Today is the final opportunity to win an autographed Christmas CD by Keith and Kristyn Getty and an accompanying Bible.
Joy – An Irish Christmas is a unique celebration of Christmas with Keith and Kristyn Getty. Last year, they recorded this exciting Christmas album combining fresh Irish interpretations of traditional carols alongside new carols written by the hymn-writing duo.
Also included is the black, genuine leather version of the HCSB Minister’s Bible. This newly designed edition is ideal for pulpit use with its large type, wide margins, and extensive ancillary notes from many of today’s top preachers and church leadership voices.
To be eligible to win, answer the following question:
What’s your favorite Christmas gift you’ve received?
The deadline to enter is midnight CST this Saturday. We will draw one winner from the entries on Monday morning.
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A Bible that had been used by my Great-Great Grandfater who was a Baptist pastor.
my special gift was my first Bible.
Hearing my 5-year-old recite Luke 2:1-20 from memory.
My iPad was the best Christmas gift. I use it all the time. I send my sermon notes to it and place it on the pulpit to preach from each week instead if paper notes.
I ain’t gonna make this spiritual: got the GI Joe aircraft carrier when I was a kid.
My Superman tote bag that my family gave me five years ago as I was also going through cancer.
The gift I cherish most is that at the dawn of communist regime in Albania, my family celebrated the Christmas. That is still special to me after over 23 years of official atheism.
As a kid in the early 80′s I was a big fan of Southern Gospel quartets (which was a significant progression from my father’s preferred traditional bluegrass music). But we lived in Iowa. Not exactly a hot-bed of Southern Gospel music in the 80′s. I believe it was Christmas 1984, I awoke to the Kingsmen Quartet’s “Live…. Naturally” LP Double Album Record under the tree! Best. Christmas. Ever. At least for this 14 year old kid. I listened to it non-stop for the next couple of years… to the chagrin of the rest of my family who did not always share my passion for quartet singing. (Or my passion for trying to copy the Kingsmen’s tenor singer.) But by far that’s the gift that stands out the most from my past.
I’ll always treasure a very old Bible that was given to me by my great-aunt in Texas.
By the way… the NEXT best Christmas gift I could ever receive would be a signed Getty’s Christmas CD and an HCSB Minister’s Bible… #justsayin
My best Christmas gift ever was my Playhouse that my Dad built for me in our backyard. He told me for months that he was building a shed. I believed him, so on Christmas day when I was brought out back and revealed that it was for me, I said, I’m getting the shed? Haha, it had a big red bow wrapped around it and was set up like a house. LOVED IT!
Our first Christmas with our daughter Brizelle which brought all the grandparents and great- grandparents down for a visit.
When I was a kid back in the 70s, when Westerns still were a cool thing, I received a horde of cowboy action figures and horses. My favorite was one by Marx toys from a collection called The Ready Gang – Sundown and his horse Dagger. I still have them on my dresser in the bedroom
My most favorite Christmas gift I have ever received, wasn’t necessarily from anyone, but a gift from God. On December 23, 2011, I was offered a new job that set me on track to do what I love!
My first ten-speed bike
To be honest, one of the best gifts I received was all the seasons of Monk on DVD.
My favorite Christmas gift was a 2nd hand bicycle. My Dad who was a pastor bought it, sanded it down, took a brush and painted it with the only color paint avialable – black. I loved it because it spoke his love for me.
My first BB gun. No, I didn’t lose an eye!
For Christmas one year I received some money from my parents so that I could attend college the following month.
When I was either 3 or 4 years old, the TV show ‘CHIPS’ was very popular. That Christmas I received an entire ‘CHIPS’ play set which included a motorcycle helmet, sunglasses, police badge, and a ‘CHIPS’ motorcycle. Needless to say, I thought it was awesome then and even as a 32 year old I still think it is awesome!
Starbucks gift cards… Always my favorite gift!
A bible that I received as a child. I still use it today.
This may sound corny, but I really don’t mean for it to. The greatest year of gifts for my family was the year we didn’t have any. As crazy as it sounds, it is the Christmas I have the most memories of. My parents literally had nothing that year.
My dad is a pastor in a small town and we just struggled. We woke up that morning and teased my parents relentlessly saying, “Okay, you can bring all our gifts out now!” We knew full well that we there weren’t any.
This isn’t a sob story. It was awesome! My greatest gift, I guess to answer the question, was the gift of a loving family. My siblings and I loved that year!
Matt -
Your comments really moved me. Please send your mailing address to Amy.Jordan@LifeWay.com. I would like to send something to you and your dad. I can tell he is an incredible man.
