Special Smashwords Edition
1A Holiday Tale
The Magical Christmas Tree Room
by
W. Thomas Burns
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.
A Holiday Tale, The Magical Christmas Tree Room
Special Smashwords Edition
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Copyright © 2009 W. Thomas Burns. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.
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Cover Art Design: NovelHelp, LLC
Cover Art Illustration:
Copyright @ iStockPhoto/Sparkly Christmas Tree/Earthgirl Design
Digital Design: Telemachus Press, LLC
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Edited by: Wendy Hammerle
Originally Published by: Pendelton Pond Press
Email: pendeltonpondpress@yahoo.com
eBook published and distributed by: http://www.smashwords.com
ISBN: 978-0-692-00582-8 (Paperback)
ISBN: 978-1-935670-25-4 (eBook)
Dedication
My thanks to everyone who has made this book possible.
Thanks to my wife Stella for without her love and devotion, this Christmas Story could not have been written......Thank you my darling for a life I never dreamed I'd live.
Thanks to Editor, Wendy Hammerle for her editorial expertise.
Most of all, this book is dedicated to you, the reader, you who have chosen to make the reading of this Christmas Story a part of your Holiday traditions.
From our family to yours, we wish you a Merry Christmas.
WTB
Follow the voice within your heart
For it is only through The fulfillment of your dreams That true and everlasting happiness Can and will be yours
A Holiday Tale, The Magical Christmas Tree Room
It’s Christmas time in the city and nothing could hold us back, not the holiday bargains on Newbury Street, nor “A Christmas Carol” at the Wang. We were off, just my dog, Tripper, and me in the old Jeep Wagoner. Off to a winter wonderland, a magical land not far from here, where, in the hands of a child, a simple box of black buttons and the contents of a dusty old trunk can bring to life a “magical playmate” in the snow. I have, since the days of my childhood, always enjoyed this annual holiday drive to my grandfather’s country home.
It’s amazing, we’re only a handful of hours into our journey and there is nothing in sight that even remotely resembles the world we’ve left behind.
The tall buildings of the city have been replaced by mountains so grand in stature that only the most gifted architect of them all can lay claim to their design.
The concrete and pavement of the city that is home to only sparsely planted trees, have given way to rolling hills and evergreen for as far as can be seen.
This winter’s frequent snowfalls have transformed the countryside into a wondrous winter playground. Excited young children, along with their families, have now filled the mountain slopes, the ice covered ponds, and the storybook, small country towns. All of the area’s vacation homes, lodges, restaurants and taverns are now brimming with the laughter and gaiety of this holiday season’s joyful young guests.
One of the favorite past times of the young vacationers has always been the holiday rides aboard the magnificent horse-drawn sleighs. The grandly decorated holiday sleighs that are now all filled with the pitter-patter of pounding hearts, as through the mounds of drifted snow and over the frozen countryside the mighty stallions dash.
The countryside’s weathered, white farmhouses, along with their raised red barns and groves of gracious evergreens, are covered in a measure of winter white. It looks as if the landscape, for as far as can be seen, has been decorated by the gentle hand of Mother Nature in celebration of the upcoming holidays.
The area is teeming with life, as the lords of the land tend to their daily chores. Farm animals huddle near the troughs of their feed. And the rolling hills are filled with the sounds of laughter, and the sites of fun filled play. For there, all clad in scarves and mittens, their booted feet all warm and toasty, excited young children spend their winter days upon toboggans, sleds and grand old sleighs. During our travels this day, Tripper and I have driven through some of the small, snow-covered country towns that are nestled among the rolling hills. These small towns’ ageless homes, most of which are bordered by white picket fences, have all been decorated for the season with charming holiday lights, Christmas wreaths upon their doors and candles glistening on their windowsills.
Over the years, multitudes of artists have traveled from throughout the world, to visit these quaint little towns. They have all come with a passion to sketch and to paint in order that they might preserve for the ages the visions of this area’s delight-filled landscapes, historic buildings, bridges and old country homes. Few of those artists have left this region before applying to canvas the images of the charmingly curious white steeple churches, the age old country churches that can be found in nearly every town and hamlet throughout this beautiful land.
A family vacation to this breathtaking country, where “magical frosted playmates” are often seen dancing about the snow-covered fields, will surely fill the hearts and minds of all who come with fabulous lifelong memories.
While driving along the back country roads, we’ve seen some of the weathered gray shacks that are used in the spring of each year to process the sap of the maples into the syrup that makes its way to our breakfast tables.