The Christmas Box


Richard Paul Evans - 1993
    So I record it now for all future generations to accept or dismiss as seems them good. As for me, I believe. And it is, after all, my story." So begins "The Christmas Box, " the touching story of a widow and the young family who moves in with her. Together they discover the first gift of Christmas and learn what Christmas is really all about. "The Christmas Box" is a Christmas story unlike any other.

Gideon's Gift


Karen Kingsbury - 2002
    Angry and heartbroken, he ended up living on the streets and abandoned any belief he'd once had in God.Ten years later Big Earl meets Gideon, a seven-year-old leukemia patient who believes with all her heart that "Christmas means never having to ask God how much he loves us." Gideon is determined to reach this lonely and hurting man who hates Christmas--and he is just as determined to rebuff her.It will take a miracle for Earl to come to understand the true meaning of Christmas. But if he can accept what Gideon wants to give him, he might find that he can return the favor with a precious gift of his own. In GIDEON'S GIFT, Karen Kingsbury reminds us that Christmas is still a time of miraculous possibilities if only we reach out to those around us

The Purpose of Christmas


Rick Warren - 2008
    Nothing seemed any different from a thousand other nights. But what was about to happen would transform not only their lives but billions of other lives as well. The world would never be the same again. Regardless of your religious background, you need to know how the three purposes of Christmas solve your three greatest needs. Understanding and receiving God's Christmas gifts to you will transform your life...forever!

The Christmas Dog


Melody Carlson - 2009
    She just can't seem to find Christmas in her heart. There's church, of course. But who can she bake for these days? And who would care whether or not she pulled out the Christmas decorations? Her new neighbor just adds to the problem. He's doing home improvements that don't appear to be improving much of anything. These days when Betty looks out the window, she sees a beat-up truck, a pile of junk, lots of blue tarps, and--horror of horrors--an old pink toilet. But when a mangy dog appears at her doorstep, the stage is set for Betty to learn a very important lesson about what Christmas is all about. This contemporary Christmas story is a timely yet gentle reminder that God can work miracles through something as seemingly insignificant as a little brown dog.

Colors of Christmas: Two Contemporary Stories Celebrate the Hope of Christmas


Olivia Newport - 2017
    Instead, she finds herself in charge of the town’s celebration. After a mysterious young man arrives, townspeople suspect he is the reason that one set of plans after another disintegrate until little is left of their traditions. Yet Angela warms to Gabe because she suspects they share a secret—his real reason for coming to town. Even when all they have to work with is a garish supply of blue Christmas decorations, Gabe helps Angela discover the hidden beauty of hope.  Christmas in Gold After eighty years, change is nothing new for Astrid. By the time she was twenty, she survived the destructive Nazi regime, caring for her family under brutal circumstances, moving to America, and losing her husband. At forty she was widowed again and left to build a new life with her children. Now, when she faces a move into an assisted living community and meets a young woman on the brink of despair, she resolves to stir up hope through tragedy one more time.

The Promise: A Christmas Tale


Ted Dekker - 2005
    It's beautiful. It's perfect proof of an eternal truth and light. . . . This is not the usual story. This is the tale of a mute boy who is born and abandoned in the shadows of life. He carries with him two things-his dead mother's shawl and her promise that someday he will find a king who will give him a voice. Like Reuben in The Promise, may you sing of Light, even when no one else can hear.

Covenant Child: A Story of Promises Kept


Terri Blackstock - 2001
    She resolved to hope . . . and to fight for them to her last breath.Kara and Lizzie are heiresses to one of the largest fortunes in the country. But when their father dies suddenly, the toddlers are taken from the arms of Amanda, their loving stepmother, and given to relatives who only want the children’s fortune for themselves.Kara and Lizzie grow up questioning their worth . . . until the day when they learn the truth.Intensely involving, emotionally charged, and infused with hope, Covenant Child is an inspiring story that challenges us to embrace the life God holds out to us.“Blackstock is a masterful writer . . .” —Christian Retailing

Remembering Christmas


Dan Walsh - 2011
    He works hard, plays hard, and answers to no one. So when his mother calls on Thanksgiving weekend begging him to come home after his stepfather has a stroke, Rick is more than a little reluctant. He's never liked Art and resents the man's presence in his life, despite the fact that his own father abandoned the family when Rick was just twelve. When what was supposed to be just a couple days helping out at the family bookstore turns into weeks of cashing out old ladies and running off the homeless man who keep hanging about, Rick's attitude sours even more.Still, slowly but surely, the little bookstore and its quirky patrons--as well as the lovely young woman who works at his side each day--work their magic on him, revealing to Rick the truth about his family, his own life, and the true meaning of Christmas. With skillful storytelling, Dan Walsh creates a Christmas story will have readers remembering every good and perfect gift of Christmas.