My favorite gift was a combination of everything I received from loved ones in a care package while I was deployed in Saudi Arabia during the Gulf War. Just to know that so many people cared and were thinking of me made the season better, even if I didn’t receive them until late January! Lol
A new bmx bike
The year i proposed to my wife and she said YES!
Probably got more use out of my Crossman 760 air rifle gift (i was 10 years old) than any other Christmas gift.
I would have to say the hand-crafted family crest from Scotland we received the first first year we were married.
Our son Jayden whom we adopted on Nov 2nd. After 15 years of prayer!!
My favorite Christmas gift was an Atari 2600. It was something I really wanted, and it was beyond what my parents usually bought. Looking back, I am sure that they saved to buy it, which makes it all the more special.
A guitar from my wife.
My favorite gift…a light-up reindeer (not the gift, really, but the sentiment the gift expressed)
My best Christmas gift was being able travel out of state during the Christmas season to be with my mother in the hospital for her surgery after being diagnosed with cancer. The surgery was a complete success, a Christmas Miracle, because the cancer was all removed and she didn’t need to have chemo. We were able to celebrate Christmas with a renewed gift of life and increased love for our Savior and Master Healer!
A swing set
The best Christmas gift I have ever had was spending Christmas with my dad watching Aladdin in theaters, because I lost him to cancer the following November. I was 11 when we got to go. I am now 30.
My favorite gift so far is a 1955 Mickey Mantle because my dad handed it down to me and I will be able to hand it down to my son.
I keep trying to win on a Friday…. I’ve never owned this Bible, but have looked at them several times. Would love to have one.
My favorite gift was the one I gave my wife. Her birthday is in January, so her Christmas gift that year (’92) was a fully arranged weekend trip in Chicago on her birthday. She loved it, and I loved making her happy!
My favorite gifts have been two of our children who were born just days after Christmas. Jack was born in 2005 and Becca was born in 2010.
A home made craft from my kids.
My favorite Christmas gift to date is a watch my wife gave me on Christmas, 2010. I’m wearing it now!… and I’ve worn it everyday since I first opened it.
I was nine, I think (I’m 25 now), and I was so into Power rangers! I wanted the White Ranger’s Eagle that could transform and shoot missiles out of it’s wings. It was the coolest toy that I had ever received. I remember that Christmas clearly.
It’s corny I know, but gotta go with the BB gun.
My greatest gift received was, while stationed in Germany as a Soldier, my mother visiting to spend Christmas with my family and me before I departed for war the day after Christmas. Internally, I did not believe I would survive that experience but held those thoughts inside. Having my family together celebrating my perceived last Christmas was truly marvelous and unforgettable memory.
Jim Kelly autographed helmet
Two years ago my mother-in-law and father-in-law (who is a pastor) gave me Criswell’s Guidebook for pastors and several Rick Warren dvd sets from Conferences, PDC and Preaching for Life Change. They always give me gifts that support my call, but these have stood out the most.
My favorite gift was an acoustic guitar on which I taught myself. it really started me on a long journey with music. It has opened so many doors to sharing the gospel.
When I was five I received a toy chainsaw. I took it with me everywhere. Oh, and anything from Lifeway.
A Nintendo 64!!
Probably my Lego racetrack that I got when I was 8 years old. Great memories of me and my dad building it.
I’ve received a lot of great gifts over the years. This is by no means the most significant, important, or expensive, but it is the one that stands out in my mind. I was 7 years old and my parents gave me and my younger brother knock-off Star Trek phasers that lit up and made “phaser” noises. It was the first year my parents let us open one gift early on Christmas Eve (we always waited until Christmas morning). We had a blast running through the house blasting away at everything and everyone.
One year when i was a teenager my grandmother gave me a study bible. She put it in a box with bricks so i wouldn’t be able to guess what it was. In the next couple of months my Sunday School teacher challenged me to read the whole bible. Over the course of about two years I read every page of that bible my grandmother gave me, and on February 14, 2011 I preached her funeral and read Revelation 21:3-4 out of that bible she had given me all those years ago. Rev 21:4 “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be NO MORE DEATH or mourning or crying or pain, for the older things have passed away.”
I’m going to go with the year my wife got me tickets to the Sugar Bowl when Miami played Florida and I got to spend a few days in New Orleans with my wife as a result.
My favorite Christmas gift was when my family bought brothers and I a Super Nintendo.
One of my favorite “gifts” was the year my Grandfather asked me to read the Luke 2 narrative at our family’s Christmas gathering.
