Yvonne Lehman: Remembering Christmas

When I finished reading Remembering Christmas, so many tears filled my eyes that it was hard to see. From sweet stories to special moments, funny anecdotes to heart-wrenching tales, soft poetic lyrics to bold eschatology, there is a story for everyone in this book.

I tried to decide which one was my favorite, but couldn’t. They were all beautifully written. Still, one memoir unexpectedly touched my heart.

In The Return of the King Bob Blundell shares a trip he took to Israel, where he stood at the edge of the Valley of Armageddon. This incident was particularly memorable to him because when he was in college, he had read Hal Lindsey’s best-selling book, The Late Great Planet Earth.

Forty-five years earlier, as a student at the University of Georgia, I attended an event at which Hal Lindsey spoke. What an impact hearing him speak had on my life. Many years earlier, I had also read The Late Great Planet Earth and saw the movie by the same name.

By coincidence, only a few hours earlier, I had listened to a Hal Lindsey YouTube video in my car. I was returning home with an old, treasured lamp someone had fixed for me for free as a Christmas gift.

“I can tell how much that lamp means to you,” the man said. “Merry Christmas.”

The store owner blessed me because fixing the lamp took him a while, and the store’s repair rate was $90 per hour.

Wonderful books tug at your heartstrings. They stir your emotions and cause you to ponder, remember, hope, laugh, and weep. They take you down roads less traveled and quench a longing you might not even know you have.

Remembering Christmas is one of those books. In this season of giving, I’ve enjoyed a quiet moment to read and reflect on the profound meaning of Christmas, not only historically and spiritually, but personally. I will put this poignant book on my bookshelf and look forward to reading it again next Christmas and beyond.