Spread the Christmas Joy with Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers | Day 17

 Joy from Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers

"Preparing for Christmas"

Our grandfather was a man who came prepared for Christmas. He traveled from South Carolina to our home in West Virginia with suitcases full of gifts. A country ham was carefully packed it a separate bag with fried apple pies and Christmas cookies.

We would wait for him, four grandkids, our noses pressed against frosted windows looking for his car and listening for the honking horn that would begin at the bottom of the street, up the hill and into the driveway.

Our grandfather died at Christmas. He was on his way to West Virginia his bags packed when he passed away suddenly at the airport. All our preparations for Christmas stopped the festivities replaced by life’s interventions, a funeral, and taking care of all the details.

A few weeks after Christmas we helped to clean out his apartment. As we sorted through his books we found his Bible. We sat together on the floor of his closet surrounded by shoes and papers and flipping through the pages. Each chapter was covered with writing and underlining. Each page a testimony to what his faith meant to him.

Preparation for Christmas is more than wrapping gifts and baking cookies. Preparation is about the heart.

Our grandfather was a man who came prepared for Christmas.

Laurie and Betsy

And it will be said:

“Build up, build up and prepare the road!

Remove the obstacles out of the way of my people.”

Isaiah 57:14

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Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers are award-winning authors who write to reveal God through story. They were born into a writing family, and began at an early age critiquing manuscripts for their mother, Newbery winner Betsy Byars. They went on to become authors of more than thirty-five children’s novels. Their first book for adults, The Shepherd’s Song, will be released by Howard Books in March 2014. They live in Georgia.

You can find them on their website: www.writingsisters.com