Award-Winning Writer of Out of the Shadows
Kimberly Carlson Aesara
Unwrapping Christmas begins with a bold retelling of the original Christmas story. Then it tells the contemporary story of several individuals and families as they struggle to find meaning and community and love during the Christmas season. While it is a story told from several points of view, each character is led to helping or knowing Josiah, a twelve-year-old boy who gets lost in the mountains near Leavenworth, Washington, while watching his neighbor Gabriel’s dogs, Blitzen and Vixen. As Josiah is forced to survive in subfreezing temperatures, his father questions himself. Does he have the wherewithal to save his son when he wasn’t able to save his beloved wife from cancer? Finally, it is Gabriel, a famous classical guitar player who weaves all the stories together. Music, like love, touches all, even the reader. Unwrapping Christmas is a story that holds hope as people reach for community and love during the Christmas season.
Praise for Unwrapping Christmas
"A sweeping, unforgettable novel that reimagines the meaning of Christmas for today’s world. With richly drawn characters and an emotional depth that resonates on every page, it’s a story that celebrates love, faith, and the ties that hold us together. Written with luminous prose and a lyrical touch, this book captures both the wonder of the season and the complexities of modern life. Perfect for readers seeking a heartfelt and inspiring holiday read, it’s destined to become a cherished favorite."
—Kathryn Dare, Seattle Book Review
“Carlson Aesara celebrates the spirit of the Christmas season as it impacts the lives of a seemingly disparate community in this yule-themed novel.
…There is undeniable music in Carlson Aesara’s writing, resonating both in her themes and prose…they strike just the right note in this enchanting tale.
A neat little stocking-stuffer of a story.”
—Kirkus Reviews
"Kimberly Carlson Aesara has gifted us with a rich, layered, and profoundly rewarding story, in which a community—like any community in the United States—is fragmented, frayed, where we do not recognize our bonds to one another, where the gaps between us are just too great. We barely know our neighbors. We keep to our own. And yet, when one amongst us is lost in a snowy wilderness, Carlson Aesara shows us how we must repair our own hearts and answer those distant cries, however familial or foreign they may be.”
—James Brock, author of Everyone on this Train
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“This book is a rare gift. From the very first page, it takes you on an emotional journey, stirring a thousand different feelings as you walk alongside its beautifully crafted characters. Each one is described with such care and depth that you can’t help but connect with them in their moments of struggle, joy, and discovery.
What struck me most was the way Carlson Aesara captures the power of music — not only the act of singing and playing, but the transformation it stirs in the hearts and minds of those who listen. I have never encountered it expressed with such clarity and beauty. At times this story brought me to tears; at others, it filled me with warmth and joy. Like a compass of humanity, the book embraces both the chaos and the divine wonder of being alive. It is a story that lingers in the heart long after the final page.”
—JennyRebecca Ronnings, singer and songwriter