When I found out that there was a new book: The Book of (Holiday) Awesome: When the Christmas Lights All Work, Successfully Regifting a Present, Drinking with Grandma — I gladly agreed to a review and a giveaway.

The gold cover is festive, and the thoughts inside are more of the same, but with a holiday theme. And we’re not just talking Christmas, either. The book does start with Christmas, but other December holidays like Kwanzaa and Hanukkah are represented as well. Then Pasricha moves chronologically through the year from New Year’s Eve to Valentine’s Day, remembering even little St. Patrick’s Day, then Easter, summer holidays, and Halloween and Thanksgiving.

At first I wasn’t as wowed by this book as the first, and I think that part of it was that I was used to the awesome — I expected it. But I wonder if there are some better essays buried deeper in. The one about playing board games really cracked me up, and I loved the memories his essays on the Kids’ Table and Halloween costumes stirred.

I recommend that you buy a couple of copies of The Book of (Holiday) Awesome and keep them on-hand for hostess gifts, or put one in your “thinking room” to spruce it up for the holidays. Some of the essays are very short and could easily be finished during a quick trip.

You can leave a comment now to enter to win one. We’ll announce the winner on December 7. Just for fun, tell me what you are most looking forward to eating this Thanksgiving or Christmas.The giveaway has closed.

• The winner of The Iron Knight is #13 Megan Earley.

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Jennifer Donovan looks forward to eating dressing each year, as well as her twice-yearly taste of pecan pie. She blogs at Snapshot.

Perhaps you are shaking your head at the mere mention of Christmas here the week before Thanksgiving! But that’s the point. This book not only gives you guidance about setting goals for the holiday you want (sticking to a budget, saying no to so many activities, focusing more on the religious meaning etc), but Christie also encourages you to use the true spirit of Thanksgiving to usher in the Christmas season. What’s more, the book also takes you all the way into the New Year.

The book contains it all. The “Less is More” chapter not only deals with busyness, but spending and overeating. Does that not sum it up?

Each chapter closes with “simple tips from friends,” which are just as the title suggests — simple, real-life, workable tips that you can consider using this very holiday season.

This book is published by Abingdon Press, a Christian publisher, and there is a very meaningful chapter “Growing Stronger Spiritually,” but other than that, many of these ideas could be used by those who get overwhelmed with the non-religious cultural elements of Christmas.

Go ahead — buy it now. It’s available in paperback and ebook. It’s a short book, so you can squeeze it in during this busy time. And if you end up winning, you can pass your copy along to a friend who needs it, and you can help each other stay accountable to your goals for a less hurried, more focused Christmas (There are even a few discussion questions for each chapter at the back of the book).

Mary gives her perspective on how she helps reduce holiday stress in her post and book review over at 5 Minutes for Faith.

Leave a comment if you’d like to win a copy. We’ll announce the winner right here on November 30.

You can also get another chance to win by checking out Elizabeth’s post over at 5 Minutes for Mom and leaving a comment over there. Having recently returned from living in Morocco, her Christmas experiences are something to check out! The giveaway is closed.

The winner of the latest Mother Daughter Bookclub novel Home for the Holidays is #24 Rebekah.

Don’t miss a thing: Check out our current giveaways. Subscribe to our feed or video reviews on YouTube. Follow us @5M4B on Twitter or on Facebook.

*This post is part of a sponsored campaign with the publisher, but of course my opinions are my own.

Jennifer doesn’t get too hurried or worried during Christmas, but she appreciated the extra encouragement not to get too overwhelmed. When she gets busy, blogging at Snapshot is one of the first things to go.

Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott experience the same evening rush as the rest of us. For a while, Leslie served as a short-order cook in her own kitchen as she prepared separate items for different family members before shuttling them to various activities (sound familiar?). As a psychologist and family therapist, however, their research (and the research of countless others) has shown that families that share a dinnertime ritual with each other reap the rewards. In The Hour that Matters Most: The Surprising Power of the Family Meal the Parrotts discuss the secrets of a happy home and explain why the family meal plays such an important role.

While the research encourages us to gather around the table, the question exists: How will I do it? After establishing the need for the family meal, the Parrotts include informative chapters on food preparation, talking with your family, listening to your children, curbing conflict, enjoying laughter, and other topics. The Parrotts also include recipes and advice from Stephanie Allen and Tina Kuna, two leaders in the meal-assembly industry. This book is a practical and useful tool to help jump start a meaningful tradition. I especially appreciated the assurance that not every dinner hour is magic. Food may be burned, kids may be cranky, and parents may be impatient, but the Parrotts encourage persistence. Over time, family meals create stability and meaningful relationships between parents and their children. The Parrotts assure us that time together at the dinner table softens hearts, builds connections, engenders laughter, and cultivates caring.

According to the Parrotts, “Countless studies have shown that if parents could take only one proactive and practical step to engender family commitment, appreciation, affection, positive communication, time together, and all the rest, it would be to establish a regular dinnertime around a common table without distraction. One hour a few times a week. That’s it.” I’m a realist, and I know we will not be able to have a family meal every night. But thanks to the information and ideas in The Hour that Matters Most, I am committed to bringing my family back to the table. I am sure I am not the only reader to be facing this challenge, and I encourage you to pick up a copy of this book. Our families are worth it!

5 Minutes for Mom has 12 copies to give away!

I’d love to hear your thoughts here on my review, but to enter to win a copy, you need to visit the main post at 5 Minutes for Mom and leave a comment over there. The giveaway closes October 13.

