Warm, for Christmas

So starts "Warm, for Christmas, " Sean "Pachy" Kavanagh's journey through Christmas 1986 when, at 11, he tries to keep his family from falling apart three years after his mother died.

Along the way he confronts rich bullies, a preoccupied father, and an overbearing aunt.

He schemes against the distemper of his brother's drug addiction and searches for reasons something called ovarian cancer would take his beloved mother.

His successes are mixed. Pachy's answers to life's biggest questions are sometimes funny, sometimes poignant.

Finally, with the help of three mysterious Christmas gifts left on his front porch and a beautiful doctor, Pachy comes to understand what's important.

"Warm, for Christmas" is about real life and real problems and one boy's awakening and acceptance of the wonder of Christmas and his mother's gentle and insightful legacy.