Bloggin' 'bout Books: Searching for Ways to Make Christmas More Christ-Centered? Look No Further. (With a Giveaway!)

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Searching for Ways to Make Christmas More Christ-Centered? Look No Further. (With a Giveaway!)

1:00 AM

(Image from Covenant)

"Time, that precious commodity, is what all families want us to give them, and time is what our Savior wants us to give Him" (2).

http://www.blogginboutbooks.com/p/lds-authors.html

With the above quote, author Christie Gardiner introduces, Our Family Christmas a low-stress guide that aims to help families make their holiday celebrations both more meaningful and more spiritual. With a section devoted to each day from December 1st to the 25th, it's an advent calendar in book form. Each day, Gardiner offers a scripture or quote plus a short story, thought, or anecdote that introduces a different Christmas-y topic. Then, she gives suggestions for implementing the principle being taught (giving to the poor, sharing the light of Christ, understanding the symbols of the season, etc.) by suggesting fun, easy family activities (crafts, baking, games, etc.). With busy families in mind, she divides the ideas into those that can be done in 1 hour, 20 minutes, and 5 minutes. Each day also gets its own recipe, journaling prompts, and a Christmas hymn/carol.

Gardiner acknowledges the reality of busy, stressed-out families by encouraging each to do what works for them, when it works for them. She emphasizes that Our Family Christmas is a collection of ideas, not a stringent program designed to make parents feel even more burdened during an already overwhelming season. She does testify, however, that focusing on simple, Christ-centered activities like those suggested in the book during the Christmas season will bring families closer together while blessing them with a peaceful, more satisfying holiday experience.

Beautifully illustrated with bright, whimsical Norman Rockwell (and Rockwell-ish) paintings, Our Family Christmas would make a lovely pre-holiday gift. If you're already frazzled with Christmas anxiety, do yourself a favor and read through this lovely book. The ideas within are reassuring in their simplicity. Nothing elaborate is required in order to center your holiday more firmly on the things that really matter—honoring the Savior, generous service, family closeness, and spreading joy. Our Family Christmas keeps it real with small, doable suggestions that can have a large, lasting impact on your family. If you're wondering how to make your holiday more meaningful this year, start with giving this book a look-see. At the very least, it will inspire you to remember the reason for the season.

Readalikes: Um, I can't think of anything. Can you?

Grade:

If this were a movie, it would be rated:

To the FTC, with love: I received a finished copy of Our Family Christmas from the generous folks at Covenant. Thank you!

Interested in more opinions of Our Family Christmas? Follow along on the book's blog tour by clicking on the links below:

*Oct. 30^th: https://brightlystreet.com/category/book-reviews/, http://iamareader.com/

*Oct. 31^st: http://lisaisabookworm.blogspot.com/, http://empowermoms.net/, http://heidi-reads.blogspot.com/

*Nov. 1^st: https://www.singinglibrarianbooks.com/, http://ldswritermom.blogspot.com/, http://thoroughlyhere.blogspot.com/, http://www.rockinbookreviews.com/

*Nov. 2^nd: https://ldsandlovinit.blogspot.com/, http://mybookaday.blogspot.com/, http://thethingsilovemost.com/, http://www.blogginboutbooks.com/

*Nov. 3^rd: http://sweetlymadejustforyou.com/blog/, http://www.wishfulendings.com/, http://brooklynberrydesigns.com/, http://literarytimeout.blogspot.com/

Want to win a copy of Our Family Christmas for your very own? Enter to win the book, plus a $25 Amazon gift card by filling out this Rafflecopter:

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Books Read in 2025 (asterisks denote favorites)

