Out of the mouths of babes...

Synopsis: He thought it was simply a case of helping a friend out of difficulty over Christmas, at the same time solving his own problem with a faulty central heating boiler. OK, when Bob was told what he had to do, he was both terrified and exhilarated by the prospect, but no one could have forecast how it was going to turn out.

Santa School

Jacob Burrows answered the ad for a mall Santa, and was surprised to discover that one had to actually attend a class before you were allowed to put on the red suit and beard. In fact, he was sent to a day long “Santa School”.

At the class, Jacob spent the day learning how best to act “jolly”, even when things were not going well. Things like when a kid pulls on your beard or pees on your pants.

The Christmas Letter

Dreaming of Cheers Standing Up to Life: Book 3 Part 20 of 23 by Tiffany Shar

Intro by Carla Ann

“Tiffany, I’ve asked you how everything is going with people and the activities you’re involved in, but you haven’t mentioned how you are coping with everything.” She emphasized the ‘you,’ when she asked that.

“Well, better than I was last year,” I started. “Way better than last year… I have a lot of friends now, and I’m not getting picked on every day.” I saw her eyes boring into me looking for something else. “Alright, I don’t know how I’m doing right now.” I told her honestly.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Well for one I’m really tired of everyone guessing I’m five if I wear the wrong clothes.” I told her hesitantly. I was sure my parents had filled her in with everything anyway, “Tuesday was pajama day. Mom and I had found some cute pajamas with feet on them that would fit Amy and me, so we wore them for pajama day. We really did look cute dressed like that, and I was having a lot of fun with it. That was until the sub in English class thought that I was someone’s little sister that had come them to school that day.”

I was really surprised Dr. Reynolds didn’t laugh about it, but I continued, “Then the next day the whole squad was wearing shortalls and our hair done in pigtails and I looked to be about five again. One of my best friends even brought a doll to school to play a joke on the sub that we’d had. I don’t think she knew that it really upset me though. I’m not five, I’m twelve! Amy has grown about five inches here in the last couple months, but I’m still the same height I was last year. It’s good for cheerleading stuff because people can toss me so easily… but…” I was doing my best to not go into tears over all of this. “as long as we’ve got my puberty stopped then I won’t be doing much growing. That’s all on top of the fact that I’m never going to be able to have periods like my friends… and I’m stuck with this stupid thing between my legs,” I told her with a great deal of exasperation. “I’m so tired of having to look at it, or hide it, every time I turn around. I know you can’t do anything about it till I’m eighteen – but I wish it could be gone now!” I had gone to tears now.

"Honey, what's wrong?" he asked as I felt the doorknob turn.

I panicked and yelled at the closed door, "YOU STAY THERE AND DON"T COME OUT! I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU OPEN THE DOOR!"

Just then, I felt the doorknob being turned again from the other side, "I MEAN IT!"

"OK, OK. I'll wait. Wrong day of the month?" he asked from the other side of the door.

“No probs, I get a few more minutes with gorgeous here.”

Yuck — I think? He is kind of cute if a lad who stands nearly twenty centimeters taller than me can be cute? Anyway, I’m not interested in boys am I, I am a boy - I think?

You Must Give In Order To Receive
By Maggie The Kitten

by Haiti

Chapter 6
Rescue and Regeneration

You Must Give In Order to Receive
By Maggiethekitten

by Haiti

Chapter 4
Muffins and Memories

You Must Give In Order to Receive
By Maggiethekitten

by Tahiti

Chapter Two
Is Seeing Believing?

The Doctor and Rose are enroute to Jackie's for Christmas Eve dinner when they encounter a woman on London Bridge who changes their lives forever.

You Must Give In Order To Receive
By Maggie the Kitten

photo by Tahiti

Enroute to Christmas Eve dinner at Jackie's house, Rose and the Doctor encounter a woman on London Bridge who changes their lives forever.

This is a continuation of a bit of flash fiction I'd written called, Daddy's Little Girl. I hadn't really planned on writing a continuation, but when this family came to me with their story a few days before Christmas, I had to write it. It's a story that shows even dense people can sometimes be reasonable with the right motivation.

I can pinpoint the day this all started. It was a chilly, Sunday afternoon in early December. A light rain was falling outside and Carol (my wife) and I had built a cozy fire in the fireplace. She was sitting on one of the couch, her legs curled up beneath her reading and sipping a glass of wine and I was sitting at the other watching the Giants begin to give away a 21 point lead to the Eagles.

Carol stood up and stretched, heading toward the kitchen.

"Get me a beer, hon'" I called after her.

"What's the magic word?," she asked with a twinkle.

"You know that you will need to live as Nikki for a couple of years before you can undergo surgery, and will have to take hormones to develop your chest and general shape,” Mother reminded me.

“That’s o.k. …… I mean Eddie’s got another three years to go at University, so by the time he graduates Nikki will have been born.”

“You know, I think you are making the right choice. I mean it’s not as if I didn't love Craig, but I always felt that although you were born a boy you had a strong feminine side. Just the way you acted at times, and how easily you can get emotional over things. I think I’m going to like having Nikki as my daughter,”

Nancy Patterson’s Criss-crossed Christmas Pageant
By Jennifer Brock

Nancy Patterson’s Christmas Pageant would be talked about for years, but not the way she’d been dreaming it would. (No offense is intended toward those who are active in their respective congregations.)

Two former lovers meet on a cold and bittersweet Christmas eve. ­

Inspired by the music, and in memoriam of, Dan Fogelberg.