{"id":13863,"date":"2026-03-10T08:42:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T08:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/advent-day-16-a-christmas-wish\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T09:33:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T09:33:27","slug":"advent-day-16-a-christmas-wish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/angels-and-miracles\/advent-day-16-a-christmas-wish\/","title":{"rendered":"Advent, Day 16: A Christmas Wish"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>There is, in my office, a toy coal scuttle that is only four inches high. It has been in my office for years but recently I looked at it as though I had never seen it before. It started me thinking about a lot of things, things like old friends and\u2014Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>The scuttle was a gift from a Mrs. Richardson. I recall that my wife and I were sitting with her before a cheerful blaze in the fireplace of her living room one evening years ago. \u201cA fire stimulates thoughts, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d I commented.<\/p>\n<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ada4f91 e-con-full e-flex e-con e-child\" data-id=\"ada4f91\" data-element_type=\"container\" id=\"home-banner-stn\">\n<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-72e6e8eb elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"72e6e8eb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Community Newsletter<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-261bcec elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"261bcec\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n<h3 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Get More Inspiration Delivered to Your Inbox<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-9787b46 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-widget-mobile__width-inherit elementor-widget elementor-widget-wp-widget-ninja_forms_widget\" data-id=\"9787b46\" data-element_type=\"widget\" id=\"front-banner-signup\" data-widget_type=\"wp-widget-ninja_forms_widget.default\">\n<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<noscript class=\"ninja-forms-noscript-message\"><br \/>\n\tNotice: JavaScript is required for this content.<\/noscript><\/p>\n<style>\n<p>        \/* FORM STYLES *\/<\/p>\n<p>        #nf-form-5-cont {\n                                    background-color:#ffffff;\n                                                    border-radius:35px;\n-webkit-border-radius:35px;                    }\n    <\/style>\n<style>\n<p>        \/* FIELDS STYLES *\/<\/p>\n<p>        .nf-form-content .nf-field-container 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\/>\n                <script id=\"nf-tmpl-cell\" type=\"text\/template\">\n            <nf-fields><\/nf-fields>\n        <\/script><\/p>\n<p>        <script id=\"nf-tmpl-row\" type=\"text\/template\">\n            <nf-cells><\/nf-cells>\n        <\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cYes,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s my \u2018anger fire,\u2019 you know.\u201d Then she explained how she prayed and meditated beside the fire and it was there that she had learned to face up to the anger she felt for certain people and situations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI take a lump of coal,\u201d she said, motioning to a large black scuttle nearby, \u201cthen I place it on the fire and say out loud, \u2018This is the anger I feel for X.\u2019 After that I sit back and watch it go up in smoke.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Several days later Mrs. Richardson sent me the toy scuttle. I was very touched and I was glad, too, to have a way of remembering her story. I put the scuttle on a shelf with other special mementos. And there it sat until recently a visitor asked about it. I had forgotten that it was there.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shopguideposts.org\/2021-devotionals\/daily-guideposts-2021.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Be inspired each day! Order Daily Guideposts 2021!<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>After the visitor had gone, I looked curiously at the neglected little scuttle. How like us, I thought, with our busy lives, to ignore those objects of special meaning that we have gathered around us for the very purpose of remembering.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s like one of those statues which people pass every day with no idea of the name inscribed on it. But worse, I thought, it\u2019s like the too familiar possessions in some homes\u2014a family picture, a football trophy, a Bible that is never opened.<\/p>\n<p>We have to take stock, this scuttle suggested to me, we have to stop and take stock of things\u2014and yes, of people too\u2014that we take for granted.<\/p>\n<p>And so it is with Christmas.<\/p>\n<p>Christmas is so familiar to us that many of us are unaware of the real holiday. Too often we go through the season mechanically; we buy our presents out of obligation; we decorate our homes because everyone does; we see people because we have to.<\/p>\n<p>We forget, some of us, that all of the rituals of Christmas have Christ at their center.<\/p>\n<p>And that is how a coal scuttle has brought me to a Christmas wish: that all of us can look with new eyes at the old Christmas meanings and that we can find the familiar beautiful.<\/p>\n<p><em>This story first appeared in the December 1965 edition of\u00a0<\/em>Guideposts<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/inspiring-stories-for-advent-from-dr-norman-vincent-peale\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>More inspiring Advent stories from Norman Vincent Peale<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There is, in my office, a toy coal scuttle that is only four inches high. It has been in my office for years but recently I looked at it as though I had never seen it before. It started me thinking about a lot of things, things like old friends and\u2014Christmas. The scuttle was a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[142,15,58,26,55,61],"ppma_author":[629],"class_list":["post-13863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-angels-and-miracles","tag-advent","tag-faith","tag-guideposts","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-norman-vincent-peale"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Advent, Day 16: A Christmas Wish - Guideposts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On the 16th day of Advent, Norman Vincent Peale tells of a small memento that brought home to him once again the true meaning of Christmas.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Advent, Day 16: A Christmas Wish\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On the 16th day of Advent, Norman Vincent Peale tells of a small memento that brought home to him once again the true meaning of Christmas.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/angels-and-miracles\/advent-day-16-a-christmas-wish\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Guideposts Articles\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-10T08:42:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-13T09:33:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/articles.guideposts.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/26_days_of_advent_peale_2020_fnl_14-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"866\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Norman Vincent Peale\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/angels-and-miracles\\\/advent-day-16-a-christmas-wish\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/angels-and-miracles\\\/advent-day-16-a-christmas-wish\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Neeraj Rai\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f0862e0bfb5f72f571ea4d005001f0be\"},\"headline\":\"Advent, Day 16: A Christmas Wish\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-10T08:42:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-13T09:33:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/angels-and-miracles\\\/advent-day-16-a-christmas-wish\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":507,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/angels-and-miracles\\\/advent-day-16-a-christmas-wish\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/26_days_of_advent_peale_2020_fnl_14-2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Advent\",\"Faith\",\"Guideposts\",\"Hope\",\"Inspiration\",\"Norman Vincent Peale\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Angels and Miracles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/angels-and-miracles\\\/advent-day-16-a-christmas-wish\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/angels-and-miracles\\\/advent-day-16-a-christmas-wish\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/gpbookstore.org\\\/articles\\\/angels-and-miracles\\\/advent-day-16-a-christmas-wish\\\/\",\"name\":\"Advent, Day 16: A Christmas Wish - 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