The holiday season might be called the most wonderful time of the year, but many of us find ourselves incredibly busy, emotionally drained, physically exhausted, and completely burned out by the time the new year rolls around. What if we could prepare our hearts and souls in a way that allows us to fully enjoy the magic of the season? These books offer advice and reflections to help you not just survive the holidays, but navigate them with peace, grace, and genuine joy.
Journey with the Sacred Feminine This Advent
Traditional understandings of the Trinity cause Christians to frequently think of God in solely masculine terms. But Scripture tells us that God possesses both masculine and feminine attributes. Gifts of the Mother, a five-week devotional for the Advent season—or any season of transition—serves as a loving remedy to this limited understanding of God.
Features of the book include:
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5-week Advent Journey
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Ignatian Prayer and Practices
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Feminine Images of God
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Weekly Experiential Prayer Activities
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Small Group Leader Guide
Feel Less Frantic and More Festive
Merry and bright? Yeah, right. During the holidays, many of us are anything but cheerful. From psychotherapist Niro Feliciano, author of This Book Won't Make You Happy, comes a book to help you move beyond holiday pressures and maintain perspective when it matters most. In thirty-one short chapters, Feliciano gives us daily prompts and rituals to help us set boundaries, create meaningful connections, start new traditions, and manage the season with greater ease. While the holidays may not be perfect, All Is Calmish reminds us that with intention and grace, we can still make them meaningful and memorable.
Learn How to Live Unhurried Even in Busy Seasons
How nice it would be to clear the calendar—to just stop doing so much stuff. Except kids get sick and the work project awaits and elderly relatives need care. No matter how well you hack it, manage it, slice or dice or delegate it: in some seasons of life, busyness is a given. The solution, writes Rachelle Crawford, is not to merely declutter your calendar or unsubscribe from the busy life. The trick lies in learning how to be busy. How to Be Busy is a lighthearted, practical guide for how to live your deep, meaningful, unhurried life—right in the middle of your busy one.
Connect the First Advent Story to Life Today
When we picture the first Advent, we see Mary and Joseph huddled by a manger, magi, shepherds, and a bright star in a midnight sky. But this harmonized version has lifted the true Advent story out of its context—those who experienced the first Advent had to travel through great darkness to reach the hope that shining star announced. In The First Advent in Palestine, trusted scholar and community organizer Kelley Nikondeha takes us back to the landscape of Palestine and features the stories of modern-day Palestinians, centering their voices to help us meet an Advent recognizable for today.
Bless the Ordinary and Extraordinary Moments of the Holidays
Ordinary Blessings for the Christmas Season
For so many of us, the season leading up to Christmas is a time of huge expectations, huge busyness, and often huge grief. Ordinary Blessings for the Christmas Season is a collection of prayers, poems, and meditations to help us recognize the holy beneath the hustle and hibernation of the season. The book includes blessings for all the ordinary and not-so-ordinary moments of the season, like addressing Christmas cards, setting boundaries with family, shoveling snow, and the first Christmas without a loved one. Also included are blessings dedicated to beloved nativity characters, blessings for each of the twelve days of Christmas, and a collection of sacred-word-inspired blessings that you can use as daily Advent readings. Let this beautiful little book be a reminder that the holy can be found in the routine and the ritual of the holiday season.
Find Peace Even When Surrounded by Dysfunctional Family
Emotionally Sober and Unimaginably Good
Millions of adults today grew up in households where one or both parents struggled with problem drinking, substance use disorder, or other dysfunctional behavior. Perhaps the most toxic aspect of such a background is that it can become an excuse for not finding true happiness and personal fulfillment. Emotionally Sober and Unimaginably Good explores how DeMatteo broke free from her unhealthy emotional patterns shaped by living her childhood with an alcoholic parent. Unlike clinical takes on addiction and codependency, her story offers a raw, personal perspective that speaks directly to adult children longing for healing and emotional freedom.