1. Coram House by Bailey Seybolt (Jan)
2. She Doesn't Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke (Jan)
3. My Salty Mary by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand, and Jodi Meadows* [audio] (Jan)
4. The Echoes by Jess Montgomery (Jan)
5. The Highgate Cemetery Murder by Irina Shapiro (Jan)
6. Barbacoa, Bomba, and Betrayal by Raquel V. Reyes (Jan)
7. Murder at Chateau sur Mer by Alyssa Maxwell (Jan)
8. Away by Megan E. Freeman (Jan)
9. Unsinkable by Jenni L. Walsh [audio] (Jan)
10. A Golden Grave by Erin Lindsey* (Jan)
11. All Over the Map by Lanie Jacobs (Jan)
12. Stranded by Nikki Shannon Smith (Jan)
13. Elementary, She Read by Vicki Delany [audio] (Jan)
14. The Souls of Lost Lake by Jaime Jo Wright (Jan)
15. How to Book a Murder by Cynthia Kuhn (Jan)
16. A Dream of Death by Connie Berry (Jan)
17. The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments by Hadley Vlahos, RN* (Jan)
18. Red River Road by Anna Downes [audio] (Jan)
19. Janitors School of Garbage by Tyler Whitesides (Feb)
20. Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce (Feb)
21. Janitors School of Garbage: Trials of the Trash by Tyler Whitesides (Feb)
22. The Brightwood Code by Monica Hesse [audio] (Feb)
23. A Legacy of Murder by Connie Berry (Feb)
24. The Crash by Freida McFadden (Feb)
25. To Catch a Storm by Mindy Mejia (Feb)
26. Murder in Miniature by Katie Tietjen (Feb)
27. A World of Hurt by Mindy Mejia (Feb)
28. If Walls Could Talk by Juliet Blackwell (Feb)
29. Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano [audio] (Feb)
30. Wool by Hugh Howey (Feb)
31. Shift by Hugh Howey (Feb)
32. Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns [audio] (Mar)
33. The Treasure Hunters Club by Tom Ryan (Mar)
34. Last Light Over Galveston by Jennifer L. Wright (Mar)
35. Murder on the Page by Daryl Wood Gerber (Mar)
36. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (Mar)
37. The Housemaid's Secret by Freida McFadden (Mar)
38. The Last Lifeboat by Hazel Gaynor [audio] (Mar)
39. You Belong Here by Megan Miranda (Mar)
40. Asylum Hotel by Juliet Blackwell (Mar)
41. The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth* [audio] (Mar)
42. Reconnected: How 7 Screen-Free Weeks With Monks and Amish Farmers helped Me Recover the Lost Art of Being Human by Carlos Whittaker (Mar)
43. Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister (Mar)
44. Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto* (Apr)
45. Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams (Apr)
46. The Wind Called My Name by Mary Louise Sanchez (Apr)
47. What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan (Apr)
48. The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth [audio] (Apr)
49. That Last Carolina Summer by Karen White (Apr)
50. A Pie to Die For by Gretchen Rue (Apr)
51. The Raven Thief by Gigi Pandian (Apr)
52. The Boxcar Librarian by Brianna Labuskes (Apr)
53. Cold As Hell by Kelley Armstrong* [audio] (Apr)
54. Murder Runs in the Family by Tamara Berry (Apr)
55. The Housemaid is Watching by Freida McFadden (Apr)
56. Petals and Poison by Jess Dylan [audio] (Apr)
57. It Happened on the Lake by Lisa Jackson (Apr)
58. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah* [re-read] (May)
59. Outside by Jennifer L. Holm (May)
60. You Are Here: Connecting Flights by various authors, edited by Ellen Oh (May)
61. The Silver Shooter by Erin Lindsey* (May)
62. The Art of Betrayal by Connie Berry* (May)
63. The Secret Room by Jane Casey* (May)
64. The Sasquatch of Hawthorne Elementary by K.B. Jackson (May)
65. The Sasquatch of Harriman Lake by K.B. Jackson (May)
66. Girl Forgotten by April Henry (May)
67. One Sharp Stitch by Allie Pleiter (May)
68. On Her Own Grounds: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker by A'Lelia Bundles (May)
69. #FollowMe for Murder by Sarah E. Burr (May)
70. The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware [re-read] (May)
71. Where Only Storms Grow by Alyssa Colman (May)
72. Every Time I Go On Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack (May)
73. The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller [audio] (May)
74. The Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth Ware (May)
75. I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang (May)
76. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, Volume 1 by Beth Brower (May)
77. The Quiet Librarian by Allen Eskens (Jun)
78. The Burning Library by Gilly Macmillan (Jun)
79. Find Her by Ginger Reno (Jun)
80. Same Page by Elly Swartz (Jun)
81. Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library by Amanda Chapman (Jun)
82. A Death at Seascape House by Emma Jameson (Jun)
83. Something Wilder by Christina Lauren (Jun)
84. Hummus and Homicide by Tina Kashian (Jun)
85. The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict* (Jun)
86. The Library of Borrowed Hearts by Lucy Gilmore [audio] (Jun)
87. The Town With No Mirrors by Christina Collins (Jun)
88. Clammed Up by Barbara Ross (Jun)
89. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness* [re-read] (Jun)
90. Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery (Jun)
91. With a Vengeance by Riley Sager (Jun)
92. Murder Past Due by Miranda James (Jun)
93. The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson (Jun)
94. This Side of Murder by Anna Lee Huber [audio] (Jun)
95. The Whisper Place by Mindy Mejia (Jun)
