NAUGHTY OR NICE? Meet three sophisticated women who aren't above a little mischief under the mistletoe to relieve holiday stress. CHRISTMAS PRESENCE ~ Donna Birdsell Young widow Astrid Martin wants to boycott Christmas—but her husband's ghost won't let her! Before long she has a tree, even a gift-wrapping job at the mall, where she meets the man who holds the key to her Christmas future. SECRET SANTA ~ Lisa Childs When Maggie O'Brien receives gifts from a secret Santa, she suspects one of the three men in her life has finally wised up to how special she is. Who's the mystery man—her ex, her boss, or that good-looking car mechanic? Come Christmas morning, will true love be waiting under Maggie's tree? YOU'RE ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS ~ Susan Crosby Divorcée Lauren Wright opts for a Bahamas Christmas getaway—only to be stranded at the airport by weather. But a very personable fellow traveler makes the time fly—and temperatures rise. Bahamas or no Bahamas, things are about to get steamy….

NAUGHTY OR NICE? Meet three sophisticated women who aren't above a little mischief under the mistletoe to relieve holiday stress. CHRISTMAS PRESENCE Donna Birdsell Young widow Astrid Martin wants to boycott Christmas--but her husband's ghost won't let her Before long she has a tree, even a gift-wrapping job at the mall, where she meets the man who holds the key to her Christmas future. SECRET SANTA Lisa Childs When Maggie O'Brien receives gifts from a secret Santa, she suspects one of the three men in her life has finally wised up to how special she is. Who's the mystery man--her ex, her boss, or that good-looking car mechanic? Come Christmas morning, will true love be waiting under Maggie's tree? YOU'RE ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS Susan Crosby Divorc e Lauren Wright opts for a Bahamas Christmas getaway--only to be stranded at the airport by weather. But a very personable fellow traveler makes the time fly--and temperatures rise. Bahamas or no Bahamas, things are about to get steamy....

Previously published as Christmas Presence: An Advent Devotional by Ray Cummings and Scott Hanberry. Advent is a season of expectant waiting and preparation for both the celebration of the Nativity of Christ at Christmas and the return of Christ at the Second Coming. It traditionally encompasses the four Sundays leading up to Christmas and is centered around the four themes of hope, peace, love, and joy. This devotional is a little longer; it is a 41-day journey. The number 40 shows up often in the Bible, commonly in contexts dealing with judgment or testing. Forty-one often represents victory or an end to the trial or testing. The 41 series guides you past judgment to the deliverance, past the testing to the testimony. These forty-one days of Advent readings will help you and your family prepare your hearts for the celebration of Christ''s Nativity and the anticipation of His Return! For Christians all around the world, Advent is a season of waiting. Individually and collectively we wait for the day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Advent is clearly tied to the coming of Christ, but what if we began to see more than just a celebration of Christmas, "The First Advent"... What if we anchored our hope in a future glance? Yes, we look forward to Christmas as a reminder of Christ''s first coming in the manger in Bethlehem, but few Christians invest mental energy in anticipation of His second coming in the clouds as the judge of the world. The word advent itself means "arrival" or "an appearing or coming into place." And so this season of Advent should be a time when we also wait with great anticipation for the ultimate arrival: Jesus'' Second Coming! His arrival at Bethlehem changed everything and His promise of return secures our hope. In this time of waiting the experience might be different from household to household and believer to believer. For some, Advent is an experience of joy, peace, and love while others desperately long for the same. Some will experience a time of family gatherings, festive meals, renewing friendships, and the reunion of relationships, while others experience empty baskets and empty chairs, separation, brokenness, and loneliness. Isolation and separation have marked the past year. Pandemic quarantine has brought about a nagging sense of loneliness and disconnection. However, isolation and loneliness are not modern-day problems. They are as old as human relationships and they are by-products of a much deeper issue than a pandemic...they are rooted in sin. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God, their first inclination was to hide. Simply put, sin separates. But separation was never God''s intent. The story of Scripture begins and ends with the presence of God. God''s desire and His design is to dwell with His people. In the book of Genesis, Eden is the first couple''s home but, more importantly, it is God''s sanctuary--the garden temple where the Creator and his image-bearers relate (Gen 3:8). However, their disobedience cut them off from God, Who is the very source of life. Death entered. And so, people felt the ache of separation. They felt a longing to be in His Presence. They experienced a sense of exile. And that''s where Jesus steps into history and therein lies the hope of His Arrival! His Presence equals hope! This sentiment was captured in the Christmas Carol, O'' Holy Night... Long lay the world in sin and error, pining, ''Til He appeared and the soul felt it''s worth A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn''! Emmanuel, also called the Christ, changed the world. At that moment when God became flesh, humanity watched prophecies unfold as hope was born. Jesus, our Emmanuel, provided hope that sin and death wouldn''t always win and mankind wouldn''t always feel so painfully alone. Join other believers in a 41-day journey of anticipation of God''s presence!

#1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury shares a collection of inspiring true stories from women whose faith has sustained them through monumental trials. For mothers, wives, sisters, and friends, this book will uplift the hearts of its readers through accounts of faith proving triumphant over any obstacle.

This collection of true stories from bestselling author Karen Kingsbury celebrates the mystery and wonder of Christmastime. A chance encounter that changes everything . . . help that appears from nowhere . . . kindness when it's least expected . . . We've all experienced miracles in our lives. Now Karen Kingsbury has collected a series of real-life stories about people whose lives were changed by the mystery and wonder of Christmastime. In each of these stories, Karen brings undeniable proof of God's presence in our lives. And with an uplifting voice, she gives us a joyous reminder of the true meaning of Christmas: the greatest miracle of all is opening our hearts to love.

