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It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Joys That Make the Season Special

from 4 reviews

Evangelistic book explaining why Jesus is the best thing about Christmas.


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Description

What makes Christmas feel special for you? Fairy lights? Familiar Christmas movies? Seeing friends and family? 

There’s so much to love about Christmas, but what if you’re missing out on the best thing of all? 

In this engaging, thoughtful and winsome book, Andrew Wilson takes us to the first Christmas to show that what can make our Christmases truly special is Jesus, the light of the world. Andrew Wilson explains how Jesus makes a difference to the darkness of this world—and how he can make a difference to our lives too. 

This short and warmly-written book is perfect for giving away to family, friends and neighbours, as well as giving away at Christmas services and Christmas outreach events.

Product details

Contents

  • Introduction: What Makes Christmas Christmas?

    1. Putting Up the Lights
    2. Time with Family
    3. Enjoying Christmas TV
    4. Making Memories


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Specification

Contributors Andrew Wilson
ISBN 9781802541113
Format Paperback
First published October 2024
Dimensions 110mm x 178mm x 4mm
Weight 0.06 kg
Language English
Pages 64
Publisher The Good Book Company
Endorsements

Glen Scrivener

Evangelist and blogger

This has me feeling Christmassy—in every sense. A gem of a book. If you want to spread festive joy, read this and share it widely!


Terry Virgo

New Frontiers

We all know about the Christmas tree, the turkey, the tinsel, the presents and even the carol services. But what’s it all really about? This book leads past all the trappings to the astonishing truth of the authentic Christmas story. A great little book to give to your friends, family and neighbours or at church events and carol services this December.


Sam Chan

City Bible Forum, Australia

Christmas is a highlight of my year. It’s always sad when it’s over. But what if Christmas also has the power to transform our normal lives into something super-normal? This book unlocks this power, showing anyone who has any interest in faith how the miracle of Christmas doesn’t end with the birth of Jesus but can continue to work its joy in our lives today.


Customer reviews


31 Oct 2024

“Mostly Great, But Disappointed with Flippant Mention of Domestic Violence”

This book connects common Christmas traditions to the spiritual realities that they represent. Things like putting up lights and spending time with family are an inherent part of the holiday for most people, to the point where it wouldn't feel like Christmas without them. Wilson reflects on how these experiences reflect different aspects of the Nativity story, and he makes a case for why Jesus is essential to Christmas and essential to our lives. Wilson also points out that even though many people dismiss Christianity because of its supernatural elements, everyone believes in things that are beyond observable nature, such as human rights. He doesn't focus on arguing for the historicity of the Christmas story, but he shows that it matters whether it's true or not, and points out that we all believe different things without hard proof.

My one reservation in recommending this is the author's odd choice to share a neighbor's anecdote about a time that "a man in a rugby shirt had gone to church with his family on Christmas Day covered in blood, because his girlfriend had just hit him over the head with a hammer." And that's it! There's no more context, and no effort to unpack this experience. Why mention domestic violence in an outreach book? This is a sensitive topic that is not a joke, whether the victim is female or male.

This is a short, simple book that covers important themes about Christmas and faith. It's highly readable, makes relatable parallels between cultural holiday traditions and the Christmas story, and shares a clear outreach message while also appealing to people who are already Christians. I appreciated this overall, but am disappointed that the author included a sudden, flippant reference to an instance of domestic violence. That was unnecessary and unhelpful, and it detracts from an otherwise great book.

I received a free copy from the publisher, and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.


21 Oct 2024

“Great Resource!”

This little book was pleasantly surprising.
It would make a great Christmas gift or used as an easy handout resource to share the gospel.


8 Oct 2024

“Great little book”

Great little book that gets to the real meaning of Christmas’s. Would be a great stocking stuffer or hostess gift!


2 Oct 2024

“a good way to show the gospel through the cultural Christmas experience”

“This book aims to persuade you of one thing: that all these Christmas joys only make sense – and in fact life only begins to make sense – if we understand the meaning of the first Christmas.”
Andrew does this by taking some of his family’s favourite Christmas customs then naturally linking those with aspects of the Christmas story and the gospel. This is a relatable approach for those with a cultural attachment to the trappings of Christmas who will share those customs with Andrew, and an easy gift for Christians to give to people in that category. I wondered if the specific cultural examples would make it less accessible to people from other cultures, but Andrew has worked hard to make sure this isn’t the case. For example, in the chapter on Lights he gives examples of widely diverse cultures seeing light as a thing to be treasured (Diwali, Hanukkah, the Ming Dynasty, etc). Andrew doesn’t spend a lot of time seeking to ‘prove’ the events around the birth (and life, death, and resurrection) of Jesus happened, but he makes it clear that it is important that they are true events. He also points out to his nonchristian readership that we all do in fact believe in many things that cannot be proven. I certainly plan to get hold of copies and help the congregation I serve make use of them amongst friends, family members, neighbours and colleagues.
One thing I wasn’t keen on: Andrew mentions several times that Mary was an unmarried mother when Jesus was born. He does this to lean into the messiness of the Christmas story. Mary and Joseph’s marriage was not consummated until after Jesus’ birth so the statement is from one perspective true. However, from another perspective it seems untrue and misleading since the couple were betrothed, and Joseph had taken Mary home as his wife before the birth. The provocative claim might also be unnecessarily unhelpful to, for example, Catholic and Muslim readers seeking to engage with the book’s excellent contents.

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It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas | Andrew Wilson |
£2.99 £2.48