"One ember glowing in the dark to spark 10,000 candle flames" . . . sometimes that's all it takes, the spark of a memory to illuminate a season. Bitter or sweet Christmas is perhaps the most evocative of all, especially when it brings with it 'four funerals and no weddings' in as many weeks. Such was our Advent and Christmas 2019.

Even in the dead of winter there were signs of Comfort and Joy...embers in the remembering of these characters, the 'Sparks' of this book. Dedicated to them, they ushered these short stories and poems into print.

Gratitude for their lives brings perspective and during this season of COVID-19, stories of remembrance are like 'campfires in the woods' bringing warmth and light into this time of confusion and fear. Let the story telling begin, triggering collective memories of Comfort and Joy for Christmas 2020.