A Christmas Story Unlike Others

Paper the cookies were wrapped in…

It seems to me there is nothing more to write about Christmas but everyone is trying. Well I can’t just let it pass so I’ll tell you a story. I always have one of those!

Two years ago I got an email from someone with DE at end of their email address which I thought to be Denmark but it wasn’t it was Germany. It was a very polite note from a man named Georg Gebhard who it turned out lived in Cologne with his wife Christel.

Dr. Gebhard explained they had my book Kingfisher Blue and they collected kingfisher feather jewelry and they were going to Tuscon, Arizona (I assumed for some warm weather in March). He said if I would allow them to come and see my collection they would travel via Los Angeles instead of New York.

I discussed it with friends at dinner that night. “How do you know they aren’t burglars?” one friend said. “Or serial murderers,” someone else interjected. “You can’t do that, invite total strangers from internet in!” another cautioned.

Well, I didn’t listen and the end of February Christel and Georg arrived to see me. We had the most wonderful visit. I found out they weren’t serial murders or international jewel thieves, they were famous mineralogists. And they weren’t going to Tuscon for the weather but as featured lecturers at the great Tuscon International Gem Fair. And they were taking some of their famous collection of rare minerals to display at the Fair. Not only that, I discovered the mineral Christelite was discovered by Christel and is named for her.

And most amazingly they had brought my book to be signed and informed me they had paid $400 for the out of print copy. I nearly fainted. This was a $50 book I made $4.70 a copy on. Georg then urged me to go to my computer and look up the book on Amazon. That’s when I really nearly fainted. There were two used copies for $1,350 each and those two soon sold as I followed them closely. I immediately called my publisher and asked if I was dead and didn’t know it! Incidentally the book can now be found for about $300 as seeing that amazing $1,350 price people started parting with their own used copies.

But back to my visitors. A lovely friendship grew out of my gamble on a polite note from Germany. The Gebhards have urged me two years in a row to go to Tuscon for the gem fair with them and oh I wanted to. But lingering Shingles horror prevented it. I’ve been to the event once but just saw the tourist things really. Going with them I’d be in the inner circle seeing the great gems and minerals. And they are such fun to be with. I’ve mentioned their name to people like my old friends Carol and Mike Ridding who have internationally famous Silverhorn Jewelers headquartered in Santa Barbara and they looked at me with new respect! I was a friend of the Gebhards.

The enchanting Christmas card from Christel and Georg Gebhard that accompanied the cookies. And there are the most delightful sparkles on the tree lights, kitchen utensils and angel wings.

Alright, you asking what does all this have to do with Christmas. Well it has to do with a wonderful package that arrived today, filled with Minerals? NO! Filled with marvelous Christel-made Christmas cookies just like I’ve had at Christmas fairs in Baden Baden and Munich at Christmas time long ago. I could actually smell the heavenly aroma through the thick box. The aroma that takes me once again to some of those enchanting Christmas street fairs in Germany. I’m writing this well enough ahead so I don’t have to share the cookies because they’ll all be gone by the time Kathleen Fetner gets this post up. Well, I guess I’ll have to share some with Kathleen because she does such wonderful things with my blog, finding the incredible videos and all the techie stuff I can’t do for myself. And I should add the card accompanying the cookies was the dearest card ever. Kathleen will be posting it so you can see for yourselves.

So I’ll just end with merry Christmas and happy holidays whatever it is you celebrate.

And now I’ll pack some cookies for Kathleen and eat some more myself! I think I’ll start with the hazel nut ones. I REALLY like those!

By The Way
This blog was started to sell my new book and I keep going off on other topics. Please do check out The Beautiful Lady Was A Palace Eunuch at Amazon.com