An Amish Christmas [book review]

This was a delightful book filled with 4 touching stories of love, family, and life. Each time I opened it I was instantly taken out of my own world and into the Amish community. I have to admit I was sad each time a novella ended, because I would know the end of the story – but not knowing the end allows each story to live on in my own imagination … and I love that!

We could learn a lot from the Amish – especially about celebrating Christmas. As I seek to define my own Radical Christmas, I find myself wishing that there was a real live Amish community close by, so that I could learn from them firsthand. I love the idea of a “First Christmas” and a “Second Christmas” – celebrating the birth of Jesus and the spiritual meaning behind Christmas on Christmas Day and then turning to the spirit of giving on the day after Christmas with the exchanging of presents. It’s a concept that I would love to figure out how to make happen in my own life!

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a good book to put you in the Christmas spirit. It’s always hard to find books about Christmas and this one is a real gem!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Share this Munchy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

http://twitter.com/JustaPen Seiji Yamashita

PS Thanks for the review, I think this may be the first positive review of the Amish Life genre I’ve seen
- http://www.soulmunchies.com Crystal
  
  Thanks for stopping by!
  
  There are definitely things about the Amish community and life that I disagree with – and maybe this book made the community seem more like a “fairytale” than real life – but the stories were a very enjoyable read! The book was fiction – and it was clean, innocent fiction. And in the midst of it there were some things that made me think about my own life. So without giving the Amish community in general a positive review (because I don’t know enough about it) I give this book of Christmas novellas 4 stars
http://twitter.com/JustaPen Seiji Yamashita

I’m not a big fan of the Amish community myself having met some folks who left the Amish community, but at the same time I recognize that everyone has something to learn and something to teach. The Two Christmases idea sounds awesome, but I think we can push it a bit farther and say that Christmas day is about recognizing the great blessing that God has given us and holding onto that until the day of the Epiphany. (My mom used to exchange gifts on Epiphany).
- http://www.soulmunchies.com Crystal
  
  It’s so easy to connect the spirit of giving with celebrating Jesus’ birth. I LOVE giving gifts … I am like a little elf leading up to Christmas with preparing goodie baskets, gift boxes, wrapping presents, etc. I just like the idea of focusing solely on that very special gift of Jesus on a day totally separate from exchanging gifts. Almost like we celebrate his birthday by giving him our time and devotion on day one and then we move on to giving gifts to others in honor of him on day two. “Receive and then give” …
  
  I don’t think I could wait a whole 12 days until Epiphany though!
http://twitter.com/JustaPen Seiji Yamashita

I’m not a big fan of the Amish community myself having met some folks who left the Amish community, but at the same time I recognize that everyone has something to learn and something to teach. The Two Christmases idea sounds awesome, but I think we can push it a bit farther and say that Christmas day is about recognizing the great blessing that God has given us and holding onto that until the day of the Epiphany. (My mom used to exchange gifts on Epiphany).
Revjoelle

When the Amish stop being the number one puppy mill exploiters and do something other than cover up sexual abuse in their community, I consider joining the amish lovefest bandwagon.
- http://www.soulmunchies.com Crystal
  
  I think that the Amish community, like any other community, is far from perfect – but aren’t all our communities far from perfect? I find it hard to believe that every single Amish community is as terrible as you make it sound – every community has its bad eggs.