Regency Christmas Wishes. Carla Kelly

      Dear Reader,

      All my life I’ve noticed that the Christmas season is a time when people everywhere seem to become a little better, perform kindly deeds, think of others more and act upon good promptings. It’s almost as though Christmas gives us permission—as if we needed it—to bring out our better natures and the better natures of those around us.

      We become more susceptible to the possibility that glad tidings of great joy can become a reality. Maybe we’re more willing to believe in impossible things because at Christmas all things feel possible.

      In that vein, I bring you the whimsical tale of a post captain in the Royal Navy—a careful man swept into an adventure made possible by the receipt of a years-old letter that went astray. The Peace of Amiens (1802–1803) becomes a window of opportunity that takes him from Plymouth, England, to Savannah, Georgia, in the new country of the United States—a place he remembers well from his childhood and has never quite forgotten.

      There’s a touch of magic, too…or maybe it’s more than magic. Maybe it’s the grace that can shower down upon us all if we’re willing to let the spirit of Christmas and St Nicholas step in and make things right.

      Reader, whatever your faith or creed, I invite you to consider the possibilities of this season of wonder.

      Carla Kelly