"The Promise: A Christmas Tale" by Ted Dekker

THE PROMISE a Christmas tale from author Ted Dekker delivers a charming and poignant tale of gift-giving that is certain to delight anyone exhausted from the gross commercialization of the Christmas holiday season and eagerly desirous to return to the days of childhood faith when the hope and joy of a Christmas morn laden with presents was both simple and real.

THE PROMISE is such a story of that true Christmas spirit.

Everything begins once upon a time in the land of Palestine some two thousand years ago.  There a special ten-year-old boy named Reuben lives with his mother Naomi and her husband Jude.  Though no reason existed for anyone to not like Reuben, everyone in the tribe, except Naomi, hated him.  They hated him because he was a mute, and an orphan, Naomi rescued from an abandoned village.  She and Jude were childless, and she viewed Reuben as a blessing from God; while Jude saw a child who mocked him by his mere presence.

When Naomi becomes afflicted with the disease that would eventually take her life, she has a vision of God she shares with Reuben.  She tells him that God has told her he will meet a king who will give him a voice.  He will know it is the king by the need for Naomi's shawl, which she gives to Reuben with her last breath.  Reuben, in turn, guards that shawl, faithfully believing in THE PROMISE the only mother he ever knew left him, presenting the shawl, absent any voice to explain his actions, to every man he views as a potential king to come his way -- until finally, he encounters the promised king in a most unexpected way.

At only sixty-two pages, this is an easy story to read; and it is one any soul would be charmed into repeating year after year as part of the family holiday traditions.  It presents a treasured classic parents, and grandparents, can share with their kids; and, in turn, their kids could share with their own children, in an effort to help the young among us better comprehend just what makes Christmas so special.  It is simple (as all the best stories are); it is easy to read; and it is something, if God ever blesses me with children like Reuben, I look eagerly forward to impart into my own holiday traditions one day.