My favorite gift changes every year because I love the creativity of my children as they pick my gifts. To give an idea they are 6,5,4 years old. I’ve gotten superhero jammies, superhero shirts, superhero hats…you get the picture. I love it and can’t wait to see what they come up with this year.
The news that I was going to have a baby – found out on Christmas Eve 1980. That baby is now my 31 year old son. He is a pastor and close to completing his doctorate at Southwestern Seminary. God has used his life and I’m thankful to be his mom. Would love to give him this Bible – and I’d love the CD – love the Gettys!
A handmade christmas card from my younger sister along with a picture frame with pictures of us through the years.
A pair of beat-up goalie pads for my brother and I to play road hockey.
Favorite gift was a picture Bible I received when I was 12. Still have it in my shelf.
My first shotgun. 20 gauge single shot!
When I was 10 I got a puppy. What in the world is better to a kid than a puppy on Christmas morning?!
I guess this will give away my age, but my favorite was the Commodore 64 computer. – I have been geekish ever since.
The stereo I received when I was sixteen.
My favorite gift was receiving my deceased uncle’s Bible heavily marked. We were very close and he passed nearly 20 years ago. It means the world for my mom to pass it on to me which was my aunt’s request when she passed away.
The best Christmas present ever received was the year when one son made me a bracelet and the other son gave me a small jewelry box in which the bracelet fit perfectly. They were little guys then. Now they are grown men. In my living room sits the little jewelry box with the bracelet tucked inside of it. Sometimes I sit near that box/bracelet combination and simply remember the wonderful days of being mama to two small boys. They made the holidays special just by being my sons.
Best gift ever was finding out my wife was pregnant!
Minolta x-500 SLR camera (That was before these digital days!)
My favorite Christmas gift would have to be my engagement ring. 16 years this Christmas, my husband proposed. Dropping to one knee, he pulled out a ring box and when I opened it, there was nothing in it. Seeing my puzzled look on my face, he said “This box is for the ring you’re wearing now” which was my promise ring, the one I wore as a reminder of the commitment I made to stay pure until marriage. He then took a diamond ring from behind his back and slipping it on my finger, said “this is to replace it.” We were married a year and a half later. My second most favorite gift has to be the custom cameo necklace my husband had designed and mailed to me while he was away on his second deployment. It’s a picture of us with him in his Navy uniform doing the famous back dip pose of the sailor with his girl. On the back he had engraved “you have my heart.” And he has had mine, 14 years and counting!
Great story Sara.
Hearing my son play Christmas music on his guitar for the first time.
A pipe
my first book.
My two year old giving me a scribbled on piece of paper that she told.me said, “merry Christmas, I love you daddy. “
My favorite gift was an iPad from my husband
Best gift I ever received was titans vs.chargers tickets for a Christmas night game
My mom gave me the first Bible she ever had, a Gideon New Testament from the mid 1950′s.
My favorite gift was finding out my wife was pregnant with our first child.
Two yeas ago I recieved a large glass jar filled with.slips of paper. On each paper is a handnwritten note recalling a good memory one of my family members has of me. Whenever I feel down I pull out a few notes and read them.
My engagement… my wife saying yes to me at Christmas.
Titans vs. Chargers tickets for a Christmas night game a few years back.
A personalized coffee mug.
GI Joe army base!
In elementary school my aunt took my sister and I to the dollar store to buy gets for each other. My sister was so proud of her gift and could barely contain herself. Christmas finally arrives and I open my gift and it is a “gold” necklace with a N initial charm. I was puzzled because my initials are all C’s. I reminded her if that and she said she said they were out of C’s so she got me N for nice! One of my best gifts!
Calvin’s Commentaries
I would have to say the 1st Christmas with my wife after her conversion and then to see her baptized the following week on Jan 1 1978 and from then we have been in teh ministry since 1981
A full-size pinball machine when I was so small I had to stand on a stool to play it. Kept it for the next 40 years.
My favorite Christmas gift was waking up next to my new bride 20 years ago after our Christmas Eve wedding.
Legos
I would have to say a 3 wheel go-cart when I was 10 years old
Might be the original Nintendo Entertainment Center that came with Super Mario Bros & Duck Hunt when I was younger.
December 13, 1982 my father died of cancer. At Christmas a received small gifts he had picked out from a cart of provi by volunteers at VA hospital where he had been hospitalized. My dad never shopped, so these gifts were extra special to our family.
A train set. My dad and grandpa both wanted to play with my train set with me.
