“Stop the war on Christmas!” This is a common Christian complaint directed toward those perceived to be secularizing the festive season. However, many Christians forget that the modern festive season was a secular invention and that the “war” on Christmas was initiated by their spiritual forefathers, upon whose shoulders today’s biblically sound churches stand. Should then the Christian endorse Christmas with joy or reject it as folly? If you hold to a Reformed theology, is “liberty of conscience” a credible principle to employ in the endorsement of Christmas in public worship? This book addresses these and other questions objectively, acknowledging the arguments on both sides. This thoughtfully illustrated book uses a historical framework to trace the evolution of Christmas from its ancient genesis into the modern era, identifying the contexts and motives that shaped opinion and practice in the Protestant Church, while also exposing as pure myth much that is often accepted as biblical fact. Abounding with intriguing detail, this book compels the reader to consider the negative effect Christmas has upon biblical doctrine and to contemplate the difficulties associated with the conclusion many arrive at, namely that Christmas meets with the approval of the Lord Jesus.

Includes the plays A New York Threesome, (My Brother's Conversion; Madam Butterfly's Child; Manhattan Breast Company), Mad Margaret's Revenge and The Jolly Folly of Polly, the Scottish Trolley Dolly Fivebite-size pieces of theatre that deal with perception: the characters in these theatrical hors d'oeuvres find their view of themselves at odds with the way the rest of the world sees them. Bittersweet and highly original, these 'mini-marvels' cleverly break down the barrier between audience and actor, whether it's backstage at an opera, lost in the mind of would-be film-maker Margaret, or on a flight of freedom with air stewardess Polly.

An early, deep snow has gifted Fishers' Harbor, Wisconsin, with a perfect setting for the holiday celebration. Unfortunately removing snow from Main Street for the parade reveals the dead tax assessor with a knife in him--containing Grandpa Gil's fingerprints. It's clearly a setup and one that keeps Ava and Grandpa Gil under the watchful eyes of Sheriff Tollefson. Who wants Grandpa to miss playing Santa Claus in the Christmas parade and why? Who's being naughty instead of nice? Grandpa doesn't help his case with talk of leaving town for good--words that chill Ava worse than the weather. She can't imagine life without Grandpa's warm hugs and laughter. When vandals strike the historic shop and someone leaves Ava and fiancé Dillon Rivers for dead in the snow, Ava wonders if she may need the magical help of Santa's elves to solve the holiday folly.

Three recent graduates of Harvard take a joyous, carefree summer road trip through Europe in 1909 in a roofless Fiat Touring car. Like most tourists, their major goal was to soak-in the history and culture of Italy, Switzerland, Germany and France. A major secondary purpose, however, was to permeate their trip with the joys and mirth of Folly, following the basic precepts of Desiderius Erasmus in his 1511 book In Praise of Folly: "Without some relish of folly, no banquet is pleasing. Nor is human life in general but a kind of fool's game." Follow these fun-loving young men in their escapades through Europe — one a precocious businessman, one a newly graduated lawyer, the third a Ph.D. candidate training to become a university professor. All three firmly believed that mirth is a condition of supreme well-being and happiness and therefore should pervasively characterize their trip. Prepare to laugh as you join this adventuresome journey of shenanigans and follies, told in a buoyant, exuberant manner against the backdrop of a Europe completely unaware of the looming catastrophe of World War I which would begin just five years later and cause 40 million deaths.

Top sixties model Paula Varna died, with her husband Hugo's business partner Greg Martin, in a yachting accident twenty years ago. Or did she? When Greg is discovered living a new life in Australia, the Varna family is devastated by old wounds and buried memories. Fashion designer Hugo, reliving the horror of a double betrayal; Sally, Paula's sister and now his wife, terrified by the threat to the life she has made for herself; Sally's son Mark, facing exposure of his own unhappy secret. And Harriet, Paula's daughter, torn between family loyalty, her need to know the truth about the mother she lost when she was four, and her ambivalent response to insurance investigator Tom O'Neill . . .

Miss Prudence Drake, innocent Scots governess, is shocked to find a handsome Englishman washed up on the beach. The silver-tongued rogue claims to have lost his memory, but he?s not lost his charm. Fleeing with him to England to escape her pupil?s dangerous guardian, she soon risks his kiss and then her heart. But is this dark-haired stranger a careless rake, a French spy, or someone quite different? Regency Romance by Julia Ross writing as Jean R. Ewing; originally published by Zebra

"Sara! You must come out! You're wanted downstairs right away," Lucie hissed through the keyhole on the locked bedroom door. "Stepmama is furious and Father has sent word that he's coming home early from the Exchange. She says he's in a rage over what you've done!" "I haven't done anything! It's not my fault if those two hotheads decide to fight a duel!" came her sister's indignant voice from the other side of the door. "Oh, Sara, please!" Lucie pleaded. "Father will be here any minute. You must do as you're told!" She shook her head and sighed ruefully, "You're stubborn, Sara." "No," denied Sara. "I am strong." Thus begins the bittersweet story of beautiful Sara Leighton, the headstrong heroine of Folly's Bride, the fourth in the Brides of Montclair series. As with her predecessors, happiness does not come painlessly to this newest bride of Montclair. Her unusual beauty and her independent spirit places her on a collision course with romance, frustration, disappointment, and finally, true love.