The Immortal Nicholas


Glenn Beck - 2015
    BEFORE HE WAS FATHER CHRISTMAS…HE WAS SIMPLY A FATHER.Thirteen-time #1 national bestselling author Glenn Beck realized years ago that somewhere along the way, his four children had become more focused on Santa than the meaning of Christmas. No matter how he tried, he could not redirect their attention away from presents and elves to the manger instead. Glenn didn't want to be the Grinch who spoiled the magic of Kris Kringle, so he had to find a unique way to turn his kids back toward the true meaning of Christmas. He decided the best place to start was by first turning Santa himself back toward Christ. That was when one of America’s best storytellers began to craft a tale that would change everything his kids thought they knew about Santa—the incredible story he went on to tell them that Christmas Eve spans over a thousand years and explains the meaning behind the immortality and generosity of the man named Claus. The Immortal Nicholas has now been expanded and reimagined into this novel for adults; a novel full of drama, history, legend, and heart. From the snowy mountains of Western Asia, to the deserts of Egypt, to Yemen’s elusive frankincense-bearing boswellia trees, this is an epic tale that gives the legend of Santa a long overdue Christ-centered mission. In this novel, Glenn Beck fundamentally transforms the figure that the world now mainly associates with shopping, all while staying true to the real story of the baby who brought redemption and salvation to the entire world.

The Shoe Box: A Christmas Story


Francine Rivers - 1999
    Whenever something was bothering Rivers she would write a prayer about it and slip it in her decorated cardboard box. It was this personal God Box that gave her the idea for writing this compelling Christmas story about a foster child named Timmy whose only valued possession is a shoebox. His foster parents, a young Christian couple, are of course curious about this 6-year-old's mysterious box. What could be inside? But knowing that his privacy is one of the few things Timmy has left, they decide not to pry. Rivers uses the backdrop of Timmy's foster family, church community, and the dedication of his birth mother to illustrate what Christian faith can do. The Christmas pageant finale is a true heart warmer for all believers.

Two from Galilee: The Story of Mary and Joseph


Marjorie Holmes - 1972
    Here are Mary and Joseph--a teenage girl and a young carpenter--alone, frightened, in love, faced with family conflict, a hostile world and an awesome responsibility. It is a story for young and old alike; for everyone who finds the Christmas tale a source of timeless beauty and wonder, a compassionate, emotional novel of divine love.

The Nativity Story


Angela Elwell Hunt - 2006
    Best-selling author Angie Hunt, who most recently wrote "Magdalene, " a historical fiction novel of the story of Mary Magdalene that was tied to "The Da Vinci Code" movie, now focuses on Mary, the mother of Jesus. She has adapted the screenplay for "The Nativity Story" into a powerful, historical novel. Her moving novelization of this film tells the extraordinary tale of two common people, Mary and Joseph, a miraculous pregnancy, an arduous journey, and the history-defining birth of Jesus. Brought to life with an unprecedented attention to detail and commitment to historical accuracy, Hunt tells how from humble beginnings, great things can come.

Christmas in Harmony


Philip Gulley - 2002
    Always looking for a way to increase the church's profit margins, Hinshaw brainstorms a progressive nativity scene that will involve the whole town, complete with a map like those for the Hollywood stars. Neither Pastor Sam Gardner nor the other members of the Harmony Friends meeting express any enthusiasm for this idea, but Dale is unstoppable. Meanwhile, Pastor Sam has his own concerns: he's having his annual argument with his wife, and he's worried that the four-slotted toaster he bought for her may be too lavish a gift.Amidst the bustle of the season, the citizens of Harmony experience the simple joys and sometime loneliness that often go unseen. Sam comes to the realization that Dale, in his own misguided way, is only trying to draw meaning from the eternal story of Christmas. "In this unsettled world, it is good to have this steadiness -- the Christmas Eve service, the peal of the bell. . . .There is a holiness to memory, a sense of God's presence in these mangers of the mind. Which might explain why it is that the occasions that change the least are often the very occasions that change us the most."

The Covenant


Beverly Lewis - 2002
    Or so it seems...The Plain community of Gobbler's Knob holds everything courting-age Leah Ebersol has ever desired, including handsome young Jonas Mast. But a pact with her older sister, Sadie, lured by the outside world, leaves Leah clinging to the promise of a tomorrow that might never come.

A Marriage Carol


Chris Fabry - 2011
    Over time they have drifted apart; the sparks are dead. Marlee is convinced she married the wrong man, and Jake feels tied down to the wrong woman. Jake is distant and tired of being controlled, while Marlee is tired of being the only one trying to the save their marriage. They go to bed Christmas Eve, in separate rooms, each rationalizing... life is too short to be miserable... love shouldn't hurt like this... their marriage must end for happiness to return.But then something peculiar happens: The ghosts of Marriage Past, Marriage Present, and Marriage Future reveal to them their past choices and present realities, and how their future might look if they do not change their stories.Jake and Marlee experience a Christmas gift that will radically change their thinking and cause them to look at marriage not for what they can get out of it, but for what God can do in and through their marriage.