Christmas is a most wonderful time as we think once again on the season's true focus: the birth of the Baby whose life, death, and resurrection have reshaped history. The reflections in this collection found their inspiration in a variety of sources:
* Songs of the season, old and new, sacred and secular, from Canada, Britain, and the U. S., including two new carols by the author
* A Christmas quote from "Hamlet"
* Soldiers who stopped fighting to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
* John Grisham's seriocomic novel about a man who tries to skip Christmas
* Grumblings of a grade school boy who is forced to take a bath
* Rheta Grimsley Johnson's newspaper column comparing Christmas with marriage
* A Holiday visit to a bombed-out British cathedral
* A painting in a London church basement
* A three-year-old's first part in a pageant
* A family Christmas letter telling about the young husband's bout with cancer
* Classic Christmas stories: Charles Dickens's "A Christmas Carol," Henry Van Dyke's "The Story of the Other Wise Man," and O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi"
* A play about men who remember Christmas while they are prisoners of terrorists
* A few personal memories from the author's childhood, youth, and adult years
*The title essay is taken from the plainest of tree decorations--a clear plastic disc with these words: "Once for a shining hour, heaven touched the earth."
The book is written "with the prayer that the readings will provide food for your thoughts -- some of which you may need to chew on a while -- and that they will enrich your Christmas."
