The Christmas Story

Ever have a Christmas wish you could die for?  Remember in "The Christmas Story" the little boy who wanted a Red Rider BB Gun.  Well our story opens with this prayer from a twelve year old Eddie.  "I know that Mom is working hard and money is tight, but please, God, if I could just get a bike for Christmas then everything will be better.  I'll do what ever you want to prove that I'm worthy".  Eddie's Dad died unexpectantly of cancer when Eddie was nine.  So life was hard.   His Mom worked several different jobs to keep a roof over head and food on the table.  Needless to say the longed for red Huffy bike with black banana seat never appeared.  Instead a hand knit scratchy red wool sweater appeared in its place.  Through a series of additional tragedies Eddie's whole world is turned upside down.  The author does a terrific job of weaving humor, heart break, anger, loneliness, guilt, and a twelve year olds selfish attitude thru his story.  It is so easy to turn angry and bitter and blame God and every one else when life deals you a bad hand.  However Eddie is able to overcome these negative attitudes thru the persistent love of family and friends.  I really liked Glen Beck's "The Christmas Sweater" because of his ability to portray his characters with human feelings we have all experienced.  Glen does a Paul Harvey at the end of his book.  If you remember Paul Harvey's famous line "The rest of the story is . . . . "  Glen puts an unexpected unique twist to end the book.  I give this book a high five.