This is the first book I’ve read from author Melissa Spoelstra, and it won’t be the last one. I truly enjoyed her practical, down-to-earth stories and suggestions perfect for this time of year. Her book is divided into 31 brief devotions, which you can dive into any time of the holiday season. Melissa offers many ideas for how to prioritize your faith life and minister to others’ needs in this special time of year.

She asks us to focus on three key areas to focus on God’s character and faithfulness:

Ritual
Relationships
Rest

I think she picked three very important areas for focus. Each one is an area where I need improvement this year.

Here are the suggestions I’m using to makeover my Christmas this year:

Go through the alphabet and think of something about God for each letter. Example: A-Alpha and Omega. (Use this in your time of personal praise and worship.)

As Christmas cards are mailed to your home, collect them in a basket. Then at mealtimes, pull out one of the cards and pray for the individual or family who sent it.
We can take a humble posture as we go to holiday gatherings or parties. We can walk in the door prepared to listen with understanding.

If you’re looking for a practical devotional to help you gain balance this Christmas, this book will be a good fit for you, and it will fit into your busy schedule too!

Thank you to Netgalley for a free review copy of this book!

Total Christmas Makeover by Melissa Spoelstra

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

_________________________________________________________________________________________
Story Notes

Melissa Spoelstra brings to her readers a devotional meant to bring new focus to God during the Christmas season by coming back to the rituals, relationships and rest we can all find in Christ.

Let me begin by saying that this a very good devotional, well written with good scriptures and important points included. However, for myself I found it to be a little too simplified to be entirely likeable. I know the goal here is to allow a person to get back into the practice of daily devotional, especially during the Christmas Season, but I wish Ms. Spoelstra had had a scripture reading or two for me to look up by myself rather than printing them on the pages of the devotional. Or even “further study reading” to go along with what she had written about each day. Another problem I found is that Ms. Spoelstra spent a lot of time talking about things she did growing up or her family has participated in during past years. I had thought the focus was to be mostly on “rituals” that would bring us closer to Christ – not that she or I are preaching ritualistic requirements – but I would have enjoyed the devotional more if she was including things like the Advent Wreath, the Jesse Tree or other “rituals” of Christmas that point to Jesus. I know her point was to bring in the traditions that we might have in our families but if the focus is to be re-centered on Christ, there need to be better and more connections made. Her relationship and rest sections were much better put together and I found those to be the best parts of this devotional. Showing how our relationships with others and the care we show to them is directly related to how we approach God was a great reminder for me. As I considered how I treat others, especially during the hectic time of Christmas, I remembered that in order to point the way to Christ I would needed to ask God to help me be especially kind, patient and helpful so that others would see Christ in me. I did enjoy her daily prayers that she included, finding them to be prefect for the topic that was covered and allowing each person to insert their own needs or desires into the prayers at times. Prayer is an important part of devotional time and I was very glad to see Ms. Spoelstra had included it in her writing. I also enjoyed her Practical Approach ideas that were at the end of each devotion – things for someone to do themselves or with their family. Honestly, this devotional would probably be better done with a group than as a solo effort. So while this wasn’t my favorite devotional I did find several things to enjoy. I would recommend this book to those who are looking to find a way back into or to even start a devotional for the first time. This is a great study for those who are new Christians or those who have not been able to do a study recently. I will tell those who are active studyers of the Word that this one is a little less in depth than they are probably going to want.

I received this E-book free of charge from Abington Press via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. I will receive no fiscal compensation from either company for this review.

The TOTAL CHRISTMAS MAKEOVER is an excellent book to start in November. As we make our way to December we begin to hear Christmas music, see stores being decorated and filled with festive merchandise and holiday special sales on television. So easily we can become distracted and caught up with all the hustle that we forget to put our focus on the main reason for Christmas. Spoelstra does an amazing job of relating to each of us during this time of year. Sure, we want to get into the Christmas spirit and who doesn’t want to have a house filled with that sugar cookie smell and “The Grinch” playing in the background? We can easily lose our joy during the Christmas season by becoming so busy that we are aggravated and overwhelmed. Total Christmas Makeover is a devotional that helps us to get into the Christmas spirit while keeping Christ the main focus of our celebration. She shares about her and her husband’s Christmas experiences growing up as children. She blends both of their experiences to create a new way of celebrating their own family to keep Christ at the center of the holiday season. She shares some stories to make it more relatable by including her three children of ages 6 years old, three months and twins of two years old.

