The Light Before Christmas

This four-week Advent family devotional by best-selling author Marty Machowski combines devotions on the theme of light and darkness with the story of eleven-year-old Mia and her grandmother as they prepare for Christmas. Grandma loves to share her faith, especially at Christmas time, and although she is blind, she can see the light of Jesus shining bright and helps Mia—and children of all ages—to do the same. Every year, Mia loves to spend the month of December with Grandma getting ready for Christmas. This year, they read a special devotional, The Light Before Christmas, together. Machowski brings families into their devotional time, sharing the story of Christmas. Through a Bible study of light and darkness, readers will discover how the theme of light weaves its way through the Christmas story and God's plan of salvation. The Light Before Christmas contains thirteen devotionals—three for each of the four weeks of Advent and one more for Christmas. Each devotional includes a Scripture for the day, an object lesson, a focus Scripture, a question to discuss as a family, a song to sing together, and a prayer.

Do you want to make your Christmas season celebration more meaningful? In Follow the Light to Christmas, author Donna Perry orchestrates a journey to find the real reason we celebrate this holy season. Daily devotions during the Advent season, from December 1 through December 25, lead to an experience that ends in glorifying God in the highest, just as the angels sang. Individuals are encouraged to read the devotions for contemplative quiet times. Parents and grandparents can use it as interactive teachable moments with the children they love. Make this a tradition, and your celebration of the savior’s birth becomes more meaningful each year. Follow the Light to Christmas focuses on reminding us to bring glory to God as we celebrate Christmas. What greater legacy can you pass to those you love than the recognition of God’s glory revealed in his son, Jesus.

Three minutes is all it takes to change your day for the better. The rich yet uncomplicated daily reflections in Messages of Light for Advent and Christmas 2022 will guide you from the first Sunday of Advent through Epiphany. With practical, everyday wisdom, Fr. Michael White and Tom Corcoran—authors of the bestselling and award-winning Rebuilt—will help you focus on the season of light in the darkest days of winter. You will learn to accept Christ’s light in your own life by embracing the truth and peace he offers, sharing his light with others, and preparing yourself to celebrate the great feast of Christmas. Each day you’ll read a verse or two of scripture, a short reflection, and a simple prayer prompt that will help you draw closer to God. While each devotion can be completed in about three minutes, you’ll reap the comfort and inspiration they bring throughout the day. The book is affordably priced for bulk purchases by Catholic parishes, schools, and other institutions.

The Christmas season brings the promise of new beginnings in this next novel by the New York Times bestselling author of the Angel Island series. Before Christmas comes.... Martin Nightingale was no stranger to Cape Light. He spent many happy summers there as a boy. Now, he's returned to fulfill the unusual terms of his grandfather's will. In order to collect his inheritance, Martin must spread joy throughout the town with anonymous gifts. A shy man who doesn't make friends easily, Martin is stumped by the role of Secret Santa. But a pretty police officer, Louisa Tully shows him that, "A stranger is just a friend you haven't met yet." One Christmas, long ago... Martin's grandfather, Walter was a toy-making genius, but a terrible businessman. The Christmas of 1955 seemed the last for Nightingale's Magical Toy Shop. Until miracles arrived, along with a stray dog named, Otis. But, as Martin discovers, his grandfather's greatest legacy is a priceless lesson about giving from the heart.

Leave a Light on for Christmas is reminiscent of Christmases past and is old fashioned in its sincerity. It is Christmas Eve. The elderly woman narrating the story is rocking her great-grandchild by the light of her Christmas tree. She proceeds to tell the story behind every ornament on the tree, thereby telling her own life story. The book starts in 1935, covers the war years, and the many important changes that have led up to present day. The story is told year by year, as Christmas comes around and the ornaments on the old woman's tree reflect the changes and events of her life. Set in present day, the narrator reflects back on her childhood until gradually her life story is told, one Christmas at a time.

Not all Christmas ornaments sparkle on tree branches. Some are fragile. Easily broken. And joy often disappears like melting snowflakes. We are just like those ornaments and snowflakes. But there is a healing light that can be found at Christmas.

Join me on a ten-year journey through some dark times in my life. Times that I felt helpless, stressed, bitter, and depressed as a result of my husband's illness. I have no magic spell to help others, but I feel God has given me these trials so that I can tell my story and help someone who might be going through the same thing. This life can be full of so many dark times. Please walk down this path with me and follow the light one step at a time, which will help us find our way! Let me share with you how through my trials God led me to finding the light in the darkness!

What are the chances that accidentally knocking over someone' s trash cans on a dark street would lead to a new lease on life? Moving to Chestnut Crossings is Lucy Carrington&‘ s only chance to live her Christian beliefs free from ridicule. But when she runs over the church trash cans, her new beginning gets off to a rocky start. Thankfully, the pastor is as forgiving as he is handsome. Pastor Jim Sullivan is impressed by Lucy. She's a woman of her word and doesn't seem to take the easy way out. But when he offers her a job, he soon discovers her quirks---she's always late, embraces as a blessing something he views as a curse, and is hiding something about her past...not that Jim should judge. He has issues of his own he'd like to keep hidden. When Pastor Jim asks Lucy to sing at the Christmas pageant, she's faced with a difficult and emotional decision. Will singing free her heart from painful family memories... and inspire Jim to forgive himself, too? In Light a Christmas Candle, discover a holiday season filled with challenges, forgiveness, love and restoration.