Dale Warren

An Unexpected Christmas Dale Warren

The five children, four girls in flannel pajamas with wool footies and the one boy in a sweat suit with the hoodie over his head and tied tightly around his neck trying to stay warm. They are crowding around a beige glowing kerosene heater in the center of the drafty old white clapboard house. Alternately, warming their hands and turning around to warm bottoms. They whisper trying not to awaken their parents as they compare how cold their bedrooms are with no heat. The one boy, Dax wins the argument when he explains he can see his breath while he lays in his bed. Dana the oldest of the Walker children began to explain the expectations or lack of for the first Christmas in Wake Forest. "You know Mom and Dad have no money, so let's just tell them we don't want any gifts this year." Yes, a Christmas with expectations of sacrifice would become An Unexpected Christmas filled with gifts and blessing.