This was my first Mitford book, but I intend to go back to the beginning. I just wanted to read and listen to Christmas stories and thought this might be a nice way to introduce myself to this series my sister thinks of as boring. I liked all the characters and may have enjoyed them more if I had read her other books and especially Father Tim and Hope the bookseller. ( )

The Mitford Series of Jan Karon is one set of books that I read over and over, about once a year. I love the characters, the small town and the basic humanity of the stories. ( )

A beautiful story for the season, this showcases the lengths Father Tim will go to to please his wife for Christmas. It includes all the other denizens of Mitford with their quirks, problems and charms. A wonderful and heart-warming story. ( )

I really tried to finish this book, but it just didn't catch my attention. I have enjoyed other books that jumped back and forth between characters, but this one was too confusing for me to keep up. Perhaps if I started with the first book in the series, I would have enjoyed it better. The main story of Father Tim refurbishing the nativity scene was just too slow for me. However, this does not in any way stop me from continuing on my Christian fiction quest. ( )

We share a Christmas with all of the well-loved characters of Mitford. The main thread of the story is Father Tim's repairing and painting of an antique Nativity set to give to his wife for Christmas, but there are many surprises and twists in the secondary plots. Romance comes to Hope Winchester, the lonely and troubled bookstore employee and to Lew Boyd, owner of the filling station and of course, we continue to watch the ongoing redemption of the Barlowe family with its five children who had been given away by their mother and are now being gathered into one family again. ( )