This heartwarming novel is the first illustrated holiday book for adults that deals with an interfaith family celebrating both Christmas and Hanukkah. Claire is Jewish; her husband, Paul, is a fallen-away Catholic. Claire takes their two children to a reform Jewish temple, but they observe the Christian holidays, too — partly for Paul and partly for Paul's mother, Teresa, a devout Catholic who is Claire's dearest friend. Then, just as the holidays approach, Claire's five-year-old son gets sick. As the weeks pass and he doesn't recover, Claire is reminded of the uncertain diagnosis of her own mother's final illness. She wants to lean on Teresa — but how can she, when their religious differences are so deep? Have her own religious decisions been a mistake? This is a book for anyone who has never known an interfaith family — their own or a friend's — or who has ever worried about the fate of a child.

"This heartwarming story is truly an interfaith tale, a profile of a family in which the mother is Jewish and the father Christian. . . . As the parents perform the annual negotions of latkes and parties and wrapping paper (red or blue?), the five-year-old son becomes seriously ill, making the entirely family realize anew the central message of both Hanukkah and Christmas: Miracles are possible. The novella is simply and beautifully presented—Bache, a Willa Cather Prize recipient, clearly knows how to tell a story. What could be cloying or manipulative is instead full of honest emotion."
–Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Award-winning writer Ellyn Bache crafts a thoughtful and touching portrait of the dilemmas facing interfaith families—and of the bonds that ultimately prevail."
–Bookpage

"Bache says she wanted to show how different faiths can unite families, instead of pull them apart. She’s certainly succeeded with this holiday book."
–Greensboro News & Record

"An engaging read, and a thoughtful treatment of what to do at this time of year when a major Christian holiday that has taken over Western civilization comes up against what would otherwise be a minor Jewish commemoration."
–Winston-Salem Journal

"Bache sensitively tackles this issue [of interfaith holidays] in a forthright examination of the problems created for an interfaith family by the calendar proximity of Christmas and Hanukkah."
–Connecticut Jewish Leader

"A charming gift book [about] the delicate family balance when one parent is Christian and the other is Jewish . . . . It hits the right tone for the season and will no doubt leave plenty of readers in a warm, fuzzy mood."
–Wilmington (NC) Star-News

"In her deeply moving novella, "Holiday Miracles," award-winning author Ellyn Bache reveals the depths and the blessings of shared faiths . . . . An important addition to the long list of holiday recollections worth reading."
–The Sanford (NC) Herald