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Let Lisa Bogart (page 36) show you how to make a Christmas letter that is sure to spread holiday cheer. Watch our exclusive video at guideposts.org/lisab ’Tis the season for tasty treats! Learn how to make Christmas cookies from different cultures ar

ONE A.M. AND I COULDN’T SLEEP. Rather than wake my husband with my tossing and turning, I’d escaped to the living room. I stared at my laptop screen, clicking aimlessly between websites. This was what stress had driven me to—the stress of having my a

SEND AN UPLIFTING QUOTE from a newsmaker or yourself to upside@guideposts.org. ■

Muncie, Indiana REMEMBER THE TELEVISION show Quantum Leap? I was fascinated by it as a teenager. In every episode, the main character, a physicist, leaped back in time and into someone else’s body and fixed something that had gone wrong in their live

Christmas is a time for family traditions, and I’m so proud of the one that my daughter, Holley, started five years ago. Holley wanted to teach her daughter, Bailey, then eight, how to show Jesus’ caring spirit. Holley and her husband, Casey, bought

I was eight years old that Christmas, and I wanted to get something special for my mom and my older sister, Tanya. We were living in an apartment in Spanish Harlem, in Manhattan, close enough to school that I could walk there with my friends—Tanya ke

THIS YEAR’S HOLIDAY SEASON IS GOING to be a memorable one for all of us, if for nothing else because of the pandemic. The question is, will we remember it as a joyous season or one tinged with grief and sadness? I’m hoping that with care and intentio

This delicious take on a holiday classic makes a regular appearance at our table. Serve one half to one whole sweet potato per person, scaling the recipe up or down as needed. 6 sweet potatoes¼ cup honey2 tablespoons red pepper flakes⅓ cup extra-virg

PEOPLE HAVE A LOVE-HATE relationship with Christmas letters. I’m a lifelong letter writer, and even I struggle to hit the right note—newsy, fun, filled with holiday spirit but not bragging or full of details that no one cares about. This year, the st

ONLY ONE THING WAS MISSING that Christmas, but it was all that mattered. My three grown children, their spouses and their kids crowded around the tree in the family room, opening presents. Laughter, conversation and the occasional shriek of delight f

Country music superstar Carrie Underwood’s (Love’s Pure Light, page 24) first Christmas album, My Gift, had good timing. “Being able to get it started before Covid hit was such a blessing,” Carrie says. Her choice of producer, Greg Wells, also helped

EVERY WEDNESDAY WHEN I WAS 16, I’d change into a nice button-down and my best jeans after school. Then I’d ride my bike on the path between our house and my grandmother’s outside Meadville, Pennsylvania. Exactly at four, Grandma Honeybunch—we always

Vancouver, Washington OUR FAMILY LOVED EASTER. We loved the beautiful church service, the pretty new dresses for our girls. I always woke up excited to celebrate God’s promise of new life. This year, I woke up with a knot in my stomach. It had been t

IT’S ALWAYS BEEN ONE OF MY FAVORITE carols—“Little Drummer Boy.” You know the story. He wants to bring a gift to baby Jesus, but he’s poor. He doesn’t have shiny, pretty, special things as the wise men do, with their gold, frankincense and myrrh. Wha