Advent, Epiphany, the 12 Days of Christmas: My Gift to You!

Don't you just love eBooks? So portable, so always-available, so interactive! I do. Sure I adore the tactile everything of "real" books. They smell so good, and feel so good, and... But seriously, you can't put a video in a "real" book, or a link to a cool web page, or even a picture, not without upping the cost of production. And you can't distribute a "real" book paperless and for free.

Yes, free! As an Advent Gift to Everybody, this little book: Gloria! A Family Guide to Advent and Epiphany. Not only does it take you through Advent with Jesse tree ornaments, readings, songs, links to totally amazing YouTube videos, recipes and more. But it continues through the 12 Days of Christmas, to Twelfth Night, the eve of Epiphany!

So please please please, if you like eBooks and like Christmas, click the image or link and give it a try. It is my gift to you. Because that's what this season is all about.

I plan to update this document from time to time (fix links, edit, etc.), so if you share, please link to this page, NOT the download link.

A Few of My Favorite Things

In putting together a little Advent book, I started thinking about movies. No, not to procrastinate. I never do that! Ahem.

It seems every year I enter December in a frenzy of good intentions - traditions I simply MUST maintain - and I start January with a deep sigh of "Oh, I forgot to do..." While this isn't likely to change, I can at least give myself the resources to succeed. So a list. Of all holiday movies! We'd be watching a movie every night of the week, I think, which some in this house would love, but not me. So I'll have to narrow the list to my favorites. And you can do the same!

IMDB list of the 50 best Christmas Movies. I agree with some of these, but Cast Away? Really? Since when is isolation on a deserted island related to Christmas?

Die Hard and Batman? Seriously? Those are in the Rotten Tomatoes Best Christmas Movies Countdown.

Readers Digest has a slideshow of Christmas Movies Guaranteed to Get You in the Holiday Spirit I can stand behind, even if my personal favorites aren't on it.

From The Polar Express to Frosty The Snow Man, this 20 best Christmas list from Time Out Kids has the best family-friendly assortment I've seen. No Die Hard here, though Gremlins still made it. This would be the closest to my list, but it still lacks my number one, must-see-every-year favorite.

Ta-da!

A Christmas Carol, 1984 with George C Scott

It doesn't get any more Christmas than this! Oh, and below is another favorite thing ...