Miracle of the Lights: A Sister's Ride

By Don Keith and Edie Hand

The Warners are a typical family, with the usual rifts, led by a workaholic dad and a perfectionist mom. They take a reluctant trip each year to a musty condo in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, for the holidays and to try, without success, to capture the Christmas spirit. But one year, early-teen son Terry surprises his younger sister, Edie, by taking her on a surprise horseback ride to a mountaintop. There, he shows her an amazing and inspiring display of lights on a distant peak, a scene of mysterious origin that can only be viewed from that one spot and precisely at dusk on Christmas Day.

The next year, their father is too busy in his music-industry job to even make the trip to the condo for Christmas. Even so, the kids take their mother on the yuletide horseback ride to the mountain meadow to introduce her to the beautiful light show. She, too, is inspired. When they return home, she tries once more to convince her husband to put his priorities in the right place, to return to church, to spend more time with the family. However, by the next holiday, their marriage is over and so, apparently, are the rides to the mountain.

Terry blames his mother for the breakup of the family and, when he goes away to college, he ends all communication with her. Edie finally takes a Christmas ride of her own, a risky drive from their home in Memphis to the West Coast to convince her brother to renew the spirit they found on that Smoky Mountain peak.

He does return home, and their father has his own epiphany. The next Christmas, the parents have a special present for their reunited family. But later, a tragic turn brings the two siblings even closer, and a special Christmas gift makes certain their bond will not be broken, not by distance, hurt, or even the dark cloud of Alzheimer's. And a strange but wondrous twist shows Edie Warner the power of those Christmas lights they saw on their rides to the mountain.

This tale will resonate with today's families, too involved with their own distractions to enjoy the beauty of this special season, and offer meaning to those who lose a family member and miss them most during the holidays. But the lesson of those magical lights-that one must be in the right place and have an open heart to know the true meaning of Christmas-will touch all readers.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0F2488Y1Y
• ISBN13: 9798314721421
• Release Date: March 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 98 Pages
• Weight: 0.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.0" x 8.0"