A group of misfit holiday decorations come vividly to life as they try to make their way home for the holidays in this enchanting and heartwarming picture book from Scott Santoro. The houses on Candy Cane Lane have some of the most spectacular holiday decorations around, so when a winter storm hits and damages some of the festive lawn ornaments, the residents simply can’t allow the broken figures to ruin their prized displays. Many end up in the trash, including a scuffed choirboy who is sure he’ll never have a chance to bring holiday cheer to the lane again. That is, until a little girl in the only undecorated house on the block saves him and gives him a special spot on her lawn. But when a misunderstanding the next morning sends the choirboy off to the dump, he’ll have to team up with a plucky group of other discarded lawn ornaments to find his way back to the little girl and the one place everyone wants to be during the holiday season—home. With classic holiday spirit and illustrations as merry and bright as any holiday display, Scott Santoro brings Candy Cane Lane to life for readers of all ages.

Add a touch of festive fun to your home with these delightful projects - including quilts, table runners, and festive stockings. If all you want for Christmas is a colourful collection of quilts, then this is the book for you! Packed full of delightful designs that incorporate the fun motifs of the festive season - holly leaves and berries, snowmen, candy canes, and more - this is must-have for those looking to add that personal touch to their home during the winter holidays. Projects include festive stockings, pillowcases, table runners, and wall quilts - all accompanied by step-by-step instructions and full-sized pullout patterns.

Icicle Falls is the place to be at Christmas... Everyone's getting ready for Christmas in Icicle Falls, especially on Candy Cane Lane, where holiday decorating is taken very seriously. Tilda Morrison, town cop, is looking forward to celebrating Christmas in her first house...until she discovers that she's expected to “keep up” with the neighbours, including Maddy Donaldson, the inspiration behind the whole extravaganza. But this year, someone's destroying Maddy's precious candy canes! Thank goodness for the cop in their neighbourhood. Tilda already has her hands full trying to sort out her love life and fix up her fixer–upper. Oh, and won't it be fun to have the family over for Christmas dinner? Not really... Then there's her neighbour, Ivy Bohn. As a newly single mom, Ivy can sum up the holiday in two words: Bah, humbug. But she's determined to give her kids a perfect Christmas. Despite family disasters, irritating ex–husbands and kitchen catastrophes, these three women are going to find out that Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year!

One dark November night a stranger rides into a small prairie town. Who is he? Why has he come? The townspeople wish he were a doctor, a dressmaker, or a trader. But the children have the greatest wish of all, a deep, quiet, secret wish. Then a young girl named Lucy befriends the newcomer. When he reveals his identity and shares with her the legend of the candy cane, she discovers fulfillment of her wishes and the answer to her town's dreams. Now will she share what she has learned? Warm, lavish illustrations by James Bernardin bring to life a timeless tale by Lori Walburg, a story that will help families celebrate the mystery and miracle of Christmas—for many Christmases to come.

My growly, gorgeous personal trainer gave me equipment to work with that was long, thick, heavy, and hard. I’ve been teased about my large size since I was a kid. So this Christmas season, I decide to take matters into my own hands. The gym has always been my personal hell, but not anymore because I’ve hired a professional trainer. What I didn’t expect is for my trainer to be so huge. Patrick Walker has muscles that go on for days, a six pack that bulges, and a glint in his eyes that says come and get your bad boy. Plus, he keeps giving it to me non-stop. The sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups are killing me. I strain and stretch, hoping to rid myself of my curves by December 25. But what if my gorgeous trainer says he likes my hills and valleys? What if he says I look ripe and plush and ready for a candy cane because of them? Will we do the taboo? Or will my trainer’s candy cane go uneaten? Curvy girls unite! Maisie learns to love her curves in this fun-filled tale of slick sweat, Christmas ornaments, and candy canes. Don’t worry – she doesn’t lose her curves and instead, learns to love them with the help of OTT alpha male Patrick Walker, and his hard, sweaty workouts. Even better – Patrick gives her a bouncing baby by the end! No cheating, no cliffhangers, and always an HEA for my readers.

