The Time, the Place, and the Story by Gayle Bartos-Pool
There are a lot of holiday books out there… and movies. I happen to collect Santas. 3500 and counting to be exact. I knew someday I would write a Christmas story, but what about? I didn’t want to write a children’s story with twenty pages and big drawings. I wanted one that grownups would like. And not a retelling of A Christmas Carol or It’s a Wonderful Life . I like them just the way they are. I was walking through the mall just as the stores had finished decking themselves out in tinsel and holly several years ago. I heard someone singing. He was using a microphone. He was also wearing a red suit. The guy had a great voice. A singer in a Santa Claus suit. An idea exploded in my head as I stood there listening to him. I don’t live in Las Vegas, but what better place to locate my guy. Johnny Madison obviously isn’t a big-time singer, so I put him in an out of the way dive off the strip. He loses his job, but his agent who runs an employment agency, not a talent age...