Too often, we approach Christmas mired in a puddle of tree lights, fighting to untangle, struggling to straighten things outâthe lights, ourselves. We get caught in the clamor of consumerism. We drown in debt.

Worst of all, we forget.

We forget to focus on the pure, unadulterated joy of the season. The kind of wholesome pleasure that seeps into our minds, sneaks onto our lips and slips throughout our souls. That indefinable, unexplainable, indescribable . . . cleansing . . . that washes over us until we are cleaner and clearer, bigger and brighter. Indeed, until we are
better
than ourselves.

And where do we find this elusive
something?

Within each of us lies the possibility of “betterness” and the ability to achieve a higher level of moral excellence by adopting virtuous qualities. And what
better
time than Christmas to discover, develop and nurture a virtue?

Christmas, a season of newness, offers us the opportunity for personal renewal. The chance to change ourselves, alter our course, remake our lives. Oh, not necessarily on a grand scale. Small incrementsâbaby stepsâwill do.

And that is what we offer within the pages of
Chicken
Soup for the Soul: The Book of Christmas Virtues
âinspiration to assist your quest for virtue. A collection of stories to encourage retrospection, introspection and quiet reflection.

Our own inspiration comes from the Advent season itself. Perhaps your family, too, reads Scripture and lights candles each Sunday during the month of December, each week focusing on a specific theme. In that same spirit, we selected seven virtues that are symbolic of Christmas: Kindness, Joy, Love, Gratitude, Faith, Simplicity and Wonder. All are characteristics that kindle a light within.

We designed a thought-provoking essay to introduce each virtue and a creative end-of-chapter activity to reinforce it. Then we read through stacks and stacks of stories. Stories that
Chicken Soup
readersâexactly like youâwrote and shared. Stories that depicted the same virtues we chose to emphasize. Stories that encouraged us. Stories that stirred and fired us. Stories that raised us to a higher plane.

From them, we selected the accounts within these pages, anecdotes of all shapes and sizes, exactly like the people who wrote them. After all, as a wise man once noted, “A human being is nothing but a story with skin around it.”

The final product is this treasury of holiday stories, emphasizing the good, the uplifting and the righteousâ all without sermonizing. The virtues are evident; the lessons are heartfelt; the journey is one of joy.
The Book of
Christmas Virtues
sparkles with the charm of a tinseled tree and crackles with the warmth of a wood-burning stove . . . even as it rings with the familiar voice of home.

Someone once said, “Telling a story is a gift of love.” And so, our gift to you this holiday season is in the telling.

Carol McAdoo Rehme

Value from Virtues:
How to Use This Book

Use it as a family reader:
Take turns reading aloud from it each night. There are enough stories for the entire month of December . . . and more.

Supplement Advent:
Pick one of the virtues as your weekly theme, and end each week with the suggested activity.

Use it for holiday teas and luncheons:
Share a story or two with the group as entertainment.

Place the book on your coffee table:
It is sure to be a constant reminder, year after year, of the true meaning of Christmas.

Give this book as a gift:
The only thing better than feeling the holiday spirit is sharing it.

Try the activities:
Use these ideas to reinforce your virtues and engage your family.

Joy

Finders, Keepers

Sixty-eight-year-old Ella found it as a volunteer in the newborn nursery at her local hospital:
fulfillment
cuddling her special charge, a new-to-this-Earth preemie whose downy delicacy made her wonder at the fragileness of life.

Up to her elbows in mud, Cassandra noticed it each evening when she straddled her potter's wheel:
mindless ecstasy
in the art of shaping objects of beauty. A quiet bliss in the act of creation itself.

Rebellious and edgy, Natasha felt it seep into her consciousness during her court-mandated community service:
self-satisfaction
in a job well done. A sense of pride she'd never before encountered in her thirteen years.

Ken caught it each time he exchanged his Wall Street suit for his Scout-leader shirt:
jubilation
in the act of pitching camp that he rarely felt on the trading floor. An exuberance as each of his charges mastered a new skill, earned a higher rank and inched a step closer to moral manhood.

JosÃ©, fresh from massage school, discovered it at the feet of an elderly client:
gratification
âand
humility
âas he kneaded out knots and rubbed her coarse calluses, as he felt her pain-wracked body ease, one tensed muscle after another.

The entire Price familyâall eight of themâencountered it the year they “gave away” Christmas: an
elation,
they agreed, greater than any they would have felt had they kept all those gifts for themselves.

So what exactly was it that made these human hearts sing?

Joy.
A virtue all of us desire, most of us seek, and each of us would like to claim.

Joy. Such a small, unassuming wordâonly three letters longâ yet often elusive, teasing and winking just beyond our reach.

Joy. What is it? Where can we find it? And . . . how can we keep it?

A veteran fisherman friend put it this way: “Joy works like the bobber on my line; it keeps me from sinking too low.” That definition is as plausible and accurate as any a scientist could contrive.

Although we might not be able to easily explain the sensation of joy, we've all witnessed it andâif we're fortunateâexperienced it: a kind of happiness-in-action. Sometimes it arrives carbonatedâ playful, positive and bubbling with festivity. Often, we feel it sneak inâbuttoned-up, quiet, satisfying, poignant. And then there's the most expansive brandâwith a label that reads
joie de vivre
âthat comes bundled with restless curiosity, an appetite for life and a passion for discovery.

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