Twelve Days of Christmas Stories

Each year, Christmas is advertised as a wonderful time for children. I know it was for me as I was growing up, but, at some point, the magic seemed to wear off. I didn't want it to, but there it was. As I grew older, this one thought stayed in my mind and just got stronger the closer it got to each and every Christmas. What kind of stories could I write that would keep young people and adults excited about Christmas? Sure, there were stories for children that demonstrated the magic of Santa, but what about the rest of us? Should we have to give up the joy of Christmas just because we are too "old" for it? Early on, I tried to figure out what kinds of stories would be appropriate for the 18 and above crowd. Through trial and error, the stories included in Twelve Days of Christmas Stories finally met my criteria. These stories could just as easily be real life for those invested in finding and enjoying the Christmas spirit.

To add to the fun, the dialogue in each story is such that it could be read as a play, with characters that come alive as the reader shares each story with his or her own family. Mama's Night Out is one of those stories that has many voices. There is a private eye, a lady in red, some elves, and many more surprises. I hope you enjoy reading all twelve stories to your family and friends this Christmas season and beyond.

Twiblets - Their Earthly Adventures

Have you even wondered how the surface of the earth became so lush and beautiful? It was not always that way, and not made beautiful without a great deal of special help from the Twiblets. Twiblets come from the sun. It was a huge risk for them to venture to the Earth to provide their special magic and assistance to coax life and beauty from Earth’s may dry and brittle seeds on its surface. In fact, several areas of the Earth were especially a challenge to the Twiblets unique abilities. One in particular of these was the deserts. This story is about the Twiblet adventures and challenges in the earthly deserts.

Two Arms and Ten Fingers

The fifth-century philosopher Plato was a beloved student of the great philosopher Socrates. In his Allegory of the Cave, Plato reasoned that one is presented with an incredibly distorted view of reality until released from deception by being placed in a clear-eyed position to see absolute truth.

As our lives unfold and present us with various issues requiring decisions, our character matters. Yet, sometimes people choose deceit rather than sound, principled reasoning, and the truth of their deception is never discovered.

In Two Arms and Ten Fingers, three well-respected professionals choose to create a distorted view of reality for their personal gain, only to experience the consequences of their actions. The truth, most times, has a strange habit of coming to light; however, “deceit can be beautiful – just depends on who benefits.”

In Two Arms and Ten Fingers, a doctor, a mortician, and a lawyer make life-changing decisions and share the consequences. Follow their journey from darkness to possible enlightenment.

Two Keys to Enter a Parallel World

Here’s the question: Could accepting without understanding be a curse that possibly leads us down a path where the Sheepherder becomes the Sheep?

Consider this: does the path of accepting without understanding liberate us from preconceived limitations, opening us to a world of non-comprehensible possibilities?

Give thought to a scenario where the path is illuminated only by the light of logic and the science of reasoning, leaving no space for anything that is not understood.

Let’s paint a picture: imagine two brothers, each traversing a unique path from childhood to adulthood in vastly different realms of reality. They peer out from their individual, distinct windows. What could possibly align these divergent paths?

Two Kinds of Color

Two Kinds of Color is story of a mother’s love and sacrifice for her four racially divided children. Two of them are black, two are white. Their mother, Freddie Walker, has not only movie star beauty, sensuality, and sexuality, she has the kind of intelligence which white-collar Wall Street can only dream of. Sidetracked from realizing her dream of gaining a fortune playing with stocks and bonds, she moves to the notorious South Side of Chicago, where she and her children are raised and abused by a brutal and vain gambler, pimp, Jimmy Tate. When the unthinkable happens the only one she can turn to is her best friend, a black woman, Ruby Johnson. Will her children, turned adults, hate their mother and Ruby, or realize there is no greater love than that of two mothers?