Profoundly original yet insistent on the derivative quality of his work, transgressive yet affirmative of tradition, Robert Duncan (1919-1988) was a generative force among American poets, and his poetry and poetics establish him as a major figure in mid- and late- 20th-century American letters. This second volume of Robert DuncanÕs collected poetry and plays presents authoritative annotated texts of both collected and uncollected work from his middle and late writing years (1958-1988), with commentaries on each of the five books from this period: The Opening of the Field, Roots and Branches, Bending the Bow, and the two volumes of Ground Work. The biographical and critical introduction discusses Duncan as a late Romantic and postmodern American writer; his formulation of a homosexual poetics; his development of the serial poem; the notation and centrality of sound as organizing principle; his relations with such fellow poets as Robin Blaser, Charles Olson, and Jack Spicer; his indebtedness to Alfred North Whitehead; and his collaborations with the painter Jess Collins, his lifelong partner. Texts include his anti-war poems of the 1960s and 70s, his homages to Dante and other canonical poets, and his translations from the French of GŽrard de Nerval, as well as the complete Structure of Rime and Passages series. Ê

A growing number of women today are fortunate enough to enjoy both parenting and having a meaningful career. These moms look forward to going back to work on Mondays (even if they don’t admit it aloud), and many consider their job to be a major part of their identity, not just the "daily grind.” But because moms who love their jobs and their families feel lucky to have both, they often feel they have no right to complain about the anxieties and stresses of balancing the two—which inevitably leads to even more anxiety and stress. In I Love Mondays, Michelle Cove shares the most common confessions she hears from working moms. From "I’m tired of apologizing when I try so hard to please everyone” to "I stress about falling behind at work when my kid needs extra attention,” Cove explores the difficulties faced by working moms—and provides real-life anecdotes, helpful new perspectives, and mom-tested strategies for dealing each one. Full of hilarious—and humbling—stories from women who are trying to have it all, I Love Mondays will help working moms everywhere alleviate their anxiety, hone their work-home juggling skills, and boost their confidence in their roles as professionals and as parents.

This holiday, e-artnow presents to you this unique collection of the greatest Christmas classics: most beloved novels, tales, legends, poetry & carols - to warm up your heart and rekindle your holiday sparkle: The First Christmas Of New England (Harriet Beecher Stowe) The Gift of the Magi (O. Henry) The Holy Night (Selma Lagerlöf) A Merry Christmas & Other Christmas Stories (Louisa May Alcott) A Letter from Santa Claus (Mark Twain) Silent Night The Night After Christmas The Child Born at Bethlehem The Adoration of the Shepherds The Visit of the Wise Men As Joseph Was A-Walking The Tale of Peter Rabbit (Beatrix Potter) Where Love Is, God Is (Leo Tolstoy) The Three Kings (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) A Christmas Carol (Samuel Taylor Coleridge) Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (L. Frank Baum) Christmas At Sea (Robert Louis Stevenson) The Savior Must Have Been A Docile Gentleman (Emily Dickinson) The Heavenly Christmas Tree (Fyodor Dostoevsky) The Little City of Hope (F. Marion Crawford) Christmas in the Olden Time (Walter Scott) Christmas In India (Rudyard Kipling) A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens) The Twelve Days of Christmas The Wonderful Wizard of OZ (L. Frank Baum) Ring Out, Wild Bells (Alfred Lord Tennyson) Little Lord Fauntleroy (Frances Hodgson Burnett) Black Beauty (Anna Sewell) The Christmas Child (Hesba Stretton) Granny's Wonderful Chair (Frances Browne) The Romance of a Christmas Card (Kate Douglas Wiggin) Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame) The Wonderful Life - Story of the life and death of our Lord (Hesba Stretton) The Christmas Angel (A. Brown) Christmas at Thompson Hall (Anthony Trollope) Christmas Every Day (William Dean Howells) The Lost Word (Henry van Dyke) The Nutcracker and the Mouse King (E. T. A. Hoffmann) The Little Match Girl The Elves and the Shoemaker Mother Holle The Star Talers Snow-White…

Believe in Love & Joy: The Collection of the Greatest Christmas Novels, Stories, Carols & Legends compiles a diverse amalgam of voices stretching across centuries, with literary styles ranging from enchanting narratives, reflective poems, to captivating legends. By weaving together the profound moral ethos of Christmas with the rich tapestry of human emotion and tradition, this anthology offers an unparalleled exploration of love, joy, and the human condition. Standout pieces illuminate the collections thematic breadth, with each work uniquely contributing to the overarching sentiment of Christmas, without overshadowing the collective's cumulative impact. The roster of authors and editors within this collection represents a whos who of literary giants across eras and genres. From the poignant societal commentaries of Dickens and Twain to the transcendental musings of Wordsworth and the haunting tales of Hoffmann, these contributors hail from a variety of historical, cultural, and literary movements. Their combined efforts align with and enhance the anthologys central theme, blending the historical with the mythological, the joyous with the solemn, to paint a comprehensive portrait of Christmas. This chorus of voices, each from different folds of time and society, coalesces around the shared human experiences of love and jubilation, enriching readers understanding and appreciation of the holiday season. Believe in Love & Joy stands as a testament to the enduring power of Christmas to inspire storytellers from across the ages. Readers are invited to delve into its pages to discover a world where love and joy are not merely celebrated but are woven into the fabric of life itself. The anthology promises not only to educate but also to delight, offering a unique opportunity to engage with the multiplicity of perspectives, styles, and themes that these celebrated authors bring to the festal table. It is a must-read for anyone seeking to rekindle their Christmas spirit through the power of storytelling, fostering a deeper dialogue between the myriad authors works.