From Pinecones to Prosthetics: The Story Behind “Christmas at Whispering Creek”
By Barbara M. Britton
We have a large evergreen tree on our property that drops a lot of pinecones. My job is to pick up the pinecones, so they do not kill the lawn. The evergreen scent reminds me of Christmas while I labor in the yard. Thoughts of a Christmas story lingered in my head. Since I write mostly Biblical Fiction, I pondered the Biblical narrative from the Bible to see if a storyline caught my attention.
During that time, I received phone calls from friends. These weren’t pleasant catch-up calls, but ones in which friends revealed a breast cancer diagnosis. At the time of this post, I am over six years cancer-free. Praise God! I bestowed any wisdom I had gathered from my cancer journey to my friends.
Was I meant to write a Christmas story that highlighted the storm damage from cancer? How would readers react, and how could I make it a romance? Cautiously, I sat down and wrote “Christmas at Whispering Creek.”
As I finished Cole and Samantha’s story, I felt compelled to add a brief synopsis of my breast cancer journey at the end of the novel. Having my journey at the end would answer readers’ questions on why I created a twenty-three-year-old teacher who had lost a breast to cancer.
Cancer can be a weighty subject. I think you will find enough humor and love in this book to balance the cancer talk. The verses in Philippians that Samantha and Cole share are the ones I clung to during my trips to the hospital. God is faithful. Both Samantha and I can rejoice that we are cancer-free. That is one of the best Christmas gifts I have ever received. I am sure Samantha would say the same.
What is an extraordinary Christmas gift that you received?