Lauren is a wife, mother-of-two, and an avid reader. She blogs at Baseballs and Bows.

Please click over to read my full review of this book on 5 Minutes for Mom. You can also leave a comment over there to enter to win one of TWO copies. Comments are closed here.

Lauren is a wife, mother of two, and an avid reader. She blogs at Baseballs and Bows.

I am proud to be a member of the Hidden Valley Ranch Love Your Veggies Mom Panel. We are working together to encourage kids — ours and others — to love their veggies! I hope you’ll check out our posts about ways that we’ve gotten our families more involved with veggies.

Today I am sharing some great books and resources with you in my column at 5 Minutes for Mom that you can use to encourage your kids to get involved in vegetables. It’s proven that kids are more likely to be willing to try something that they’ve helped grow or helped make in the kitchen.

Five of you will win an awesome gift pack worth $250, thanks to the Love Your Veggies campaign. Please check out my post at 5 Minutes for Mom, leave a comment, and enter to win.

Jennifer Donovan is thankful for the opportunities that blogging has given her, such as serving as a product ambassador on the Mom Panel for Love Your Veggies.

Here’s the problem with most marriage books — we have to read them.

I generally start off reading and nodding my head, and then I end up putting it aside, because it’s a little dry, impractical or repetitive (or all three!).

Spousonomics: Using Economics to Master Love, Marriage, and Dirty Dishes was different. I was pulled right in with practical advice written in a highly engaging style. I loved how the authors used economic principles — most of which were new to me, but fun to learn about — to show areas we could improve in our marriage.

The key to using economic science is that the results are often counter-intuitive. What seems to make sense isn’t always the best course, and the authors use examples — both from economics and real couples who participated in their Exhaustive, Groundbreaking, and Very Expensive Marriage Survey.

Topics include

• Division of Labor
• Loss Aversion
• Supply and Demand
• Moral Hazard
• Asymmetric Information
• Intertemporal Choice
• Game Theory

Another thing I liked about Spousonomics is that my husband might actually read it. I’m usually the one who reads marriage and parenting books, but both people really have to read them to appreciate the benefit. Whether he ends up reading it or not (I’m guessing “not”), it did open the door some fun, low-pressure discussions.

Jennifer Donovan and her finance-guy husband have been married over 18 years. She’s very happy, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. By popular demand, she avoids blogging about sensitive marital issues at her blog Snapshot.

Planning before you start a family is one of the strategies mentioned by Cathi Brese Doebler in her new book Ditch The Joneses, Discover Your Family: How to Thrive on Less Than Two Incomes!, but Cathi shares many other wise suggestions as well. Not everyone is able to plan ahead in the same way, but there are many other options for having a parent at home full-time or even part-time. Cathi gives tips for creating a budget and saving options for those looking to reduce or eliminate their jobs outside the home. She also shares ideas for approaching companies about doing some work from home and even shares example letters. There are many opportunities for self-employment, and Cathi discusses these while also discussing the impact of changes in the work place that can happen while a parent is at home. I especially appreciate that Cathi not only shares her own ideas, but also includes many charts to use as aides, along with other resources to use in financial planning. Additionally, the book is filled with prayers and scriptures for families to use as they make decisions and plans.

For many families, these decisions are tough, and there are many solutions. Although some families choose to have two full-time working parents, many families would like to find ways to have one or both parents home more, particularly when their children are very young. Cathi Brese Doebler’s book is an excellent resource that can help parents find a path that works for them. This book is helpful and practical. If you are looking for ways to manage the work/home balance, be sure to pick up a copy of Ditch The Joneses, Discover Your Family: How to Thrive on Less Than Two Incomes!.

Lauren is a wife, mother of two, and an avid reader. She blogs at Baseballs and Bows.

When I think of going “off the grid,” I immediately think of something going wrong. Not to make a blanket judgment, but generally those who exercise such an extreme divergence from “normal life” end up facing some disappointment. And indeed, as the subtitle hints, it involves “a family undone.”

This is not a typical memoir. For one thing, Melissa Coleman starts the story of her parents and their life trying to live off the grid in Maine in the 70′s when she’s still in the womb. Obviously she cannot remember that time in her life, but it’s apparent from her use of quotes from others who were adults at that time, that she has done her research. So instead of reading like a straight memoir which is very much centered around the author, this reads a little bit more like investigative journalism, but with the added bonus of Coleman’s presence, both as that young child and as the adult who is now writing with some hindsight.

Elliot Coleman, Melissa’s father, is truly a pioneer in organic farming. You may or may not agree with the burden that his dream put on his family, but his thoughts about the food we eat and our dependence on other people to provide us with the food is right in the mainstream today.

Coleman does not write with judgment, either on her father or the rest of the world who doesn’t choose to live that way, although she does contrast his choice quite pointedly with that of his wealthy parents who smoke and drank to “soothe some unnamed feeling of discontent created by the relative ease of their existence” (p. 32 ARC).

That has to make you think, and makes Coleman’s choice to do something for himself — to work hard to provide for all his family’s needs — seem natural.

The writing is absolutely riveting and it makes for a great read for anyone who likes memoir, especially those who might be interested in organic farming and natural foods. But because of her chosen style which reads as simply reporting a chronicle of her life, this might also appeal to those who tend to avoid more personal emotionally-driven memoirs.

Want more? Watch my video book review:

Jennifer Donovan doesn’t fancy herself a video personality, but doesn’t mind sharing a book review vlog now and then. She’s much more comfortable behind the keyboard blogging here and at Snapshot.

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