Our plans for the June weekend were simple: camp on Friday and Saturday night in a pretty little mountain campground and drive our youth group down to San Juan Capistrano on Sunday for a beach outing. Saturday evening, a group of motorcyclists roared into the campground. Shouting that there were children asleep, the camp manager ordered them to get out. They left as noisily as they had come in. I drifted back to sleep. Bam! Bam! Gunshots jolted me awake! “It won’t work to shoot ’em in the ...

Tinker, a young intern elf at Christmas Village, is uncommonly clumsy and lacks a basic belief in himself. Santa asks Father Chris to try to help Tinker find his particular ability—his gift.Father Chris invites Tinker to share his cottage, but when Tinker nearly sets fire to the cottage, Tinker insists on moving. When assigned to take care of the reindeer, Tinker experiences two more mishaps. As a result of these mishaps, the other elves taunt and tease Tinker. Alone and lonely, Ti...