Everything Christmas

I had the timely opportunity to read the book, Everything Christmas: Celebrate the Joy of the Advent Season with the Best of Christmas Past & Present, published by Water Brook.  This book is a compendium of secular as well as religious Christmas themed short stories, recipes, Christmas Carols, poetry, famous quotes as well as Christmas triva & almanac- type facts. There is something for everyone in this book: plenty of recipes to make the mom/ grandmother/ in-law happy, sentimental "happy" stories for those fand of the ever-popular Readers Digest magazine as well as extensive biblical quotes/ text from the gospel accounts of Jesus' birth- (albeit it uses the modern translation "The Message" rather than the more poetic and traditional New King James Version)- for those faithful Christian friends and relatives.  The numerous Christmas related facts- such as the historical meaning behind each of the 12 days of Christmas will satisfy any trivia fan. This encyclopediac compendium would make a perfect gift book for a neighbor, or teacher. This book makes an appropriate gift for anyone on your Christmas list  who merits a little more than a simple Christmas card in the mail.  If you want to give a gift that is a bit more original and sentimental than the overused and over-gifted Christmas scented candle- this makes a good choice. In fact, with its presentation page, this book is remeniscent of a Christmas greeting card- in fact you do not need to purchase a seperate greeting card if you choose to give this book as a Christmas gift.  As a blogger for Multnomah publishers I am writing this review and the opinions expressed are my own.