I love learning about Christmas traditions and how they started.
It was not until recently, that I learned what truly inspired the tradition of decorating the outside of our homes—and why.
I received an autographed gift copy of “The Christmas House” in the mail (thank you, Jim and Georja 
). I opened the package to find an exquisitely bound book with a cutout in the center that revealed a picture of the Christmas House. My first impression was that someone was about to share something personal and very special with me.
The “Christmas House” was written by Georja Skinner. I love this book! I don’t know how to say it any plainer than that. It’s definitely a book for Christmas lovers, but more than that, it’s a book for everyone who has encountered an obstacle in life and didn’t know if they could cope.
I started reading it as soon as I received it. It captivated me completely and I didn’t put it down until bedtime and started reading again the next morning with my morning cup of Kona coffee. After finishing the book, I browsed through it again, cherishing someone else’s memories and photos and marveling at a young man’s courage and determination to fulfill a dream.
It’s a compelling and endearing story about George Skinner, (the author’s father) an athletic young man, who at the age of twenty-two was stricken with polio and confined to an iron lung and left with a devastating prognosis. If he survived, he would probably never walk again. As a result, he lost the girl he loved, but his courage and strength and desire to walk again took him in a direction he could not have predicted.
As he lay in his iron lung, his memories of his mother and Christmas as a young child helped him keep up his courage. These happy memories kept his fighting spirit alive.
Determined to walk again, he searched for help from every avenue, including the White House and Eleanor Roosevelt. With the help of the First Lady, his long and painful road to recovery began.
The mystery of his mother and two brothers he and his dad had left behind in Canada when they moved to California became a haunting reality that his father refused to reveal. When he finally learned the truth, he also had to learn how to forgive.
His love of Christmas through the memories of his mother when he was a little child and the support he received from his father and friends during his recovery, inspired him to do something wonderful and spectacular for the community. Thus enters the Christmas House and all the doors it opened for him and the joy it brought to others during the height of the depression.
No one had ever seen a house lit up and decorated on the outside before. It received much publicity from the newspapers and radio. Thousands of people flocked to see the beautiful and exciting spectacle. Little children and adults alike found joy and escape during a tough time when supplies were scarce and many children would have very little at Christmas.
This true story is interesting and fascinating enough to become a movie. It has its ups and downs and ins and outs and that’s what makes it a compelling read. You’ll be transported to another time, another place and into the life of an incredible man.
And when you drive through town during the Christmas season and you’re enjoying all the beautifully decorated homes and lights, take a moment to remember George Skinner, the determined and dedicated young man who changed Christmas for us all.
Please check out Georja Skinner’s website at ChristmasHouseOnline.com. Find out what other people are saying and meet the author. The website is far more informative and eloquent than I could ever be. Make a visit now. You’ll be glad you did.
http://www.amazing-christmas-ideas.com/the-christmas-house-book-review.html
