The Joy of Advent is an easy, guided celebration of Advent and Christmas for any family that hopes to bring richness and meaning into the holiday season.From Advent through Epiphany, activities for all ages including daily Bible readings, reflections, songs, and prayers, provide a guided celebration that will infuse depth and delight throughout the Advent and Christmastide season. The Joy of Advent gives families the opportunity to come together and focus their hearts on the scarlet thread of Christmas—Christ’s love and sacrifice—woven through the tapestry of Scripture, and utilizing the Jesse Tree, to create poignant memories and beloved traditions.
Rebecca Grabill is mother of six and award-winning author of children's books
Halloween Good Night (Atheneum Books for Young Readers),
Violet and the Woof (Katherine Tegan Books/HarperCollins), and
A Year With Mama Earth (Eerdman's Books for Young Readers), as well as the poetry collection,
Sweetened Condensed (Flying Ketchup Press), and essays on global platforms such as ScaryMommy.com. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University and a B.A. in Religion and Philosophy from Calvin University. She is also an awardee of the Sustainable Arts Foundation. She lives in rural Michigan with her husband and children, and balances homeschooling with writing and commercial photography.
Stephen J. Grabill, Ph.D., theological consultant on this project (and conveniently Rebecca's husband), is general editor of the
NIV Stewardship Study Bible (Zondervan, 2009) and co-author and executive producer of the film series
For the Life of the World, which has sold more than 250,000 copies and reached 1.5 million viewers. He also has numerous academic titles to his name, teaches social ethics at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, and has 20 years experience as a senior research theologian, author, and speaker. Currently he is Director of Moja University and co-founder of the IT startup, Moja Market LLC, which will bring e-commerce and education to Sub-Saharan Africa.
Clare Therese Gray is the author, illustrator and pattern designer behind the popular Instagram account @claretheresegray. She creates artworks for textiles, paper craft and fabric collections, packaging and homewares. Inspired by the natural environment of her rural Hampshire surroundings, she lives and works on a farm with her husband and young family. After studying Painting at Art School in Norwich she went on to the Drawing Year at the Royal Drawing School where she focused on imaginative and observational drawing & printmaking before launching a freelance design career.
Aside from bespoke artworks, she takes on project-based collaborations with like-minded companies. Clare's design experience spans a range of clients and sectors from textiles to craft collections, homewares to book illustration. She is the author of two books,
'Woodland Watercolor: A Colouring Workbook' and '
Painting Nature with Clare: Create Beautiful Gouache Motifs of the Garden, Countryside, Sea, River and Forest' published with Page Street Publishing. She has illustrated the children's picture books, '
The Agnes Series' published with DK. Her patterns can be found around the world on children's and women's apparel, luxury toiletries, stationery, ceramics and decorative objects.
She has a passion for lino printing on paper and fabric, and loves spending time in galleries drawing ceramics and paintings. Otherwise, she can often be found enjoying the English countryside with her family, growing and collecting flowers to dry and, of course, drawing and painting every single day.
