The Christmas Portrait

By Phyllis Clark Nichols

Description:

When a young patient grieving the death of her sister recognizes the man in a portrait hanging in her office, Dr. Kate Harding, a licensed clinician, is startled but not entirely surprised. The face in the painting takes her back twenty years to snow-covered Cedar Falls, KY--and to her first Christmas without her mother.

As Christmas approached, young Kate struggled to adjust to life's changes following the death of her mother. When a conversation with Granny Grace convinced Kate that there was Christmas in heaven she was determined to get her mother a present, a special gift that would make her mother happy forever. Noe one could tell Kate how to get her gift to heaven--not her day, not Uncle Luke the medical student, not Aunt Susannah Hope, and not even Pastor Simmons who she was most certain would have the answer. But Kate devises and executes a Christmas Eve plan that forever impacts her life. Kate's Christmas s filled with surprises: taking in a runaway girl, a tender exchange of Christmas presents, a meeting with Mr. Josh, and finally, a surprising family Christmas portrait.

Book Takeaway:

Faith, family and a sense of God's kind of forever are the foundation for Christian living -- the kind of foundation that is unshakable during hard times.

Why the author wrote this book:

Christmas is not always a time of joy for all. I wanted to tell a story about a family finding a way to experience Christmas in spite of their grief. I hope that it will be encouraging and helpful.