Kathy Carlton Willis shines the light through her communications firm as writer, publicist, coach, editor, speaker, and more. She’s built a network of industry connections and is affiliated with Advanced Writers and Speakers Association as well CLASSeminars. Her columns and book reviews have appeared online and in print. Kathy is a contributing author for The Reason We Speak, It Happened By Design: A Series of God-Incidence Stories, and Groovy Chicks’ Road Trip to Peace. She is editor and writer for The Christian Pulse devotions. She’s enjoyed stocking empty church library bookshelves to equip readers with tall “to be read” stacks, and is always on the hunt for her next favorite read. Check out her professional blog at http://kcwcomm.blogspot.com and her Website at http://www.kathycarltonwillis.com/. KCWC offers a wide range of services at every price-point, with several new services added just this month, as Kathy’s husband Russ joins the firm to double the luminosity.

How many of you can remember what you got for Christmas when you were eight years old? A teenager? Graduate? Newly married? What if I asked you to recall how many of those gifts were books—does that help prompt your memory?

I’ll never forget the year Mom and my brother, Wade, went in together to purchase the Little House on the Prairie series for me. We were a huge book family, but our books were shelved at the public library, not at home. So to receive not one but an entire collection of books by my favorite author was a huge deal to me. It expanded my world to another time and another place. So precious, this gift, that I still have it after twenty-three moves!

One Christmas I discovered an unexpected book under the tree: a book of poetry. That was the year I experimented as a poet and learned to cope with the emotions of life (good and bad) through lyrical words. I studied the great poets of all times, enriching my life and bringing me to a new depth of insight. Sounds a lot like growing up, doesn’t it?

After I came to faith in Christ, I received a package in the mail from my aunt Deanna and uncle Bob. They sent me Streams in the Desert to teach me how to practice a devotional life. They also sent Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back to help me learn acceptance of life’s obstacles. Through these spiritual works, I grew as a Christ-follower and learned how to embrace a victorious life. That was the Christmas I dealt with a difficult diagnosis and learned I was barren. These books helped me not to be spiritually barren.

Fast-forward twenty years. My husband, Russ, spoiled me with a special luxury: a brand-new Bible for Christmas. All those years, I’d been reading hand-me-down Bibles or discount Bibles. This was my first high-quality study Bible. I savored it. There is power in words, but there is ultimate power in the Word.

Every Christmas I think of books. Do you? Here are a dozen newly released Christmas-themed novels for your shopping consideration:

A Blue and Gray Christmas, Joan Medlicott
A Door Country Christmas, Melby, Phillips, Key, Ruchti
A Plain and Simple Christmas Amy Clipston
A Prairie Christmas Collection, Peterson, Bateman, Griffin
A Simple Amish Christmas, Vannetta Chapman
A Woodland Christmas, Franklin, Cecil, Mowery, Murray
An Amish Christmas, Wiseman, Fuller, Long
Christmas at Herrington’s, Melody Carlson
Christmas Mail Order Brides, Turansky, McDonough, Davis, Stenzel
Love Finds You under the Mistletoe, Brand and Higman
Sarah’s Christmas Miracle, Mary Ellis
The Snowflake, Jamie Carie

Reading Assignment:
Reflect on any books you’ve received as gifts. Do they represent milestones in your life? What books have you given others? Do they represent a special quality found in your relationship? What role will books play this Christmas? Read them, give them, pass them on!