The Book of Christmas Virtues (16 page)

Jack is a regularly featured speaker for professional associations, school districts, government agencies, churches, hospitals, sales organizations and corporations. His clients have included the American Dental Association, the American Management Association, AT&T, Campbell's Soup, Clairol, Domino's Pizza, GE, ITT, Hartford Insurance, Johnson & Johnson, the Million Dollar Roundtable, NCR, New England Telephone, Re/Max, Scott Paper, TRW and Virgin Records. Jack is also on the faculty of Income Builders International, a school for entrepreneurs.

Jack conducts an annual eight-day Training of Trainers program in the areas of self-esteem and peak performance. The program attracts educators, counselors, parenting trainers, corporate trainers, professional speakers, ministers and others interested in developing their speaking and seminar-leading skills.

For further information about Jack's books, tapes and training programs, or to schedule him for a presentation, please contact:

The Canfield Training Group
P.O. Box 30880 • Santa Barbara, CA 93130
Phone: 805-563-2935 • Fax: 805-563-2945
Visit our Web site:
www.chickensoup.com

Who Is Mark Victor Hansen?

Mark Victor Hansen is a professional speaker who, in the last twenty years, has made more than four thousand presentations to more than two million people in thirty-two countries. His presentations cover sales excellence and strategies; personal empowerment and development regardless of stages of life; and how to triple your income and double your time off.

Mark has spent a lifetime dedicated to his mission of making a profound and positive difference in people's lives. Throughout his career, he has inspired hundreds of thousands of people to create a more powerful and purposeful future for themselves while stimulating the sale of billions of dollars worth of goods and services.

Mark is a prolific writer and has authored
Future Diary, How to
Achieve Total Prosperity
and
The Miracle of Tithing.
He is coauthor of the
Chicken Soup for the Soul
series,
Dare to Win
and
The Aladdin Factor
(all with Jack Canfield),
The Master Motivator
(with Joe Batten) and
Out of
the Blue
(with Barbara Nichols).

Mark has also produced a complete library of personal empowerment audio and videocassette programs that have enabled his listeners to recognize and use their innate abilities in their business and personal lives. His message has made him a popular television and radio personality, with appearances on ABC, NBC, CBS, HBO, PBS and CNN. He has also appeared on the cover of numerous magazines, including
Success, Entrepreneur
and
Changes
. In 2000, Mark was a recipient of the prestigious Horatio Algier Award for his humanitarianism.

Mark is a big man with a heart and spirit to match—an inspiration to people of all ages who seek to better themselves.

For further information about Mark write to:

MVH & Associates
P.O. Box 7665
Newport Beach, CA 92658
Phone: 949-759-9304 or 800-433-2314
Fax: 949-722-6912
Web site:
www.chickensoup.com

Who Is Carol McAdoo Rehme?

No matter which hat she's wearing—dedicated writer and editor, nonprofit director, or public speaker—Carol McAdoo Rehme peppers everything she does with an enthusiasm for the power of story.

An active freelancer who has found her niche in the inspirational market, Carol is a prolific contributor to the
Chicken Soup
series. Her work also appears widely in other anthologies. In addition, Carol edited
Chicken Soup for the Bride's Soul, Chicken Soup for the African
American Soul,
and
Chicken Soup for the Mothers of Preschoolers Soul.

Besides coauthoring several gift books, she occasionally writes for magazines and some children's publications.
Chicken Soup for the Soul:
Book of Christmas Virtues
is her first project to coauthor for
Chicken Soup
.

When she isn't busy writing stories, Carol is actively telling them. She presents at educational and corporate conferences and a variety of other venues including museums, dude ranches, libraries, schools, and civic clubs. As the Traveling Storyteller for the Loveland Public Library, Carol directed a park outreach program for ten years, serving thousands of children each summer.

Her current passion revolves around the frail elderly. Carol directs a vibrant nonprofit agency—Vintage Voices, Inc.—whose primary program, Silver Linings for Golden Agers, targets residents of long-term care facilities. This grant-driven arts model provides engaging thematic activities that are interactive and energetic, with a strong focus on sharing stories.

Kansas transplants, Carol and her husband, Norm, claim deep roots in Colorado where they raised their four children—Kyle, Katrina, Kayla and Koy. Carol now proudly wears new hats that read: Mother-in-law and Grammy.

She can be reached at:

Carol McAdoo Rehme
1127 Garfield Avenue
Loveland CO 80537
Phone: 970-669-5791
Web site:
www.rehme.com
E-mail:
[email protected]

Contributors

Several of the stories in this book were taken from previously published sources, such as books, magazines and newspapers. These sources are acknowledged in the permissions section. However, some of the stories were written by humorists, comedians, professional speakers and workshop presenters, as well as by kids. If you would like to contact them for information on their books, audiotapes and videotapes, seminars and workshops, you can reach them at the addresses and phone numbers provided below.

The remainder of the stories were submitted by readers of our previous
Chicken Soup for the Soul
books who responded to our requests for stories. We have also included information about them.

Toby Ann Abraham-Rhine
is a part-time counselor, teacher and performing artist. She and her husband choose to live very simply in order to travel. They saved for years, sold all they had and went around the world with their three children. Readers may enjoy the journey through
A Brilliant Teacher
from Sawtooth Press.

Kathryn Beisner
is a writer and motivational storyteller. Her love of history and family traditions are celebrated in her popular audio book
Ordinary Women
with Extraordinary Spirit!
and an by essay in
Chili Today,Hot Tamale.
Kathryn lives by the motto, “No Guts, No Story!” For more adventures visit
www.kbsproductions.com
.

