The Man Who Loved Christmas

Harold "Peanut" Allen was a big man with a generous heart, a computer programmer who taught himself piano and loved Christmas more than anything. He was the kind of person who bought gifts for his brothers' families every year even when they told him not to. But Harold had what his brother Matt called a "fatal flaw": he desperately wanted to be loved, and he kept choosing the wrong partners. At his 30th high school reunion in the tiny town of Freetown, Indiana, he met Marcia Buxton. She seemed different from the others—kinder, more refined. Within months they were married, and Marcia's 27-year-old daughter Ashley, a pharmacy tech and young widow, moved in with her little girl. For about three years, it seemed to work. Then came Thanksgiving 2022.

A Death, Then a Burglary

Harold's face went numb at the dinner table. He was rushed to the ER, sent home, then hospitalized again days before Christmas. On December 20, 2022, paramedics found him on the bedroom floor. The autopsy showed a heart attack—a blockage, cardiac issues. Natural causes. The family buried him the week of Christmas, his favorite holiday. Marcia wrote a self-published book about rebuilding life after losing a spouse. She described Harold as "my world, two peas in a pod."