I was saved in Oct 1992, that Christmas my wife gave me a NIV study bible my favorite Christmas gift .
My favorite Christmas Gift: Being acceped into many different families while away from home at Christmas time. First in the military, and then in California where I have pastored nearly 40 years and was accepted in many families.
One of the best Christmas gifts is the gift of time and acceptance.
The best Christmas gift was an all expense paid (by car) trip
Home for our family for Christmas. It was our second year in
Seminary and we could not afford to go home and God provided.
By the way we were in seminary in Texas and home was Buffalo NY.
The first Christmas my wife and I celebrated together after we were married she bought me a guitar. That was awesome!
The greatest Christmas gift I ever received was a Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time.
Just kidding….now that I have your attention though, The greatest gift I received was from a fellow pastor’s widow. Jerry Townsend had pastored local churches throughout this area for 50 years. I came to know and love Jerry and Elsa as they served as interim pastor of our church. I grew up in as a pastor’s kid and had observed many pastors throughout my life, but never learned as much as I did in those three years Jerry served as pastor.
Jerry was diagnosed with a brain tumor towards the end of his tenure in our congregation. I watched him put aside himself to continue serving the needs of the congregation. I’m not saying he neglected treatment, but that he didn’t allow himself to become the focus.
I can recall when he was going into surgery. His greatest fear was that he’d lose his sight or the Word of God. As they put him to sleep he was quoting Scripture to ensure he committed it to memory. When he was brought out of surgery, the first thing he did was to start quoting Scripture.
Unfortunately, he passed away within a year of his surgery.
The Gift!!!!
I had surrendered to the call to ministry a few years later when I received a call from Elsa. She had a gift for me. She wanted me to have Jerry’s library (commentaries, bibles, etc.) to help start my ministry. As I read through the books, it had his notes and thoughts from over 50 years of ministry.
As I minister to the local church, I continually think back to the way he served as interim in our church. He didn’t pursue it as an interim position, he committed himself fully to the members. I praise God for the pastors I’ve had in my life as role models and I only hope that I can serve as faithfully as they have served.
My favorite Christmas gift was the original Nintendo. I was the talk of the neighborhood until everybody got one!
A stuff toy still well-loved until today even as an adult already
My husband and I invested in a coal stoker last year. No more shaking down the ashes between warped grates! That’s a great gift in my book!
The Lord’s peace to all…
My best Christmas gift, after Christ (yeah, I know that’s corny, deal with it), was the Christmas God blessed me with the man I married 6 months to the day later. We have had 24 1/2 wonderful years with many ups and downs, with 7 cats, 1 dog, and 2 beautiful daughters who continue to to make us proud. My second best was the year I told my mom to ‘surprise me’ and she bought me a cheese sampler with cheeses I had never eaten before. She knows that I am part mouse (she used to tell me I would wake up someday with a long tail and gray fur) and so the cheese hit it right on the head.
The greatest for me is getting to see the on my children’s, and now my grand children’s faces when they open their presents each year. When i was young it was snare drum that i was playing at 4 in the morning of Christmas day.
1993 my would be future mother in law bought me an Inductive Study Bible from Precept. Been using it ever since.
A football. I love the game and asked and got a new one most every Christmas as a kid
My two “Lifes”. Two Christmas’ ago I found out I had stage four Colon Cancer and was told I didn’t have long. The first life I received for Christmas was life through Christ so that I could face the possibility of death soon. If I live or die, it is gain is what I read in the bible so I believed it. The second life is now being able to celebrate a third Christmas with my family. So the best gift ever for Christmas is LIFE.
Just being home while I was on active duty during war on terror
Four tickets to a University of Florida Football Game
Our son, that was born just after the calendar turned from 12/25 to 12/26!
The best Christmas gift I have received, other than Jesus of course, was my husband. We celebrate nine years of marital awesomeness on Dec. 27th, so I guess that he was a wee-bit belated, but perfectly on time.
A child’s table and chairs when I was about six or so. Lots of good tea times and art sessions over the years. Son used the same table and chairs when we stayed at my parents.
My best Christmas gift was a scrap book that my mother gave me. She gave it to me when we didn’t have the money to buy gifts. As I buy gifts now I am reminded that it is the love we share that matters most and not the things of this world. Those endearing memories make me thankful for my family, friends, and Christ who provide for me every moment of my life even when I don’t realize it.
Congratulations to this week’s winner Fred Kerr.
My Christmas present this year was a 2 week trip to Israel, my wife and congregation pulled together to send me. This was in November and I don’t think I will ever forget that.