A Christmas Ride

The Warners are a typical family, with the usual rifts and arguments. Each year, they leave home on Christmas Day to spend the holidays in a time-share condominium in Colorado. The early-teenaged children, Tim and Julie, are opposed to the idea, preferring to stay home with gifts and friends, but their workaholic father insists that they spend the rare family time together. However, he is inevitably called back to his demanding business each year and is not even there.

On one Christmas, Tim surprises his sister, taking her on an impromptu horseback ride to a mountaintop. There he shows her an amazing and inspiring display of lights on a distant peak, a scene of mysterious origin that can be viewed from only that one spot precisely at dusk on Christmas Day.

The next year, their father is too busy to make the trip to the condo for Christmas. Even so, the kids can't wait to take their mother on the yuletide horseback ride up the mountain so they can show her the beautiful light show. By the next holiday, the Warners' marriage is over and so are the rides to the mountain for the Warner family.

Tim blames his mother for the breakup of the family. When he eventually goes away to college, he ends all communication with her. Eventually, Tim does return home, and at the same time, his father has an epiphany. The next Christmas, the parents renew their vows, remarrying on the mountain, just as the lights burn their brightest for the reunited family.

A few years later, a tragic turn brings the two siblings even closer, and a special Christmas gift makes certain their bond will never be dissolved. And a strange but wondrous twist shows Julie the true meaning of those lights they saw on their rides to the Christmas mountain.

Edie Hand has authored or coauthored 12 books ranging from inspirational cookbooks to novellas. She has starred in national commercials and daytime television soaps and has hosted numerous national radio and television shows. After Edie was on NBC's Today Show with her first book, The Last Christmas Ride, she sold over 26,000 books in the first six weeks of its publication. She lives near Birmingham, Alabama.

Jeffery Addison is one of the pen names of awar-winning broadcast journalist, radio personality, and best-selling author Don Keith. Don has 17 books in print, including novels and nonfiction works. A marketing executive who runs a full-service advertising and public relations agency, he lives in Indian Springs Village, Alabama.