Every year I read and hear singles share about the conversational nightmares they experience during Christmas season.

One aunt said, “The holidays must be a blessing to you, especially not having to worry about whose family to spend Christmas with.”

An uncle said, “It’s really courageous of you to decorate and send Christmas cards, as if you had a family.”

A grandmother said, “Maybe you should stop matching up your friends and keep one for yourself.”

But my favorite one, because it speaks to the times, came out of the mouth of a concerned grandma last year. She said to her granddaughter, “Do you have a boyfriend?” The granddaughter responded with a simple, “No.” With that, the grandmother tilted her head, looked her in the eyes and asked, “Are you straight?”

If you find yourself next to a single this Christmas, just treat them like a normal person and tell them you’re glad they came because you were hoping to spend more time with them.

I was Christmas shopping last week and overheard a family argue about a specific gift purchase. The mother had both of her kids select and try on gym shoes because their current pairs were worn out. The kids were thrilled to have new shoes, but their faces dropped when their mom took the new shoes from their hands. She said that they’d have to wait until they opened their gifts on Christmas morning before they could wear them.

That night I walked the decorated downtown streets where I live and thought about whether their mom did the right thing – Holding back the needed shoes until Christmas Day. I wondered if she had missed the Spirit of Christmas or had determined to do something symbolic with her gifts that would help instill the Spirit of Christmas into her kids for life.

It made me contemplate if I still understood the real meaning of Christmas or if the numerous symbols of the season had faded from my memory. For instance, most of the decorations I saw on my walk were green and red.

If I remember history, Egyptians would bring green palm branches into their houses during the winter festivals. In the Roman Empire, people would exchange evergreen branches during the winter as a sign of good luck.

These common practices took on a new twist when Europeans, during the Middle Ages, put on Paradise plays, which were typically performed on Christmas Eve. These plays included the reading of Bible stories for those who couldn’t read. The Paradise Tree used in the play was a pine tree with red apples hanging on it. The evergreen represented eternal life and the red apples represented the fall of man. The color red also symbolized the blood of Christ and man’s salvation, which is why St. Nick wore red.

The color white at Christmas represents purity and peace in western cultures. In fact, I don’t think there’s anything more peaceful than standing outside on a cold, moon lit night in a freshly fallen snow.

Blue is also a significant Christmas color because it’s associated with the Virgin Mary who gave birth to the baby Jesus. Some say that blue is symbolic of heaven on earth, but during medieval times blue dye was more expensive than gold and only worn by royal families and the rich. Therefore the culture of that day used it to signify Mary’s importance by dressing her in blue.

After shopping, I headed to my car and saw the mother giving the kids their shoes. She shared her concern that they’d be disappointed on Christmas morning because she couldn’t afford to purchase any additional gifts. It was her hope that her act of love through gift giving on Christmas morning would remind them of the greatest gift that God had given man.

While the kids assured their mom that they were mature enough to handle it, I realized that creating, remembering and maintaining symbols of the holiday would help me keep focused on sharing with others what I have freely received – Faith, hope and love.

Copyright © 2013 by CJ Powers

In my travels to Spokane, WA this past weekend, I had the opportunity to co-author and co-illustrate (although my role was minimal) a cool children’s book titled “Emily’s Dream.” The most amazing thing was working with an author/illustrator who understood story, something few professionals seem to grasp.

The 16-page children’s book will not be sold in any bookstore, because my co-author is only in second grade and just wanted to create a book for her mom and dad. I counted it a privilege to participate in creating the book for such an important audience and I even got to staple it together.

It all started after breakfast when Gracie shared a story that she wanted to make into a book. She then paused to ask if I too had ideas for the story. Since I was amazed at how structurally sound her story was, I merely asked her a couple questions to determine if she knew how to tell stories or was just lucky.

Her answers suggested that she had told many stories in the past and intuitively understood how to use an inciting incident, a turning point or plot twist, the dark night of the soul when all seems lost, and how to resolve her story in a positive uplifting manner.

She also understood the importance of the main character being proactive and not passive. And, she understood how to set up the emotional throughline of the story with obstacles the protagonist had to overcome.

Yes, I’m talking about a seven year-old. Here is the unedited story with a few of the pictures:

Emily’s Dream by Gracie

Emily dreamed about being a horse trainer.

One day she learned about a training class for new trainers. The cost was more than she could afford so she decided to earn the $400 she needed to learn how to be trained.

She set up a car wash and had a lot of people drive up, but her little daughter Mariah knocked over the bucket of soap water. Emily then tried to bake several cakes for a contest. The winner would receive $500. Unfortunately, Mariah poured all of the flour onto herself and the floor. She looked like a ghost.

Emily was sad because she was no longer able to raise $400 in time to be trained.

Emily decided to make the best of the situation and took a picture of Mariah looking like a ghost. She shared the picture with friends on Facebook, who shared it with their friends.

The next day Emily got a phone call and learned that someone entered her ghost picture in a Halloween costume competition and won $400. Emily was thrilled and paid the fee to be trained.

The next day Emily learned how to train horses and had fun doing it. That night Emily listened to Mariah’s dream about racing horses. Emily told Mariah to hold onto her dream because it just might happen.

The final book stirred her parents’ hearts. She loved watching her parents’ genuine response to her incredible story. Her mom later explained how many times Gracie wrote books each month and I surmised that this little princess would be published before she graduated from high school.

But for now, she’ll have to continue learning more words and how to use them to spark the reader’s interests – Although her vocabulary is already bigger than I expected. I’ll look forward to promoting her first published book in the not too distant future.

Gracie, hold onto your dream of making books because it just might happen!