A Stranger for Christmas: A Story

Two old ladies living in a Southern California nursing home decide to test the premise that any good family with Christmas spirit would invite a stranger into their home for the holiday. Myrna and Florence invent an elderly woman they call Genevieve, who is purportedly living in a convalescent home in Idaho, and phone Myrna's five adult children to ask them to invite the fictional Genevieve to celebrate with them. But each of Myrna's offspring, in turn, has a plausible excuse to turn down their mother's request. Just as Myrna is about to lose faith in the family she has raised, a surprise occurs, designed to warm the heart and activate the tear glands. In a letter explaining the genesis of this holiday story, Pearson (Goodbye, I Love You) says that she conceived of the plot in just three hours. On reading the novella, one may think that no more than three hours were devoted to writing it. How else to explain egregiously bad prose such as the following: ""It felt good to laugh. Myrna had not laughed in quite a while, and it felt good. Her home had always been filled with laughter. And caring.'' But there's no gainsaying the emotional impact of the ending and its message of Christian charity and love, so perhaps one can extend charitable feelings toward the author and hope that she has more time to labor over her next creation. (Nov.)