A candy-striped caper . . . Christmas is coming all too quickly for Harvest, Ohio’s famous chocolatier, Bailey King. Thanks to her new cable TV show, her shop has more candy orders than she can handle this holiday season. Fortunately, her beloved Cousin Charlotte is happy to take the Candy Cane Exchange off Bailey’s to-do list. After all, Charlotte has come to Harvest from her conservative home district to find her future outside of her family’s influence. What better way than by taking on the Englisch task of pairing the sweet notes everyone is exchanging with a peppermint treat, just in time for Christmas Eve delivery? But when Charlotte discovers some of those delicious missives are for her, suddenly she’s staking out the festive postbox, hoping to catch her secret admirer in his intriguing tracks . . . When Charlotte sees something underhanded going on beneath the merrymaking, she enlists the help of Sheriff Deputy Luke Little to find out if her unknown correspondent is none other than the town’s biggest suspect. And the surprising truth about her suitor’s identity has her contemplating leaving her Amish roots behind forever . . . Recipe Included! Praise for Amanda Flower and her Amish cozies “As it turns out, Amanda Flower may have just written the first Amish rom com.” —USA Today “Flower has hit it out of the ballpark . . . and continues to amaze with her knowledge of the Amish way of life.” —RT Book Reviews “At turns playful and engaging . . . a satisfyingly complex cozy.” —Library Journal

Mothering is messy. Our joy and hope in raising children doesn’t change the reality that being a mom can be frustrating, stressful, and tiring. But just as God is using us to shape our children, God is using our children and motherhood to shape us. In The Better Mom, author Ruth Schwenk, herself a mother of four children, encourages us with the good news that there is more to being a mom than the extremes of striving for perfection or simply embracing the mess. We don’t need to settle for surviving our kids’ childhood. We can grow through it. With refreshing and heartfelt honesty Ruth emboldens moms to: Find freedom and walk confidently in purpose Create a God-honoring home environment Overcome unhealthy and destructive emotions such as anger, anxiety, and more Avoid glorifying the mess of mom-ing or idolizing perfection Cultivate life-giving friendships At the heart of The Better Mom is the message that Jesus calls us to live not a weary life, but a worthy life. We don’t have to settle for either being apathetic or struggling to be perfect. Both visions of motherhood go too far. Ruth offers a better option. She says, “It’s okay to come as we are, but what we’re called to do and be is far too important to stay there! The way to becoming a better mom starts not with what we are doing, but with who God is inviting us to become."

"Katie and her sisters star in an amazing Christmas show, brought to life by their extra-special candy canes. One year, just days before the show, the canes' magical stripes disappear. The fairies fear the show will be a disaster, but when they follow their hearts, they discover how truly special Christmas can be."--Back cover.

American Christmas is a new book by photographer Danelle Manthey that examines Christmas displays, and the people behind them, through the lens of American folk art. Through portraits and interviews, the book features the stories of over 40 families and individuals across 12 states. It includes text by Marlene Friis, a foreword from Rebecca Alban Hoffberger, Founder and Director of the American Visionary Art Museum and an introduction by Mark Sloan, Curator and Chief Director of the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art.Over the course of a decade, Manthey photographed, interviewed and spent time with the creators of these displays, quickly coming to recognize them as folk artists. Entirely self-taught, the creators often do not view themselves as artists, yet create visceral, site-specific installations that should be recognized for their transcendent, highly skilled craft. Many of the selected displays feature region-specific motifs as well as handmade decorations. This tendency, coupled with the traditional imagery and decorative nature of the displays, situates the work as a form of contemporary American folk art. Many of the featured individuals and families seem driven to create utopian spaces through their displays, which is a common theme among folk artists. "The truly amazing thing about these American grassroots artists, all of whom became bitten by the pine-scented Christmas bug, lies in the diversity of their motivations," explains Rebecca Alban Hoffberger, Founder and Director of the American Visionary Art Museum. Through the act of photographing the displays, Manthey enshrines them as a distinct art form. Where many would diminish the works as decorative cheer, Manthey looks beyond to reveal the innovation and commitment that grounds all great art. Along with making these themes accessible to a non-art audience, she succeeds in sharing the community and joy these works are founded on-something that is much needed in our current world.