This beautiful and thoughtful companion to the season of Advent and Christmas encourages readers to explore the meaning of the festive season through a combination of reflections, quotations, and classic images.

The chapters focus on objects and activities we all associate with Christmas--such as making lists, decorations, gifts, Christmas trees, music, food, and family--as well as special days such as Christmas Eve and Epiphany. In each section, the author brings together personal experience, Christmas traditions, spiritual reflection, and quotations from Scripture and other writings through the ages. The result is an imaginative and stimulating exploration of the riches of this season illustrated throughout with color reproductions of classic Christmas-themed paintings.

Illuminating and thought-provoking, Approaching Christmas is a fresh and welcome addition to holiday bookshelves.

The world changed forever one Bethlehem night. Best-selling author Charles R. Swindoll invites us to sit back and enjoy his personal and engaging retelling of the first Christmas story. Combining both regal mystery and humble human experience, the book focuses on four major characters: Gabriel, Mary, Joseph, and Immanuel. "A Bethlehem Christmas" provides biblical insight with the heart and warmth of a gifted storyteller to bring what happened at the nativity tolife and renew the joyful hope of Christmas."