Two Times Platinum

With a quarterback and two rappers trading autographs in the elevator and a film producer with secured funding and national distribution waiting in reception, it is another picture perfect day in the offices of Dex Randle’s Philadelphia entertainment and sports law practice. That is, until Val Clifton and organized crime boss Vince Carpozzi march through the glass doors with an envelope stuffed full of cash. An emerging pop star with killer looks and a voice destined for fame, Val's desires quickly rise to conflict with Carpozzi's devious scheming and control.

Soon love struck by her producer and fellow Dex client, Trolly Turner, the three must conceal a budding relationship from Carpozzi and his cronies. Following a gambling ploy gone awry and feeling a lack of appreciation from Val, Carpozzi vows to ruin them all. Blood is shed and lives are forever changed before Dex can salvage the day with a little help from some unlikely resources.

Two to Nothing

Arthur Dale is a grownup, a high school English teacher. He tries to meet his students halfway, let them run with their ideas, and then also offer them other ways to look at stories or poems. He sees his students holding back, trying to be cool as they pass through the days in his classroom, but he knows that out in the world they are lively, spirited, and they look around to find others to run with, to engage in their schemes, to push against the limits. Arthur worries -- does he muster his courage and join them in their rebellions, or keep his cool and stay in school? This is an important moment for him. Does he take a chance and run with the pack? Or stay back on the sidelines. Can he do both? What would happen then?

Ukrainian Rhapsody

The past of a heartless mail bride is as mysterious as the ethnic life of ‘gutzuls’ in Western Ukraine. Castaway to the distant shores of the Atlantic, trapped in the illusory realm of desire, unable to cope with harsh reality, about to plunge into the abyss of East River, she is facing a fundamental question: will she have a chance to redeem herself? Her last chance of redemption has a hefty price – a broken heart, and it is too tempting not to take it.

Undertow

Red grows up in the rarefied world of a privileged Manhattan childhood: a world of uniformed doormen, private schools, and elegant townhouses. This is also the world of the 1960s, when societal conflicts are disrupting previously accepted patterns of American life.

As author John F. Reinus reveals through richly detailed observation, there’s a powerful current beneath the surface, and the presumed advantages of his birthright come at a heavy cost, one that is amplified by the sorrow of an unacknowledged love.

The author weaves a tapestry of minute details, as seen in Red’s journey from childhood to adulthood, inviting us to compare what’s on the surface of our own lives to the hidden forces that shape us.

Undone: A Novel of Betrayal

Lydia Casselberry’s world comes undone when she discovers that her husband of almost forty years is having an affair. Needing time to grieve and to decide whether to continue the marriage, she decides to flee from her Tampa home to a place she hasn’t been in decades – her family’s lodge in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She tells no one where she is going, but writes two notes saying she needs to be alone. One is to her best friend; the other her husband will find when he returns from another of his continual business trips.

Healing begins in the solitude of nature and a place where she can rediscover herself. Memories of her youth and marriage flood back, but so do more questions. What she uncovers reveals that her husband’s betrayal is far deeper, and far more sordid, than she ever could have imagined. Her grief then turns to cold rage – and revenge that undoes his world.

Undying Spirit

Undying Spirit is a captivating novel that tells the story of a woman left alone to raise her twin daughters after being abandoned by her husband. Despite the challenges that come with being a single mother, she embarks on a remarkable journey that takes her through various government services and agriculture pursuits, including vineyards in two different countries.

This inspiring tale is a testament to the undying spirit of a mother’s love and resilience. The main character faces many obstacles along the way, but she never gives up. Instead, she harnesses her strength and determination to provide for her family and create a better life for her daughters.

Unfinished Novel

A young, aspiring writer is unexpectedly contacted by the widow of his literary idol, a beloved but enigmatic novelist. Entrusted with the secret task of completing an unfinished manuscript, he eagerly steps into the mystery-laden world of his hero’s final work. But as he begins piecing together the fragments, he uncovers secrets that shake his admiration and his dreams, leading him toward a startling disillusionment.