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Have you ever read a book that touched your soul? Made you long for something you didn't or couldn't realize your were longing for? I have just wept my way through listened to The Christmas Sweater.
Here's what is on Glenn Becks says on his website:
If You Could Change Your Life by Reversing Your Biggest Regrets, Sorrows and Mistakes...Would You?
#1 New York Times bestselling author and renowned radio and television host Glenn Beck delivers an instant holiday classic about boyhood memories, wrenching life lessons, and the true meaning of the gifts we give to one another in love.
We weren't wealthy, we weren't poor—we just were. We never wanted for anything, except maybe more time together....
When Eddie was twelve years old, all he wanted for Christmas was a bike. Although his life had gotten harder—and money tighter—since his father died and the family bakery closed...Eddie dreamed that somehow his mother would find a way to have his dream bike gleaming beside their modest Christmas tree that magical morning.
What he got from her instead was a sweater. "A stupid, handmade, ugly sweater" that young Eddie left in a crumpled ball in the corner of his room.
Scarred deeply by the realization that kids don't always get what they want, and too young to understand that he already owned life's most valuable treasures, that Christmas morning was the beginning of Eddie's dark and painful journey on the road to manhood. It will take wrestling with himself, his faith, and his family—and the guidance of a mysterious neighbor named Russell—to help Eddie find his path through the storm clouds of life and finally see the real significance of that simple gift his mother had crafted by hand with love in her heart.
Based on a deeply personal true story, The Christmas Sweater is a warm and poignant tale of family, faith and forgiveness that offers us a glimpse of our own lives—while also making us question if we really know what's most important in them.
We listened to this book being read by the author as we drove home from our Thanksgiving in Plymouth. All 4 of us sat engrossed in the story, even 6 year old Aedan, although we did have to hush him a few times. What seemed like an endless ride at first wasn't long enough as the ride ended before the story did. I snuck and listened to the story as I ran my Mommy Errands all week, 10 minutes here, 15 there, until I sat stuck in my seat at the local grocery store fixated on the CD player, groceries forgotten as i listened to the story. I raced in and out, an then headed out to the school to pick up th kids - 45 minutes early, knowing I'd have enough time to hear the end.
And I did. I gathered my kids with red and watery eyes, hugging them hello, and they realized that I had listened to the ending as they got into the truck and the cd player was off. "Not fair!" They said, they wanted to listen, too. They;ll get their chance on the way to and from school, and such.
The ending of the book made my heart sore, but light. It made me want my Mom like a 13 year old girls wants her mom, not as 38 year old woman does. It made me understand more how to face the storms that are coming- businesses closing, properties being sold, recession, smaller Christmas than usual, and made me remember and realize what is important- picking up rocks on a stormy beach with my family, recording Christmas Carols, cooking together, listening to good books together, going to church together.
It was hard for me to decide to spend the money- $23.00- on a book for the trip. Most of my books come from the library, or a book swap, or my sister. But I am SO glad that I did. In fact, I plan on giving it to a few people as a Christmas Gift. It's not in my price point, but I need them to read it, to hear the message in the book. If you get a change, please read this book. You'll be a better person for it.
