A Real Christmas This Year

Megan’s little brother, Kevin, who is multiply handicapped, has recently started wearing a hearing aid and glasses and for the first time he’ll be able to enjoy Christmas with the rest of the family. Megan knows this will be the best Christmas ever until Kevin breaks his hearing aid and glasses and everything changes. There’s tension at home and even Megan’s best friend doesn’t understand. But Megan isn’t prepared to give up her dream of a real Christmas for herself and her family, no matter what.

I first wrote this story as a short story for my family. Every year I write a Christmas story. We read it together on Christmas Eve. I got this idea from when I was a child and our minister’s wife used to write a Christmas story for the congregation each year. When my husband heard the story he said he was almost in tears and that I should make it into a book. I told him that this was just a story for the family and it could never be a book. But my husband is my best critic because he is very honest even when he doesn’t like something so I knew I should listen to him. The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea. Kevin in the story is a lot like a boy I taught when I was a teacher for the deaf. And once again Megan is a lot like me when I was in middle school and high school. This book is the most autobiographical book I have written so far, but I never had a handicapped brother.