A Fine Line Between Naughty and Nice: (A true story...sort of)

By Jerry Mcgehee

How far would you be willing to go to help make someone’s Christmas magical? Would you risk being put on Santa’s Naughty list forever? Would you step into a magic portal, not knowing where it goes or what’s on the other side? Are you willing to give up family and friends, including your BFF and a boy you just figured out you really like to follow in your famous grandfather’s footsteps? That’s the situation Joni, a mischievous elf from Christmas Town, is about to face. She has a secret dream. If she is successful, not only will she make one little girl’s Christmas the most magical ever, but she will also achieve her lifelong quest for adventure. She’s in a race against time. Will she be able to put all the clues together and figure out how to make her dream and Elizabeth’s come true? Or will she wind up on the Naughty list forever and be the reason Elizabeth stops believing in Santa? Joni wants nothing more than to be on the Nice list. She struggles with the whole naughty-and-nice thing. Sometime it seems like things start out as nice but, depending on the outcome, could be perceived as naughty. How can something be both naughty and nice at the same time? Her parents say, “Do as I say and not as I do.” But what does that really mean? I invite you to join Joni on her quest to find the answers to all these questions. Along the way, she will discover that sometimes you just have to risk it all. For if it’s the right thing to do, then “it is better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all!” That’s her story, and she’s sticking to it, LOL.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 24, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638748076

Book preview

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A Fine Line Between Naughty and Nice

(A true story...sort of)

Jerry Mcgehee

Copyright © 2021 by Jerry Mcgehee

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

(Joni Living Her Dream…Sort Of)

(Joni and Elizabeth’s Magical Christmas)

Hi! My name is Elizabeth, and I’d like to tell you about the year I got my first Christmas Elf! I had written a letter to Santa, telling him how lonely I was and all I really wanted for Christmas was a friend! But I’m getting ahead of myself. So here’s my story.

It was just before Thanksgiving when my mom (her name is Cathy, with a C not a K; that seems to be a big deal with Cathys); my brother, Michael; and I moved to Kentucky to stay with my Uncle Jerry. He’s married to Starla (I love her name). We lived in California, and I had never been to Kentucky or even met Uncle Jerry. I had seen pictures of him and talked to him on the phone. He didn’t have any kids, so I really didn’t know anyone in Kentucky. That’s why I was so lonely. But it turned out to be the Most Magical Christmas ever!

Uncle Jerry lives in a beautiful log home out in the woods. It’s A-shaped, and the front is all glass. He is really into decorating for Christmas! The driveway has trees all along it with Christmas lights on each of them. He has icicle lights outlining the house and a lot of stuff in the yard. He makes things out of wood, including a manger scene and angels holding letters that spell out Hope and Faith. There are also camels, three wise men, and deer that are all brightly lit. He even has a train on a track that lights up and looks like its wheels are turning with smoke coming out of the front. Also, there are two angels on the house that look like they are flying and decorating a Christmas tree! Like I said, he’s really into decorating for Christmas!

When you walk into the house, there’s a fireplace in the center of the room with two winding staircases that go to a balcony that looks down into the living room. Uncle Jerry has three Christmas trees in his house! A red one, a green one, and a white one. He calls them his past, present and future trees; and each is decorated differently.

The green one is the past tree with a lot of old-fashioned ornaments and candlelights. That one is in memory of Gram, his grandmother. She loved Christmas, and when she had become too old to decorate anymore, he would do it for her with the help of Granddaddy! Now Uncle Jerry has all of Gram’s Christmas stuff and sets it out every year in memory of them both! I think it was fate that he received her decorations because Gram had blocks that spell out Merry Christmas. But if you turn them around, they spell Jesus Loves You! They can also spell Jerry Christmas or Jerry Loves You. His is the only name that works with the blocks. I just thought that was sort of neat.

The present tree is white and my favorite of all! It is decorated with plushies! There are teddy bears, elves, angels, big eyes, snowmen, a Pegasus, unicorns, even a Minion, and all the characters from my favorite movies. He also has all the characters from his favorite Christmas cartoon, Santa Clauses, and a beautiful six-pointed star at the top! I think it’s called the Bethlehem Star. Snow-looking stuff that lights up is used as the tree skirt with more plushies sitting in the snow. There are storytellers, retro robots, Barbies, remote-controlled cars, old-fashioned wooden airplanes that you build and fly, a train set, a laser-controlled racetrack, a Santa, three elves, and a drummer that sing and dance. Huge Santa and Mrs. Claus plushies, a snowman, and Father Christmas with a large elf are also displayed.

The red one is his future tree, all covered in glass and crystal ornaments with silver and gold beads. The angel on top wears a beautiful red dress that lights up. It’s very pretty.

People tease Uncle Jerry and tell him he has more toys than any grown-up should, but he doesn’t care. He really doesn’t think of himself as a grown-up. I think he would make a good Santa when he gets older because he loves kids! Some people say that’s because he never had kids of his own. But he acts just like a big kid! He loves to work jigsaw puzzles, especially with Starla. They put one together every year and then frame them to hang all over the house. Together we did one that had a thousand pieces! Of course it was a Christmas puzzle and a lot of fun for everybody. Mom and I love doing puzzles too, and I’m really good at it! Have you ever done a puzzle?

Even with all this and Uncle Jerry being a lot of fun, I still missed my friends, and that’s why I wrote my letter to Santa! I didn’t tell anyone about it and didn’t know how Santa could give me a friend, but on December 1, I got a present from Santa! It didn’t come in a box, and there were no instructions. Uncle Jerry seemed just as surprised to see her as I was. It was a little elf girl! She was wearing an emerald-green form-fitted jacket, which went just below her waist, all trimmed in white with gold snowflake buttons, a black belt with gold snowflake buckle around her waist, with black suede boots; a white turtleneck with a gold snowflake on the collar; matching green leggings with gold snowflakes; and a green Santa hat with gold ball. She was sitting on the huge plushie Santa’s lap. There was a special tag tied around her neck with a red ribbon, and Santa’s official signature which said:

For: Elizabeth

From: Santa

I had never heard of anyone getting anything from Santa before Christmas! I turned the tag over and found a note with a smiley face that said Hi, my name is Joni. Santa sent me to be with you this Christmas because you have been such a good girl! I had asked for a friend, not just a doll, but she became the friend I needed for Christmas!

Joni was a very cute, mischievous-looking little