Hello awesome readers. Welcome to a special Christmas edition of #ShortReadsSaturdays. Today I have a nice feel-good holiday short story to share with you that is by the wonderful, Kathryn Meyer Griffith who is currently giving away YOUR CHOICE of book in this giveaway contest: Reindeer Reads. Don’t miss your chance to grab a bunch of entries and you could easily be one of 3 winners to get a big stack of e-books!

Now for the review of Christmas Magic 1959, which by the way is FREE on Amazon:

Christmas Magic 1959

Author: Kathryn Meyer Griffith
Category: Family Life, Holiday Reading
Suitable for: All Ages
My Rating: 4 Stars
Format Read for Review: Free on Amazon Kindle.
Pages: 22

Description: In this book an author shares precious childhood memories. It shows that what matters most at Christmas is quality time with family and the importance of supporting and encouraging your loved ones. Also, a great reminder with Christmas right around the corner that: the gifts themselves don’t matter as much as the thought.

In Short: Not your typical short story this is structured like someone reminiscing so it feels like you are experiencing their thoughts and memory with them. If you enjoy heartwarming biographical types of stories and are looking for a quick Christmas read, pick this book up.

“Holidays and going to grandma’s house was about the only time they could stuff their bellies until they were full, more than full, of so much delicious food.”

Pros: The story starts off by setting a beautiful holiday setting that puts you in the Christmas spirit. A sweet and nostalgic story about a loving family that isn’t wealthy but has lovely traditions that are worth more than any dollar amount. I think there are parts of this story that will resonate with many people. For me I was reminded of how I used to hope for snow on Christmas. There were some other details like that, that I could relate to and I’m sure others would as well. Because this story was a little ‘before my time’ it was nice to travel to the past and get a little glimpse of Christmas in 1959. I love how she shows examples of how the love and support she received from her grandma and her family affected her life and helped her in various ways. It is full of great messages like that, making it an inspiring book. Overall the story is very touching and I think the writing is lovely and shows a lot of potential even if I wasn’t too fond of the non-chronological style of this particular tale. So, I would recommend this book and checking out more by this author. This book is well written and edited.

“Christmas is special and having a family to love and be loved by is special.”

Cons: The story reads like a stream of consciousness that jumps from memory to memory (out of order) and even though these details are interesting it made the main Christmas story feel slow moving to me. Because it jumps around a lot a few details were repeated just with more/less detail than the previous pass. This was a tad redundant and not necessary within the short length of the book. However, judging by other reviews my opinion on this style is not shared by everyone.

Amazon Blurb:

Have you ever wondered what a writer’s early years were like and how it affected their future writing and the stories they would tell later in their lives? Have you ever wondered what their childhood Christmases, their early holidays, were like?

Well, wonder no longer. This story is about one of my most cherished childhood Christmases…in 1959 when I was nine years old. After my beloved musician/singer/songwriter brother Jim passed away in 2015 from cancer I felt an intense need to write this short story about that special Christmas Eve I shared with him, my other siblings, mother, father and grandparents, and put it out there for everyone to read as a tribute to him and my family. This is my story, part of my childhood, and some of my fondest memories. Note: in the late 1970’s I did a series of illustrated (by me, because I’m an artist, too) short stories for my local newspaper and I’ve used one of my old article drawings from that newspaper from 1977 for the first page of this short story.