The New York Times bestseller by the former governor and presidential candidate-an instant classic, reissued for 2010. Christmas has become synonymous with shopping, overindulging, and stress. But according to Mike Huckabee, that was never God's intention. Going back to the Nativity, Christmas is supposed to be about simple things: faith, love, family, and hope. The hard part, in today's crazy world, is remembering that those simple things are the most precious. Huckabee recounts twelve Christmas memories that range from his childhood in Arkansas to his years as a young husband and father to his time as a governor and then a presidential candidate. These true stories will help you smile, take a deep breath, and maybe slow down your own holiday treadmill. For instance, as kids, Mike and his sister would sneak open their gifts before Christmas, play with them, then rewrap them so their parents wouldn't notice. The plan worked great until one Christmas when young Mike unwrapped a brand-new football...that was covered in mud. That led to a powerful lesson about patience and a reminder that the best Christmases are the simple ones.

The Joyful Holiday is your ultimate guide to experiencing a Christmas filled with joy, peace, and relaxation—without the stress and pressure that often accompanies the holiday season. From managing expectations to simplifying traditions, this book offers practical tips and heartwarming strategies for making your holiday season more meaningful and stress-free. Whether you’re looking to create new traditions, enjoy quality time with loved ones, or avoid the consumerist frenzy, The Joyful Holiday will help you rediscover the magic of Christmas and celebrate it in a way that leaves you feeling refreshed and happy.

Spend more time celebrating and less in the kitchen! Quick & Easy Christmas, a new book in the best-selling Gooseberry Patch series, is filled with easy, inexpensive recipes. They’re quick to fix since each is ready in under 30 minutes or starts with just 8 ingredients or less...so simple! Heartwarming holiday memories and clever tips for easy-to-make gifts are also included...features for which Gooseberry Patch holiday books are known.

London, 1895. Delaney Stirling does not feel like celebrating Christmas this year. Since her fiance died, she hasn't felt like doing much at all. When her father insists they go to London to visit her aunt, she reluctantly agrees.

Perfect Turkeys is the second in a series of books, that examines (through short stories) the often hilarious, and always funny life and times of Michael Devin Hughes. Whether searching for the Perfect Turkey for Thanksgiving, or trying to locate the Fig Queen's House in Brewster Hollow, or reserving a hotel room with a chain hotel, Michael Devin Hughes complicates the most simple of tasks. Though quadruple-divorced, Hughes maintains relations with his ex-wives and children, as the short stories, "Dancing With My Daughter," "A Walk at Sunset With My Son," and "Chief of Personal Appearance" reveal. Michael Devin Hughes' obsessive nature is deliciously illustrated in "Lemon Bars." His humorous bond with his father is wonderfully amplified in "The Buffet Line." And Hughes incredibly bad timing is hilariously detailed in "Dinner and Railroad Crossings."

In November 1939, NBC's fledgling television station W2XBS broadcast the first known holiday special, The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Despite its small viewership (very few TV sets existed at the time), the experimental telecast was a harbinger of a now-beloved American tradition: the holiday television special. This book offers a thorough account of holiday television specials in the United States from 1939 to 2021, highlighting variety shows, comedic performances, musical spectaculars and more. From familiar favorites (1964's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer) to campy one-offs (1985's He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special), the 1140 programs are covered alphabetically and feature performance casts, production credits and storylines for each. Three appendices cover "lost" holiday specials, along with Christmas and Halloween-themed episodes of popular television series.

This compilation of how-to ideas comes from the best-selling Ideas Library is full of youth group holiday fun is sure to enliven all seasons.

A New York Times bestseller! One of America's most prominent and personable politicians shares his mischievous side in a heartwarming story of a childhood Christmas. Mike is desperate to get a football for Christmas. Then one day in the middle of December, a box that looks the exact right size appears under his family's Christmas tree. Mike just can't handle the temptation! He convinces his sister Pat that they should open their gifts and play with them THIS INSTANT. And that's what they do. But on Christmas morning, the muddy football gives them away. After talking about the real meaning of Christmas and how some things are worth waiting for, Mike and Pat learn the benefit of patience, making the following Christmas more delightful than ever.

This is my second book, Life Is Beautiful. It is a collection of poems that I have written in the past nearly twenty years since the publication of my first book I Am Clay. You will find a variety of subjects and styles in the poems of part one, Life’s Daily Walk. I write about everyday things, such as faith, belief, and even “Pesky Voices”, or “Elephants and Eggshells”. The second part of the book is Life’s Unexpected Trials. The poems are heartfelt, and contain poems about life’s struggles, loss and grief. Included also are some very special poems written by my granddaughter, Ava. The third part is Life Goes On. Including poems of acceptance, learning, and even prayer. Join me on this journey through the years of my life, expressed in poetry and meet my family as we manage the road of life.

What is your attitude toward the holiday season? Do you have the "Christmas Spirit"? Do you refuse to observe such "pagan celebrations"? Or do you just say, "Bah, Humbug!"? Rosemary St. Nichols is a single mother (and a "Recovering Catholic") who has just moved to River City with her son Jonathan. Here, she meets Teniqua Johnson and her son Mychal, who celebrate Kwanzaa rather than Christmas. After a Nativity Scene placed outside City Hall causes controversy in the community, Rosemary wonders, "If even churches can't agree to cooperate, how in the world will all the people in River City ever learn to put aside our differences-if even for one day?" There are no angelic visitations or "Christmas miracles" here, but the residents of Riverside Apartments receive a lesson in cooperation, not to mention living together in harmony and mutual respect. Learn more about your own holiday traditions, and those of others-as well as about those who don't celebrate the season at all-in this moving journey of discovery and rediscovery of what the holiday season is all about. (Readers of the author's earlier novel Tattered Pilgrims will be pleased to see the reappearance of several of its characters in this book.)