Page 6 A Special Christmas by Gabriel A. Fraire of Healdsburg, CA ~ gafraire@comcast.net


all makes those little eyes grow big. All the preparations and festivities make for great anticipation of a nice day. One holiday season I was reading a book to my daughters and the story ended with the little


C


hristmas is always fun when you have small children. The wonderment of it


little girl in the book woke up Christmas Day to a whole long line of packages leading from her bed to the tree.


My daughter said, “I wish I could have packages


all the


way from my bed to the tree.” Christmas was still a few weeks off and I decided to make this long line of gifts for my daughters.


girl, who was


a good little girl but her fam- ily circumstances often made Christmas less than happy, but this one year through a special set of happy circumstances the


So, I bought a game of jacks and put the ball in one box and the jacks in another. I did this type of thing with lots of gifts so as to make more boxes than actual presents.


Give the gift they’ll love to open all year long!


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On Christmas morning my daughters awoke to find a whole long line of presents to the tree. They were so excited. My oldest daughter came run- ning up to me and gave me a big hug.


I have always been a bit of tease with my kids and I told my daughter. “Well, you know there are no gifts in those boxes, all you said you wanted was packages.”


My daughter stepped back from me. She was still smiling when she said, “That’s okay daddy, I made a wish and you made it come true.”


That was a Christmas I’ll never forget.


Gabriel A. Fraire has been a writer more than 45 years. He has written fiction and non-fiction books, plays, po- ems, music lyrics, and news articles. But, he writes about his children exclusively for the Upbeat Times.


Publisher’s Note


After this issue, Gabe Fraire will be taking an extended sabbatical to work on personal projects.We hope to see Gabe again and thank him for so many years submitting his often hilarious story’s about his family!


He is a great friend of my fam- ily and an awesome writer!


“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything


without losing your temper or your


Santa Rosa • 2875 Santa Rosa Ave. • 525-0569 La-Z-Boy.com/santa-rosa/santa-rosa


6 • December 2018 • UPBEAT TIMES, INC.


self-confidence.” Robert Frost


My good friend Manual Flores attended the 2018 Harvest Fair. Te people, wines and food were awesome! ~ Paul A. Doyle


Taqueria the at Harvest Fair 2018, Santa Rosa, CA!


Upbeat Times at the Harvest Fair 2018, Santa Rosa, CA!


My other upbeat friends I’ve known for over 30 years gave out samples of their delicious food from their Taquieria Santa Rosa #5 Restaurant


located in Rincoln Valley in the Montecito Shopping Center. 5 stars go to these guys! Tey do it right! - go by at 791 Montecito Center and tell them you saw them in Upbeat! - Call them at (707)538-2642! ~ Paul A. Doyle, Publisher, Upbeat Times


“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” ~ Margaret Mead


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