Christmas In Harmony: A Harmony Story (2002) - Plot & Excerpts
Christmas comes to Harmony Friends, and the usual townfolk are all here, Dale and his big ideas for spreading the Gospel to the unwashed masses, Fern with her righteous and holy reasonings for not sharing her pew or straying from any tradition once put forth by her grandmother, the good, the strict, and the gentle.This is a much shorter, faster read than the other harmony series...shouldn't take more than an afternoon of reading. Nothing heavy, but plenty of sweet moments packed into a few short chapters.Sam, the fearless Friends minister, isn't as cynical in this one. He seems more sentimental than the Sam in the previous three books, but maybe he just loves Christmas. Plenty of things made me smile: the teenager portraying Mary in the Nativity in her bathrobe, the sweet little boy awestruck by Santa, the newspaper man offering to photograph the livestock in Sam's front yard, and the references to the town's Corn & Sausage Pageant.Good for anyone just keeping up with Harmony, or not a bad first book if you haven't been to Harmony yet.
"My wife, modest and traditional, argues for reserve, while I, having witnessed the pain of unspoken love, elect to splurge. It is, I believe, in keeping with the season. God could have sent a lawyer who would scrupulously define the limits of love. Instead, he went for broke, and sent a child with whom He was well pleased. And had the good sense to tell him so. Christmas, I tell my wife, is not the time to hold back. It is the bold stroke, the song in the silence, the red hat in a gray-suit world."Charming, delightful, very short, very sweet, laugh-out-loud funny, quirky, tender, and as warm as a Christmas cup of cocoa. Curl up by your tree with this one! You won't be sorry!
What do You think about Christmas In Harmony: A Harmony Story (2002)?
I always make it a point to read one Christmas book during my holiday vacation. This one, written by a Quaker minister and accomplished author, was a blend of small town charm and humor reminiscent of A Christmas Story. My usual idea of a perfect Christmas story is one that fills my head with traditional Christmas hope and love, mostly to detract from what I usually see at Christmastime. This book did a little of that, but it mostly had me laughing. It was quick to read and an easy lesson that harmony is usually the better choice.
—Debbie
I knew it would be a short book, but had no idea it would be 84 pages short! Dale Hinshaw lives again! I really suspected his traveling nativity to be way worse than it was. Could have been a little meatier for me. Not as funny as Home to Harmony. Cute Christmas read.
—Lyndi
The author, Philip Gulley, is a Quaker minister. This novel is about a church in the small town of Harmony planning to do a live nativity at Christmas time instead of their traditional Christmas Eve service. It's filled with a lot of interesting characters who are members of the church. Some of them are truly "characters." It is a nice book to read by the fireplace if you are looking for something short, sweet and light to read - that will also make you smile! I would read another one in the series.
—Barbara M
