Author: Karen Dove
Located in: Lakeland, FL
Submitted: November 07, 2022
Tell us a little about yourself. I have been a Christian almost all my life, and grew up with a great mother and grandmother who ensured I was in church every Sunday. After college I became a teacher and eventually a professional writer, writing for magazines, newspapers and especially grants for nonprofit organizations. A Gift for Santa was a gift for my children and grandchildren, written in 1996, but not published until 2012. I hope you enjoy the journeys in this book...one for Santa, one for Dolly and a special one for little Bea.
What was your motivation behind this project? In the early 1992, when my 2 daughters were little, I purchased a snowglobe with a kneeling Santa inside. I had never seen this before! I searched for a book about this Santa kneeling at the manger, but was not able to find one anywhere. I determined that I was going to one day write the story of how Santa came to learn that Christmas was not about him, but about a tiny baby, sent to save the world. The greatest gift of all.
What do you hope folks will gain from this project? I hope readers will come to realize that Jesus was a gift sent for them, too. Like Santa, each of us must come to a moment where we determine the path we will follow. A Gift for Santa was written as a witness book, to illustrate for the youngest of children and the oldest of adults that God sent them a great gift at Christmas to redeem them from their sins.
How were you personally impacted by working on this project? Watching the Holy Spirit come in total inspiration was the greatest impact of this book for me. I wrote it on a trip from New Orleans to Florida, heading back home from visiting my family for Thanksgiving. In the back seat of the car with a steno pad and a pen, God just poured this story onto the paper. I had no idea where it was going or where it would end. There was no story outline nor any notes before I began, and when I was finished the story was in much the same form it appears in the book. God sent me a miracle in the back seat of that car! He used the gifts he gave and his own inspiration of a story that is memorable and heartfelt.
Anything else you'd like readers / listeners to know: A Gift for Santa is 50 pages of beautiful illustrations, a story of hope and life, and a happy ending that will make you cry. I always saw it as a possible replacement in Christian families for "The Night Before Christmas" as a read before bedtime or during a family gathering (afte sharing the real Christmas story) on Christmas Eve. My hope is that it will bring the sweet spirit of Christ's light and joy into homes as they remember the birth of the Savior.
