Welcome Baby Jesus: Advent and Christmas Reflections for Families

Welcome Baby Jesus is a sweet, wonderful, simple-but-meaty resource for families. The four weeks of Advent are presented thematically: Get Ready, Repent, Love, Anticipate. The final section, Rejoice, takes us through the Christmas season to the Feast of the Epiphany. Each day includes sections to help us "Think, Pray and Act," along with a Scripture verse. Here's an "Act" example from the first Sunday of Advent: "One way to get ready for Jesus is to make an Advent resolution. What can you give Jesus? Is there a person you can be nice to all during Advent? Could you help someone in a special way during Advent? Think of something you can do to get ready for Jesus' birth." Because Sarah doesn't talk down to kids, there's enough substance in the "Think" sections for us adults, so they work at varying levels for the whole family. We can all be challenged by such questions as, "When we are asked to do work we might consider 'servant' work, how do we respond?" (Ummm, I think I'll be taking yet another look at my attitude toward laundry this Advent.) For very young children, the "Think" passages could be shortened or skipped -- head straight to "Pray" and "Act" with the littlest ones. I remember several years ago, when I first stumbled onto Sarah's blog. My first thought was that anyone who had a booklist sidebar labeled "Nose Inserted" and who called herself the Snoring Scholar was a kindred spirit. It's been a perfect delight to see Sarah's writing bloom and grow beyond her lovely blog. -- Karen Edmisten

I found this Catholic devotional to be wonderful in topics, discussion, and especially length. We read it at dinner time so it provides plenty for us to talk about together. The Think section was perfect to start off conversations and could hold my 4 year old’s attention, particularly if you rephrase some sentences into questions. The Pray section was meaningful and easily read by my 6 year old. The Act section was great for discussions or to do when we finished eating. The Bible verses are a lot for my 4 year old but my husband finds them very valuable and appreciates talking them over with our 6 year old.

This is more than what I expected for the price. It had a small prayer for each day that my 6 yr old daughter loved to do. I was surprised that all on her own she would wake up and read each days message then open her advent box to see her surprise. Or if she didn’t have time it as what she would read right before going to bed. I lOVED that it was split up into sections every day. The same sections my daughter knew exactly what to expect every day and how to read it. Next year I’m buying them as gifts for many children who are Christian. If they had one for all the Hanukah days I’d buy one for Jewish children. I love how this book is simple and set up perfectly with the right messages about sharing, caring and loving others especially those who have more than you. My daughter took it very serious when it said to pray for someone you don’t know and write them a letter and mail it. We will be doing that this weekend. I really hope this author makes more of these types of little books. And the price is matches it perfectly. Buy this flimsy and perfect little book if you want your child to feel the love of Christmas. From my experience, this is how it felt to me. As you can see I highly recommebd it. And please don’t expect a hard cover book or a real book for this price as some trades have mentioned. Printing is expensive and every page in this book is in color which I appreciate. Perfect. Just perfect.

I LOVE this book! It gives concise things to think and reflect and pray about as well as challenges to action... all relevant to the Advent season. Complete with snippets of scripture. Perfect length for a child and also great reminders for adults. Will help to draw each member of the family into the meaning of the season. Thank you, Sarah!

We went through this each night with our 4 and 7 year olds during Advent and the Octave of Christmas. The lessons were simple to understand for the kids and not too long. The only thing that annoyed me was having the Bible reading last, as I read the wrong one many times (the one for the previous day).

LOVE this little Advent Booklet! Although this simple format had me hopeful that my 4 year old son and I could take the time every day in December to do these short lessons, I got a little behind and wasn't able to do every one. I loved the format of each day... each day had an applicable bible verse, then Think, Pray & Act sections that made the lesson come alive. The way the lessons are worded, I had to read ahead and paraphrase/translate for my four year old. He's just now able to grasp some biblical concepts, but much of the text in these lessons would have been over his head had I read it verbatim to him. Because of the busy-ness of the season (we've got a new baby at home) we weren't able to do each day's lesson, but we did sit down once or twice a week to read through one.. AND we made sure to stop every Sunday to light the Hope, Peace, Love, Joy & Christ candles, talk about the significance of that week's candle, and say our prayer for that day. The price was GREAT and we were happy to have this as part of our Advent Celebration this year.

I grew up in the 80s - had this book- bought it for my kiddos- and for my nieces and nephews! Bring it back to print! $50 used is ridiculous! See my photo- Think, pray and an act- we read this a breakfast before school to set the tone for the day- she should write one for all the days of the year!!

Best Xmas for kids to learn true meaning of the holiday. Very informative fun learning for the kids about the Christian Christmas Traditional Holiday & Christian Calendar Advent Christmas Season.

Great catholic book for families in preparation for Christmas. Highly recommended!! What makes me sad is to see people here belittle the mother of Jesus. How could the son of God be born from a sinner? To deny the sainthood of Mary is to deny the divinity of Christ as well. This is indeed a heresy.

I really like these little books, got 2 one for Christmas , or Easter, am a grow up , and I like them. Be great for the holidays. Thanks Jacquelin.