R A Cabral

The Miracle of the Christmas Wish Holder R A Cabral

Over her 20-plus years in business, public relations executive Grace McBride has represented some challenging clients, but none more than the Soltero Brothers, Rolando and Ernesto. Each holiday season, the retired craftsmen delight children (and their parents) in the Sacramento area by producing custom-crafted wooden "wish boxes" that inspire the children to post their wish for a friend or loved one inside the box. This year, Ernesto's son Donte, a recent widower, inadvertently embroiled the family toy business in a legal controversy when his custom logo incited charges of trademark infringement by Stoyonix, a corporation focused on the nether world of "cloud computing storage." An injunction would forestall delivery of the Soltero wish holders past the holiday selling season. So, Ernesto called on Ms. McBride, Donte's high school sweetheart, to use her PR skills to help mediate a settlement with Stoyonix. Grace learns that Donte's Amazonian-inspired logo was a tribute to the family's Brazilian Portuguese heritage. Moreover, dust from the Rosewood tree cuttings-which are applied to the finish of the logo- is thought to possess magical properties, an idea she is hesitant to embrace. Originally, Donte is non-supportive of Grace's initial solution to the legal challenge, displaying loutish behavior during a mediation session with Stoyonix executives. Soon, however, Donte and Grace reach a unique compromise while learning of the mysterious and miraculous powers inherent in the wooden vessels on Christmas Eve. From Valentine Davies' 1947 novel "Miracle on 34th Street" to Lori Copeland's 2009 release "The Christmas Lamp: A Novella" readers of holiday classics will enjoy this tale of Christmas magic with a twist.