Spoelstra divides her devotional into three sections that I refer to as the “three R’s” Ritual, Relationships and Rest along with ten devotionals that are relative to each subject. Whenever I first read the Ritual section, I was a little skeptical because whenever I would hear the word “ritual”. Growing up, rituals weren’t smiled upon and the ones I had seen were hollow or meant nothing to me. However, this section of the devotional really opened my eyes to an entirely new meaning of “ritual”. As Spoelstra quotes ” A Christmas makeover doesn’t mean throwing out all our traditions and habits over the holiday season and exchanging them for new ones. However, it might mean prioritizing the traditions that point us to Christ birth, rediscovering the intent behind the practices we treasure, or incorporating some new rituals that will help us share God’s message of love with those around us.” Spoelstra relates each topic to the Biblical celebrations mentioned in throughout the Bible such as the Passover, the Day of Atonement and festivals. “These were times of remembrance to help focus on God’s character and historical moments of His faithfulness.” (page 2).

What I enjoyed most about this 203-page book is how it’s very simple, practical and focused on Christ. Each devotion starts out with scripture that is relevant to the content of each devotion. Each devotion is about two pages long and has an ending prayer. What I believe makes a great devotional is how it can make you think and Spoelstra adds self-reflective questions a the end of each devotional to help you. For me, the purpose of reading a devotional is to kick start my mind thinking about the Lord and his Word. This devotion is more than just a reading for women, but it can be used to sit down each morning during breakfast with your family to read together each day up until Christmas. This devotion is also fantastic for a women’s group to read at each meeting. These devotions take more than just a few minutes to reflect on, as each devotion is an in-depth read. If you are like me and would prefer to not write in your book I would purchase a small journal to write down your thoughts to the reflective questions. All in all, this is a great devotional to consider if you’re looking to keep your eyes on the true meaning of Christmas as the days get shorter and crazier!

Makeover is a wonderful adventure book. It starts to daily with scripture. Goes into telling you a story , but what I truly appreciate about this one it isn't a hit and run story , it is a few pages worth . It is a wonderful joyful lesson story book. Then it has questions for you to go over and think over. It then has reflections it gives you a practical approach as well . This is so worth it to do with the family or it is also for those of you who do it alone .

I remember the days when I first got married. Each holiday we went to my husband’s parents house for Thanksgiving and Christmas. After each meal, we then had to drive to his aunts house for dessert. I felt like I was gonna burst at the seams. All I wanted to do was go home and forget the holidays. My family didn’t do anything for holidays so it was hard to watch my husband’s family all cheery and bright. I have learned over the years that holidays are only as good as you choose to make them.

I really enjoyed this devotional a lot. I loved the stories she shares and how encouraging it is to know that everything doesn’t have to be perfect. I think about the Norman Rockwell paintings. I will never have the perfect table setting, or the perfect family Christmas photo, but I do have a family that comes together each year to make memories. I thought the authors idea about praying for the family or individual who sent you a Christmas card was awesome. I usually put mine on the mantle when I get them and forget about them being there. Now I can pray for one of them each day and thank God for bringing special people into my life.

On day twenty she talks about patience. That is something I am still working on. It is a great reminder for me to learn to be more patient with others and to thank Him for His patience with me. Make sure you check out the Questions for Reflection and A Practical Approach after each chapter. I loved everything about this book and encourage you to grab a copy.

I received a copy of this book from LitFuse. The review is my own opinion.

These 31 meditations, one per day throughout December, can lead to big changes in the way you deal with Christmas, your life, and your relationship to Christ. Each chapter begins with one or more readings from the Bible then continues with the meditation. Following this is a prayer and questions for reflection. At the end of each chapter is what makes this different from so many other books of reflections, a section on practical applications that gives you great ideas and actions to make your Christmas (and life more centered on Christ).

Spoelestra, the wife of a pastor and mother of four, breaks down her makeover into three parts: ritual, relationships, and rest. Each section is full of great reflections, food for thought and prayer, and ideas.

The ritual section deals with many of the common activities revolving around the holidays and looks to how we can tweak or even change them to bring them more in line with the religious meaning of Christmas. These ideas don't take the fun out of Christmas, nor are they just silly, but they will help add meaning to the things we do.

The relationships section is the least "christmasy" part of the book. While the ideas and meditations are great, they could be applied any time of year. Perhaps it's just that during this time so much emphasis is placed on helping others and on our families.

The last section, rest, mostly falls towards the end of the month. It reminds us that rest is part of God's plan and that we need to stop, slow down, and rest.

I found plenty to love and put into action in this book.