Jesus, Santa, & Grady Dale

A Camelot West Virginia Christmas Tale

Jesus, Santa, and Grady Dale Orkney: the holiday team-up you didn’t know you needed. Can Orkney magic—and a little Appalachian faith—bring a fractured family back together for Christmas?

In this Camelot West Virginia holiday tale, the Orkneys open their crowded, imperfect home to heartbroken teen Audra Van Winkle after her father throws her out in a drunken rage. It’s Christmas Eve, emotions are raw, and nothing about this holiday feels merry.

Determined to do the right thing, Arvin Lee Orkney makes a last-ditch effort to confront Audra’s father—only to make everything worse. By night’s end, Audra’s little brother has been cast out too, and what was already a fragile Christmas threatens to fall apart completely.

But just when it seems beyond saving, six-year-old Grady Dale Orkney steps in with the kind of faith only a child can wield—deploying heartfelt prayers, a letter to Santa, and a quiet belief that somebody, somewhere, is listening.

Can a child’s faith, combined with Orkney tough love, pull a broken family back from the brink?

Set years before the events of Camelot West Virginia, this charming and heartfelt short story takes readers back to a Christmas that forever changed how the Orkneys understand family—and offers the very first glimpse of the quiet, unexpected magic of Grady Dale.

Download this cozy, emotionally rich holiday short today.