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97. The Experiment by Rebecca Stead (Jun)
98. The Shadow of Memory by Connie Berry (Jun)
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107. The Beat I Drum by Dusti Bowling (Jul)
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110. The Ivory City by Emily Bain Murphy (Jul)
111. A Fatal Thaw by Dana Stabenow (Jul)
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113. A Murder Most Fowl by Carmela Dutra (Jul)
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115. Death at a Highland Wedding by Kelley Armstrong* (Jul)
116. The Ripple Effect by Rebecca Caprara (Jul)
117. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Jul)
118. The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (Aug)
119. Death on Eat Street by J.J. Cook (Aug)
120. The How and the Why by Cynthia Hand* [audio] (Aug)
121. Heist Society by Ally Carter (Aug)
122. Evil Bones by Kathy Reichs* (Aug)
123. Six Weeks in Reno by Lucy H. Hedrick (Aug)
124. The Tontine Caper by Dianne K. Salerni (Aug)
125. I.R.L. by Jenny Goebel (Aug)
126. The Girls of Good Fortune by Kristina McMorris [audio] (Aug)
127. Gluten for Punishment by Nancy J. Parra (Aug)
128. Curses, Boiled Again! by Shari Randall (Aug)
129. I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai (Aug)
130. The Truth According to Us by Annie Barrows [audio] (Aug)
131. The Red Umbrella by Christina Diaz Gonzalez (Aug)
132. The Land of Forgotten Girls by Erin Entrada Kelly (Aug)
133. Betrayal in the Badlands by Dana Mentink (Aug)
134. Canter With a Killer by Amber Camp (Aug)
135. Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar (Aug)
136. Dominoes, Danzon, and Death by Raquel V. Reyes (Aug)
137. The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths* (Aug)
138. The Haunting of Emily Grace by Elena Taylor (Aug)
139. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman [audio] (Aug)
140. Writers and Liars by Carol Goodman (Sep)
141. The Family Next Door by Sally Hepworth [audio] (Sep)
142. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman* [re-read] (Sep)
143. The Librarians by Sherry Thomas (Sep)
144. Radiant by Vaund Micheaux Nelson (Sep)
145. The Break-In by Katherine Faulkner (Sep)
146. The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko [audio] (Sep)
147. The Block Party by Jamie Day [audio] (Sep)
148. Daughters of the Bamboo Grove: From China to America, a True Story of Abduction, Adoption, and Separated Twins by Barbara Demick (Sep)
149. The Other Mothers by Katherine Faulkner (Sep)
150. Murder By Memory by Olivia Waite (Sep)
151. The One and Only Family by Katherine Applegate [audio] (Sep)
152. The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold (Sep)
153. A Time For Courage: The Suffragette Diary of Kathleen Bowen by Kathryn Lasky (Sep)
154. Famous Last Words by Katie Alender [audio] (Sep)
155. Sanctuary by Paola Mendoza (Sep)
156. Haunting and Homicide by Ava Burke (Sep)
157. West With Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge* (Sep)
158. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple [audio] (Sep)
159. Open and Shut by David Rosenfelt (Sep)
160. Heartwood by Amity Gaige (Sep)
161. The Garden Just Beyond by Lindsey Leavitt (Oct)
162. Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani [re-read] (Oct)
163. 59 Minutes by Holly Seddon (Oct)
164. The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco by Michelle Chouinard (Oct)
165. Such a Good Mom by Julia Spiro (Oct)
166. Sandwich by Catherine Newman (Oct)
167. Shadows in the Mind's Eye by Janyre Tromp [audiobook] (Oct)
168. Miss Benson's Beetle by Rachel Joyce (Oct)
169. I Know What UFO Did This Summer by Kevin Garone (Oct)
170. A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James*
171. This Cookie Will Change Your Life by Ann Dee Ellis (Oct)
172. Bleep Blurp Murder by Becca Lee Gardner (Nov)
173. Everyone in This Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson* (Nov)
174. No One Aboard by Emy McGuire (Nov)
175. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins* (Nov)
176. The Maid's Secret by Nita Prose (Nov)
177. The Forgotten Magic of Zoey Turner by Erin Stewart (Nov)
178. The Playmakers by Chard Morris and Shelly Brown (Nov)
179. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt* [audio] (Nov)
180. The Afterlife of Holly Chase by Cynthia Hand (Nov)
181. The Guest House by Robin Morgan-Bentley (Nov)
182. The Memory Spinner by C.M. Cornwell (Nov)
183. Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey [audio] (Dec)
184. Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth* (Dec)
185. Grimmworld: The Big Bad Wolf by Michaelbrent Collings (Dec)
186. The Last Word by Elly Griffiths [audio] (Dec)
187. The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest by Aubrey Hartman (Dec)
188. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens* [re-read] [audio] (Dec)
189. Murder Buys a T-Shirt by Christy Fifield (Dec)
190. One Wrong Step by Jennifer A. Nielsen* [audio] (Dec)
191. She's Not Sorry by Mary Kubica [audio] (Dec)
192. The Winterton Deception: Final Word by Janet Sumner Johnson [re-read] (Dec)
193. Don't Sing at the Table: Life Lessons from My Grandmothers by Adriana Trigiani [audio] (Dec)
194. First Sign of Danger by Kelley Armstrong* (Dec)

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Searching for Ways to Make Christmas More Christ-Centered? Look No Further. (With a Giveaway!)

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