The Santa Letters book review

The Santa Letters

by Stacy Gooch-Anderson
Sweetwater Books
190 (or so) pages

To purchase go to www.amazon.com and type in title.

Please excuse the weird format. It got messed up when I brought the picture in and I don't have all day to correct it.

Santa Letters. Most Santa letters begin “I’ve been a good little girl. I would like you to bring me......” But these letters were different. They were from Santa. The first one began, “Dear Jensens, I know that this year has been a difficult one for you.......” Santa was so right.

A few years earlier, William Jensen had joked about dying young. When his wife Emma became sullen and told him not to even joke about that, he hugged her and said, “Hey, I was only kidding. You know that neither heaven nor earth could keep me away from you and the kids.”

“Do you promise? Promise you’ll always be here for us?” Emma asked.

“...even if some mystical force did try to separate us. I promise you somehow, someway, I’d find a way to let you know that I wasn’t far off.”

It was not some mystical force that separated them, but a traffic accident. Emma was left to raise their four young children alone.
Now it was Christmas time and McKenna was asking hard questions.

“Mama, when will Daddy be home for Christmas?” Emma froze... It took a moment before she could face her daughter.
“Why would you ask that, sweetie?”
“Because in my dream, he said he’d be here with us.”

Daddy wouldn’t be home for Christmas. Emma didn’t think Santa would even be there for Christmas.
But Santa had other ideas. The first letter arrived on December 13. Santa had been watching them very closely. “...as Christmas season has grown closer, I’ve also noticed that there is sadness, a burden that has become too heavy to bear on your own. And so as I’ve watched over you while checking in to see that you’ve remained “nice,” I decided that rather than the traditional gifts of toys and “stuff,” I wanted to give you a Christmas to savor. One that would help you remember what the true gifts of the season are.”
Santa was watching through the big picture window as the family read the words and tried to guess who had written them. He didn’t hear Mc Kenna say, “Duh, Mom. It’s from Santa. See, it says so right there.” But he saw the excitement in her eyes. He turned away from the scene, pulling his cap down over his brow, and walked slowly off whistling “Silent Night.”

When I read this story, my first thought was “I’ll have to buy this one for Mom.” My mother loved Christmas stories and I think this is one she would have added to her permanent collection. But Mom is gone and her Christmas books are split between her children.
The Santa Letters will become a Christmas classic in LDS homes. It is being marketed nationwide and is sure to become a best seller. Readers will relate to the way Stacy has captured the grief of this little family and found a way to turn it around. The family, especially the mother, has understandably been under the shadow of sorrow for too long and needs desperately to find its way out. Santa helps them step outside of themselves and into the sunshine. He helps Emma understand the man responsible for her husband’s death so that she may let go of her anguish.

The Santa Letters were based on Stacy’s own experiences. She lost her father to cancer in 2004 and her mother battled it until her death in 2008. In between, Stacy found out that two of her sons had been sexually abused. Her world crashing down about her with burning questions about whether all she had been taught was wrong, she knew that she must decide whether to abandon trust, honesty and faith and bring out her own brand of justice.
She looked at herself in the mirror one day and decided that if she wanted her sons to grow up in the type of environment she wanted for them, then she must set the example.
Thousands of dollars were spent on therapists and lawyers and left very little for Christmas that year. But Stacy knew that with all they had already been through, the children did not need Christmas ruined, too. So she came up with her “Santa letters” project helping her family come “ to understand that one would never find Christmas under the tree unless they could first find it in their hearts.”
The forgiveness at the end of the story becomes much more poignant knowing the forgiveness that Stacy herself faced in her own life.
The Santa Letters lets us see into our own difficulties and gives us direction into finding hope.
Good luck to Stacy. I think she has a winner.

See more about the author and her book on http://www.thesantaletters.org Check out the media kit section. But turn down the sound!
For some reason, my blog messed up when I tried to put in links to the book cover and amazon. If you go to amazon.com you can see the cover and purchase the book.

The Santa Letters by Stacy Gooch-Anderson
Sweetwater Books
To purchase: Go to www.amazon.com and type in the title.

Santa Letters. Most Santa letters begin “I’ve been a good little girl. I would like you to bring me......” But these letters were different. They were from Santa. The first one began, “Dear Jensens, I know that this year has been a difficult one for you.......” Santa was so right.

A few years earlier, William Jensen had joked about dying young. When his wife Emma became sullen and told him not to even joke about that, he hugged her and said, “Hey, I was only kidding. You know that neither heaven nor earth could keep me away from you and the kids.”

“Do you promise? Promise you’ll always be here for us?” Emma asked.

“...even if some mystical force did try to separate us. I promise you somehow, someway, I’d find a way to let you know that I wasn’t far off.”

It was not some mystical force that separated them, but a traffic accident. Emma was left to raise their four young children alone.
Now it was Christmas time and McKenna was asking hard questions.

“Mama, when will Daddy be home for Christmas?” Emma froze... It took a moment before she could face her daughter.
“Why would you ask that, sweetie?”
“Because in my dream, he said he’d be here with us.”

Daddy wouldn’t be home for Christmas. Emma didn’t think Santa would even be there for Christmas.
But Santa had other ideas. The first letter arrived on December 13. Santa had been watching them very closely. “...as Christmas season has grown closer, I’ve also noticed that there is sadness, a burden that has become too heavy to bear on your own. And so as I’ve watched over you while checking in to see that you’ve remained “nice,” I decided that rather than the traditional gifts of toys and “stuff,” I wanted to give you a Christmas to savor. One that would help you remember what the true gifts of the season are.”
Santa was watching through the big picture window as the family read the words and tried to guess who had written them. He didn’t hear Mc Kenna say, “Duh, Mom. It’s from Santa. See, it says so right there.” But he saw the excitement in her eyes. He turned away from the scene, pulling his cap down over his brow, and walked slowly off whistling “Silent Night.”

When I read this story, my first thought was “I’ll have to buy this one for Mom.” My mother loved Christmas stories and I think this is one she would have added to her permanent collection. But Mom is gone and her Christmas books are split between her children.
The Santa Letters will become a Christmas classic in LDS homes. It is being marketed nationwide and is sure to become a best seller. Readers will relate to the way Stacy has captured the grief of this little family and found a way to turn it around. The family, especially the mother, has understandably been under the shadow of sorrow for too long and needs desperately to find its way out. Santa helps them step outside of themselves and into the sunshine. He helps Emma understand the man responsible for her husband’s death so that she may let go of her anguish.

The Santa Letters were based on Stacy’s own experiences. She lost her father to cancer in 2004 and her mother battled it until her death in 2008. In between, Stacy found out that two of her sons had been sexually abused. Her world crashing down about her with burning questions about whether all she had been taught was wrong, she knew that she must decide whether to abandon trust, honesty and faith and bring out her own brand of justice.
She looked at herself in the mirror one day and decided that if she wanted her sons to grow up in the type of environment she wanted for them, then she must set the example.
Thousands of dollars were spent on therapists and lawyers and left very little for Christmas that year. But Stacy knew that with all they had already been through, the children did not need Christmas ruined, too. So she came up with her “Santa letters” project helping her family come “ to understand that one would never find Christmas under the tree unless they could first find it in their hearts.”
The forgiveness at the end of the story becomes much more poignant knowing the forgiveness that Stacy herself faced in her own life.
The Santa Letters lets us see into our own difficulties and gives us direction into finding hope.
Good luck to Stacy. I think she has a winner.

See more about the author and her book on http://www.thesantaletters.org Check out the media kit section. But turn down the sound!