Christmas came early to us this year, in the form of some very generous saints who shipped us a boxful of books and DVDs, the perfect pastime as we’re snowed-in here at Papa & Oma’s house. It got me thinking that if you are still looking for a few fabulous items to bless your loved ones, items that will draw your heart and attention to Christ, here are some suggestions:
- Seeds Family Worship. Ok, I could go on for days about how great these are. Every song is a scripture passage, word for word. We use them at Renew for the scripture memory verses, but we listen to them constantly and the kids LOVE every one of them. We got ours at the end of the summer and I’m amazed that three months they’ve learned so many scriptures, just from having these on in the car. They sing along, and I even noticed how bad attitudes melt away when we start singing aloud God’s Word. They also have a brand new Christmas album, which is fabulous. Even if I’m driving alone I find myself turning these up and singing along. 😉 We’re not even big music people, and never used to listen to music in the car, so it’s pretty significant that we’ve been listening to these for three months nonstop. You can also get most of these as free downloads with Amazon Prime. But I like having the CDs in the car. There’s also FREE SHIPPING this week.
- Melody & Truth. These are some friends of mine who have put together a lovely assortment of Christmas songs. I listened to this on my drives back and forth from OHSU this week — so encouraging! I especially loved Oh Holy Night and their original song May It Be (#8), super fun! You can download individual songs on Amazon, or get the whole album. Enjoy!
- Stories of the Saints. So we talked here about the story of the real St. Nicholas, and what an amazing godly man he was. We talked some about different books that help teach the real story. Well, there are not one, not two, but THREE fabulous books here that tell the true stories of the people behind Santa Claus, Valentine’s Day, and St. Patrick’s Day (click each one for separate links to each book). They are all FABULOUS. The kids love them. I highly recommend! They also have 6 of these same books about William Tyndale, Paul the Apostle, Thomas, John Bunyon, Richard Wurmbrand, and Stephen the first martyr. They look fabulous as well, though I haven’t personally read them.
- Bible graphic novels. If you have a kids 8-yrs-up on your list, these graphic novels are fantastic. Our kids have absolutely loved The Action Bible for the last 3 years, so when they saw these New Testament graphic novels by the same artist, they jumped on them. They literally read these for HOURS that night, then woke up at 6am the next morning and immediately grabbed the books and continued reading. They are that captivating! I highly recommend The Apostle (about Paul), The Twelve (about the disciples), and The Followers (about those who followed Christ after His ascension). (FYI: They also have the Kingstone Bible series, which looks great but I haven’t personally seen it.)
- Heroes of the faith: Torchlighters 12-DVD set. Okay, so we haven’t had time to watch these yet, but since my kids are completely mesmerized by anything on a TV screen, I venture to say that they will love having TWELVE dvds with stories teaching about amazing people who bravely followed Christ no matter the cost. We’ll definitely be watching some of these if/when cabin fever sets in!
Hope some of these can bless you and yours. Merry Christmas! Thanks for reading.