Christmas to your heart, as it lifts your spirit up and makes you wonder...This podcast offers the first four chapters of the novel. The entire audio book will not be available on Amazon until Thanksgiving 2022. More episodes (chapters) will be added in the future.
The Christmas House
CHAPTER TEN - SURPRISE VISITORS
The house on Festive Lane was once again filled with over fifty guests, all deceased but allowed to return for twenty-four hours due to the magic of the Christmas House. Some of the guests had been dead for only a short time, like Doris. Some had been dead for over a hundred plus years. In most cases, Harry and Susan didn’t even know the visitor because they were twice or three times removed. Great grandparents who had passed on before either of them were born visited the home to share the advent of Christmas.
It was now 9:00 p.m., and Martha was sure that all of the visitors, who were going to attend the reunion with life thanks to Harry and Susan, were already present. Unfortunately, Rick and Carin were not present.
As the guests settled in, Martha asked Harry to help her up onto the coffee table to be seen and heard. Once standing a foot above the crowd, Martha began.
"First of all, welcome to the Christmas House. The reason you are all here is that this is a magical house. This house has allowed spirits from the other side to rejoin their loved ones for over 100 years. My family visited me every year, just like this, until I passed away, and then I joined them. When I found out that I was going to die, I had to pass on the wonderment of this house to a family that would appreciate and utilize the magic that this house offers. Selling this house to a family that had no use for it or that would tear it down was not an option. Michael and Arianna Carter met the requirements to be owners of this home, and in turn, Michael sold the home to Harry and Susan Hill based on the same criteria.