You want Christmas to be meaningful and memorable—and that’s the idea behind Our Family Christmas, a “memory-making devotional” for families with children elementary age and younger. In 28 thoughtful readings, you’ll see the true meaning of the holiday, and be encouraged to perform simple activities to enhance your enjoyment of Christmas. Activity ideas are provided, rounding out each of the devotionals on a different aspect of the Nativity story—from Gabriel’s announcement to Mary, to Jesus’ swaddling clothes, to gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Relevant lyrics from carols and brief prayer starters are also provided, all set within beautifully designed pages.

On January 18, 1984, Malcolm Kerr, president of the American University of Beirut and a respected scholar of Middle East politics, was shot in the back of the head as he stepped out of an elevator on his way to work. At the time, the chaos of Lebanon’s civil war made it impossible to investigate who had carried out the killing and why. Seventeen years later, armed with new information concerning the assassination and supported by the Anti-Terrorism Act passed by Congress in 1996, his family came to a painful consensus that nonviolent justice through the rule of law was a duty they could not ignore. Disturbing revelations emerged as the author explored U.S. government intelligence, U.S. district court records, Malcolm Kerr’s unpublished papers, and the recollections of journalists, diplomats, academics, and former Hizballah hostages who lived through the violence of 1980s Lebanon. The family’s team of lawyers built a clear case against the Islamic Republic of Iran, culminating in a trial before a judge of the U.S. District Court. One Family’s Response to Terrorism: A Daughter’s Memoir is a stunning portrait of the intimate way in which violence pulls lives apart, of an American family caught on the stage of Middle East politics, and of the moral choices required in seeking justice.

“Readers will be delighted.” —Publishers Weekly starred review on One More for Christmas From the USA TODAY bestselling author of The Christmas Sisters and A Wedding in December comes this sparkling tale of Christmas redemption… For sisters Samantha and Ella Mitchell, Christmas is their most precious time of the year. But this year, they’ll be buying presents for the most unexpected guest of all—their mother. It’s been five years since they last saw each other. But when their mom calls out of the blue, Samantha and Ella cautiously agree to spend Christmas all together in the beautiful Scottish Highlands… Gayle Mitchell is at the top of her career, but her success has come at a price—her relationship with her daughters. Her tough-love approach to parenting was designed to make them stronger, but instead managed to push them away…until a brush with her own mortality forces Gayle to make amends. As the snowflakes fall on their first family celebration in years, the Mitchell women must learn that sometimes facing up to the past is all you need to heal your heart… A messy family drama and a steamy little romance unfold under the Mediterranean sun for the perfect summer escape in The Island Villa, the next heartwarming novel by USA Today bestselling author Sarah Morgan!

Welcome to Alouette, Michigan. It’s not the end of the earth, but you can see it from here. After a long absence, Rose Robbin is back in Alouette, primarily to help out her impossible-to-please mother, but also to keep tabs on the child she wasn’t allowed to keep. Working hard, helping her mother and trying to steal glimpses of her son seem to be all that’s in Wild Rose’s future—until the day single father Evan Grant catches her in the act.

Thisonefamily'sjourneyacrossthe unsettledWest demonstrates howits understandings of family identity andselfhoodwere fostered. Beginning in the late 1880s, each member's perspective of the past and the future evolved as they moved from the Midwest to the West and finally settled in various regions of the United States.Thischronicleoffamilymovementandcultural assimilation contains anideologyof America that often frames stories told about family and history."

Is your early childhood program struggling with how to enjoy holidays in a respectful, anti-bias way? Now you can let the celebrating begin! Celebrate! is the comprehensive resource to guide you through the sensitive issues surrounding holidays. It is filled with strategies for implementing exciting culturally and developmentally appropriate holiday activities so you can party with ease. Chapters include Developing a Holiday Policy, Selecting Holidays, Addressing Stereotypes and Commercialism, Evaluating Holiday Activities, and more. Celebrate! tells you how to involve families and get on the road to making holidays something that everyone looks forward to celebrating! Includes a preface by Louise Derman-Sparks.

The modern Christmas was made by the Victorians and rooted in their belief in commerce, family and religion. Their rituals and traditions persist to the present day but the festival has also been changed by growing affluence, shifting family structures, greater expectations of happiness and material comfort, technological developments and falling religious belief. Christmas became a battleground for arguments over consumerism, holiday entitlements, social obligations, communal behaviour and the influence of church, state and media. Even in private, it encouraged reflection on social change and the march of time. Amongst those unhappy at the state of the world or their own lives, Christmas could induce much cynicism and even loathing but for a quieter majority it was a happy time, a moment of a joy in a sometimes difficult world that made the festival more than just an integral feature of the calendar: Christmas was one of British culture's emotional high points. Moreover, it was also a testimony to the enduring importance of family, shared values and a common culture in the UK. Martin Johnes shows how Christmas and its traditions have been lived, adapted and thought about in Britain since 1914. Christmas and the British is about the festival's social, cultural and economic functions, and its often forgotten status as both the most unusual and important day of the year