In our house, we start into the Christmas music a little early for some people – maybe even my wife. She would prefer we wait until Thanksgiving, while I, on the other hand, like to break out the ho-ho-ho’s shortly after Labor Day. So, like a good couple, we compromise. October 31st is Opening Day for Jingle Bells, Deck the Halls, Rudolf, and Adeste Fideles. And this year, we have something special to add to the mix. I wrote a book.
It started with my wife. Since the kids were little, we have read a Christmas devotional every night in December. We used the same devotional year after year. Then a few years ago, my wife suggested that a little variety might be in order, so we hunted around and found something different. Actually, several somethings. We read each of them in turn. Then, last year we saw a brand-new December devotional on the market, which we snatched up and put to work.
Since this Christmas tradition blessed our family, we decided to give a devotional to the members of our church. While hunting through the various options, my wife threw out a casual suggestion – as wives are wont to do: “You should write one yourself.”
Next thing you know, I was waking up early in the morning like a man on a mission. I sat down to see if I had thirty-one ideas for devotional material. Then, I started writing. The fever hit hard. I finished most of the book in December last year, edited as a man possessed, and voila! out came this book of mine, which I boldly present to you for consideration:
Join the Triumph of the Skies!
Christmas acts like a magnifying glass. The hard-hearted turn to Ebenezer Scrooge; family problems take on a new life; financial woes pinch harder; daily chaos turns to tumult. But Christmas offers us a fantastic opportunity to enlarge a few great things. A giving heart has rich opportunities. A generous spirit shows itself in big ways. Delight in Christ will have a feast of fat things. Family life will be richly blessed.
In our home, we always wanted Christmas to magnify what we considered vital to the good health of our home. So we planned many unique features for the Christmas season, mostly dreamed up and executed by my wife. And one of those, as I mentioned, was our annual nightly devotional routine. We had so much fun rehearsing Christ’s glory in Christmas from a Biblical perspective that we can’t wait to get started on it again this year.
But this year, we wanted to invite you to join the fun. So we have assembled a book of 31 devotionals that cover the Christmas story’s entirety (with maybe an exception or two) – everything from angels to mangers to Bethlehem to Santa Claus to Hallmark movies to Christmas cranks to Simeon and Anna. We didn’t leave Herod out either.
Join the Triumph of the Skies! is available through our publisher at Xulon Press. It is available on Amazon and in a Kindle edition (public immediately). You can find it at Barnes and Noble, which also has an e-book edition. You could get it on Apple iBooks. And you can get it from me. If you ask real nice, I’ll give you a discount and a puppy (just kidding about the discount puppy!). Seriously, I’ll give you a deal.
Churches and bookstores and anyone who wants to order more than five copies can contact me directly for a bonus discount. I’ll treat you right.
So, let the buying frenzy begin. Go ahead and stuff some stockings with this book. Give it to your friends and neighbors and relatives. Give it to your local Scrooge and all the Karens on your Christmas list. Buy a case and store it in a dusty place for the next twenty years. Buy it for your good friend Holli Reath. Read it out loud at night, gathered around the Christmas tree. And may it enrich your celebration of Christ this year and many years to come.
The Village Smithy 
