Dr. Wheeler has dedicated a lifetime to tracking down elusive Christmas stories. From several thousand, he has chosen those that, for generation after generation, have continued to be most loved and cherished. Powerful and emotive, they are timeless in their ability to help us experience the joy, wonder, and true meaning of Christmas. Their message of unselfish love and personal involvement turns our thoughts to Christ, and reminds us every time we read them, that this is really what Christmas–and life itself–is all about.

It is Dr. Wheeler’s sincere wish that these stories will become your friends too, to be read and reread as you and your loved ones make them an integral part of your own Christmas traditions and memories.

Stories in this book include: Christmas Is for Families, A String of Blue Beads, The Red Mittens, The Promise of the Doll, plus 11 more. To add to your Christmas enjoyment, selected stories from this book are available on cassette, read by Dr. Wheeler.

Some of the fondest memories of my childhood are tied to hearing my mother read Christmas stories to our family. Not one of them was just a Christmas story; each had the ability to make us laugh or cry, to tug at our heartstrings, to remind us that only a Christ-filled Christmas had any meaning at all.–Joe L. Wheeler.

Joe Wheeler’s writing career started in the fall of 1992 with a collection of heart-tugging stories called Christmas in My Heart, a series that he has become well-known for. Joe Wheeler has been called everything from "Keeper of the Story" to "Father Christmas."  He has been a frequent guest on Dr. James Dobson’s radio show "Focus on the Family", and today is considered to be one of America’s leading story anthologizers, editing collections for nine publishers: Doubleday/Random House, WaterBrook/Random House, Guideposts, Focus on the Family, Tyndale House, Harvest House, Review and Herald Publishing Association, RiverOak Publishing, and Pacific Press Publishing Association.

When asked how he got started, Wheeler tells interviewers that it all dates back to being home-schooled by a remarkable woman, Barbara Leininger Wheeler, his mother (both a teacher and a missionary) in Latin America.  His mother, an elocutionist of the old school, memorized thousands of pages of stories, readings, and poetry, and frequently recited in public.  But her specialty was the old-time, sentimental, Judeo-Christian short stories.  And his mother poured herself – and her stories – into her son, inoculating him with a terminal case of the ‘storyitis virus.’ 

Wheeler has a bachelor’s degree in both history and English from Pacific Union College, a master’s degree in history, a master’s degree in English from California State University, and a Ph.D. in English from Vanderbilt University.  Today, Wheeler is senior fellow for cultural studies at the Center for the New West in Denver, Colorado, and professor emeritus of Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Maryland.

Wheeler and his wife, Connie, make their home in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado where they receive 200 inches of snow a year.