The Night After Christmas and a Giveaway

Does Christmas seem like a stressful, unsatisfying ritual? Why do we go through this annual exercise of decorating, shopping, wrapping, and over-spending— only to vow we’re going to do it differently next year? Was Christmas always this way? Or did our culture make it into something it wasn’t meant to be?

If you’ve ever asked yourself these questions, you may well need this book. Christmas does, indeed, offer something more. Obscured beneath the tree, hidden inside the gift wrap, buried under plastic debt lies an enduring enigma that beckons us to reconsider. Somewhere in all the clutter can be found the key to a merry Christmas. For those who take a second look, there awaits a gift that can make every day a holiday.

I received this book to review in the mail today. I hadn't requested it, but am glad they sent it. It is a delightful little book. The author does his own version of "The Night Before Christmas" poem, only he goes at it from the standpoint of "The Night After Christmas." Though the

poem has amusing parts, he brings home how commercialized Christmas is, and how we all too often shove Jesus to the back of our celebration.

The book was written by Jim Chapman and has lovely illustrations by Jay Montgomery.

Interesting trivia about the book: The author wrote it because of something Jim Elliot, martyred missionary, had said about the commercialization of Christmas.

Though the book looks like a kid's book, it is something we could all read and be reminded of.

Giveaway: Thanks to Abigail from Winepress Publishing, I am doing a giveaway of this book.

To enter, comment and tell either one of your favorite things about Christmas, or a way your family helps focus on the true reason of Christmas. Or both.

US entries only.
I am shortening the entry time since Christmas is so close, so that the winner might possibly get the book in time for Christmas, so all entries must be in by Sunday, December 20.

Thanks to Abigail from Winepress Publishing for sending the review copy, and for agreeing to help me out with a giveaway.