it's all about Christmas!

• Win a Christmas book.

Joanna Mallory at God With Us: Finding Joy is giving away the Christmas anthology Christmas in the Maritimes - A Treasury of Stories and Memories edited by Elaine Ingalls Hogg.

From the publisher's website:

"Christmas in the Maritimes is a heart-warming look at Christmas traditions from Maritimers both at home and away … a collection of favourite yuletide memories…. Humorous and heartfelt, these are stories of love and family coming together at the best time of the year to make it special, often in spite of hardships. The magic of the season comes alive in every story, reminding us about the history of our region as well as what is truly important about the Christmas season.” (from the Nimbus website)

Place your entry here before midnight December 13th.

• Read a Christmas story.

What happens when guests are coming for dinner and you can't even afford dessert? Read Sandy Austin's story "Simple Gifts."

• Christmas-shop online:

...and buy Canadian too. The Word Guild's catalogue of "Books In Print" lists books available from the best Canadian authors who are Christian. From TWG website: "In this catalogue, you will find a comprehensive list of books by our members, including a description of each book, distribution information, price, reviews, and awards won..." Check it out.

• Write a Christmas poem.

My newest Poet's Classroom column has 16 poem prompts to help you write fresh Christmas verse.