by Amy Hammond Hagberg
Reviewed by Katherine Swarts
Price: $14.99
To order: Visit Amy's Web site
This book is similar to the He's Real series in that it collects first-person accounts from famous people, but rather than personal testimonies, My Favorite Christmas recounts holiday memories. While the "experiencing God" element is certainly there, the focus is less on proving God's relevance and more on providing heartwarming reading.
There are other differences as well. In place of a list of Bible verses, each Favorite essay comes with a Christmas quote chosen from various sources, including Scripture. And while the testimonies in the He's Real books come mostly from pop culture icons (and a handful of the same also appear here), My Favorite Christmas includes sections by other well-known people, including former president Jimmy Carter, author Gary Smalley, and Feed the Children founder/director Larry Jones, to whose organization the proceeds from this book will be donated.
Sample accounts:
- "My funniest Christmas memory was the year we gave our oldest son a bicycle. He was only about six, and ... he just couldn't figure [out] ... how to get on. ... It would have been a huge winner on America's Funniest Home Videos." (Bryan Duncan, CCM recording artist)
- "Because of [my wife's] battle with cancer ... I kept my travel schedule [in 1981] to a minimum. ... Christmas [came] a few days after a bone scan revealed Pat had no signs of cancer anywhere in her body. That year we celebrated Christmas and New Year's in a big way." (Luis Palau, international evangelist)
- "My mom did her best to create a family atmosphere every Christmas. ... I remember baking cookies ... and giving them away to neighbors or older people from church." (Tammy Trent, author and singer)
Try reading selections from this book as a family on quiet evenings during the holiday season.
