03982cam a2200397 4500 69754808 TxAuBib 20101109120000.0 100728s2010||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2010032080 9781439198339 hardcover 1439198330 hardcover (OCoLC)555639746 TxAuBib Osteen, Joel, 2007. The Christmas Spirit : Memories Of Family, Friends, and Faith / Joel Osteen. Memories of family, friends, and faith. Christmas Spirit, The. 1st Free Press hardcover ed. New York : Free Press, 2010. xii, 144 p. : ill. (some col.), ports ; 20 cm. Memorial for Alejandro L. Marroquin. Introduction -- Our father's gift -- Creating Christmas memories -- The perfect Christmas -- Our mother's Christmas china -- Christmas at Meemaw's house -- A white Christmas in Mexico. The popular pastor offers uplifting and inspiring stories and memories of family and friends celebrating faith-based Christmas traditions. Publisher Summary: For many, the Christmas season can be filled with distractions and anxiety rather than the joy and peace it is supposed to bring. In The Christmas Spirit, his first holiday book, Joel Osteen offers uplifting and inspiring stories of family and friends celebrating Christmas traditions that will help readers return to the essence of the holiday by practicing the principles taught by our Savior, Jesus Christ, whose birth we celebrate that day. With these stories, Joel reminds us all of what is truly important in life. Filled with humorous and compelling holiday memories from Joel's family and friends, this heartwarming collection will inspire and amuse readers while enhancing their faith in God's goodness and eternal wisdom. The stories in The Christmas Spirit reflect that this Christian holiday is a celebration of family: God's family, our own, and the diverse global family. Friends and families from near and far share faith and Christmas traditions: They laugh together. They grieve together. They support each other. They offer proof that the best way to overcome hurt and loneliness is to reach out to others who may be hurting and lonely, too. Joel's unique stories and memories will encourage readers to savor their own Christmas memories, to share them with loved ones, and to create new memories and traditions that will be passed down for generations to come. For those feeling stressed, hurt, or lacking direction this holiday season, these heartwarming stories will serve as a healing balm and a guiding light to a more hopeful and peaceful holiday. Over the past decade, Joel Osteen has been called the Most Influential Christian in America by numerous publications and, in 2006, was named one of Barbara Walters's Most Fascinating People. Hailed as "America's voice of hope," Joel Osteen is one of the most respected pastors in America. Each week 43,000 people attend his worship services at Lakewood Church in Houston, and his weekly inspirational program is seen by more than 7 million television viewers across America, along with tens of millions more in 200 nations throughout the world. This new book of stories from family and friends about Christmas will be cherished by readers everywhere. 20101109. Osteen, Joel. Clergy. Texas Biography. Christmas. Anecdotes. Families Texas. Christian life. Memorial Alejandro Marroquin. Faith. Wisdom. TXLIV