Robert H. Bickmeyer
is retired from General Motors. He writes for the Olive Branch Press, the Think Club and
Military Magazine
, as well as guest columns for newspapers in southeast Michigan. He is now writing a book,
Laughter in
Real Life.
Bob plays senior citizen softball, volleyball and golf. He can be reached at (248) 879-0207.

Henry Boye
is a professional writer/author/cartoonist whose work has appeared in many leading newspapers and magazines. He resides with his wife, Anita, in an adult community in Englishtown, New Jersey.

Ann K. Brandt
writes magazine articles and essays. Her first book,
Learning to
Walk Again,
tells of her experience with Guillain-Barré. She is working on
Facing
Brain Cancer with Hope,
a book for anyone affected by cancer. Please e-mail her at
[email protected]
.

Isabel Bearman Bucher
, a retired teacher, has been writing, with no training, since 1984. She was raising teenagers, and saying it on paper with words seemed better than committing murder. She's published dozens of articles in many genres and has completed two books:
Nonno's Monkey: An Italian
American Memoir,
and
Tweet Irene,
the story of a little house sparrow that lived with her family loosely for three years. She was a miracle. She and her husband, Robert, continue their honeymoon with life, changing homes throughout the world, walking mountains, finding adventures.

Pam Bumpus
and husband, Alan, live near Charleston, Illinois. They have two wonderful daughters, a beautiful granddaughter and a brand new grandson. Pam writes as a hobby and enjoys sharing her stories. She can be contacted at
[email protected].

Steve Burt
's inspirational bestsellers include
A Christmas Dozen
and
Unk's
Fiddle.
The Ray Bradbury winner
Odd Lot
won a Benjamin Franklin Award;
Even
Odder
was runner-up to
Harry Potter
for the 2003 Bram Stoker Award (horror's top prize);
Oddest Yet
was a 2004 Stoker Finalist;
Wicked Odd
is his newest book.
www.burtcreations.com
.

Tamara J. Chilla
was raised and educated in Oregon. She has traveled throughout the country working in sales and training for educational publishers. She has always been a stroyteller and currently is working on a series of children's books. Please e-mail her at
[email protected].

Robin Clephane Steward
is a stay-at-home mother of three. She lives in Indianapolis with her husband, Brian, two sons, a daughter and a lovable mutt named Boots. She enjoys Anne Perry novels, John Wayne movies and performing taxi service between her home and her local middle and high schools.

James Daigh
has a bachelor's in creative writing/poetry. His careers have been in documentary and feature film production and publishing. His loves are: 1. his fantastic wife and inspiration, Marla; 2. poetry; 3. drawing and painting; 4. fine-art photography and this big, wide, beautiful world.

Mary Kerr Danielson
began her writing career by joining a local writer's group at age fifty-something. (Known within a small circle of family and friends as the “Ditty Lady”—original verses for any and all obscure occasions—she's positive Hallmark isn't worried!) She and her husband, Kay, are parents of six daughters, one of whom is deceased. (After they all “left the nest,” the nest was recently moved from Loveland, Colorado, to Riverdale, Utah.) Writing mainly about her life experiences, she also does poetry, plays and children's stories. E-mail her at
[email protected]
.

Barbara “Binkie” Dussalt
is a retired grandmother who enjoys her family, which includes her children Trudy, Susie and Jeff, her granddaughters, Aubrey Jessica and Michelle, and her great-grandchildren, Morgan, Troy and Max. She loves crafts, sewing and making her own expression cards.

Ellen Hamilton Fenter
is a pastor, writer, counselor, community activist and blogger who currently enjoys life and ministry in El Paso, Texas. She is a mother and grandmother whose heart always longs for the serenity of her native land, New Mexico. Pastor Ellen's enduring passion is for “the least of these.”

Nancy B. Gibbs
is the author of four books, a weekly columnist for two newspapers and an editor. She has contributed to numerous anthologies and magazines. Nancy has had nineteen stories published in
Chicken Soup for the Soul
anthologies. She is a pastor's wife, mother and grandmother. Contact Nancy at
[email protected]
or
www.nancybgibbs.com
.

Angela Hall
has been publisher/editor of a newspaper in Canada for twenty years. She has also edited several books, three of which were on the bestseller list. Angela is now retired and looking forward to devoting more time to writing letters of encouragement to sick and needy children as well as to survivors of cancer. You can reach her at
[email protected].

A lover of animals, both wild and tame,
Bonnie Compton Hanson
has authored or coauthored over twenty books, plus hundreds of poems and articles— including those in twelve
Chicken Soup
books.

Emily Sue Harvey's
upbeat stories appear in women's magazines,
The
Compassionate Friends
magazine, the
Chocolate
series,
Chicken Soup, From Eulogy
to Joy
and
Caution: Children Praying
. Her two current completed novels are
God
Only Knows
and
Sunny Flavors
. She writes to make a difference. Contact her at
[email protected]
.

Armené Humber
is a career coach who helps low-income clients recognize their potential and find their places in today's challenging workplace. She lives in Southern California, has a master's degree in Christian leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary and enjoys writing inspirational stories. Contact her at
[email protected]
.

Margaret Kirk
has a master's from Gaddard College with graduate work in heart–centered counseling from the University of Santa Monica. She is currently a fiber artist, doll maker and the executive director of the Four Corners Child Advocacy Center in Colorado. Please e-mail her at
[email protected].

Vickie Ryan Koehler
received her bachelor of arts from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, in 1979, and then studied for her master's degree in Spanish at the University of Kentucky. She presently resides in Liverpool, Texas, with her family and teaches in the Alvin Independent School District.

Margaret Lang
received her bachelor of arts from Brown University in 1963. She teaches women and children's groups in California. Margaret has three published stories, two in
Chicken Soup for the Father and Daughter Soul.
Her daughter is a physician/missionary, her son a youth pastor, and she has two granddaughters.