Summary

An empty jar, a little bit of change, a little bit more time, and a person in need.  Christmas Jars. Just what the title implies.

Review

Sometimes, when I’m trying to determine the next book to review I’m stumped.  Take, for example, Christmas books.  I could read 8 books a month for the next 10 years and never run out of material to review.  So the question becomes, how to choose? Do I go for the classics? Do I go for the obscure?  This time, I decided to go for the book someone searched for after they came for a visit to Epiphanies of Beauty.

Not sure I want to do that again. And the book has put me in an awful predicament.  Premise vs. book.  Yep. It seems that LDS authors want to do a little preachy preachy, too.

If you were the Catholic looking for a book review, looking for a Catholic opinion on an LDS book, let me tell you. There is nothing contrary to the faith in this book. Quite the opposite, in fact.

But if you were anyone of any faith looking for a literary review, I’ll have to tell you that the book’s writing is very simple and the plot quite visible before you turn to page one. I read it in less than a day. It was an easy afternoon on the couch, but not enjoyable.  So the book is neither a good story, or well written. But it has a nice message.

So the concept is a good one. And if you’d like a project to implement in your CCD/PSR, school classroom, homeschool, homeschool group, or scout group that is a tangible way to help someone in need, Christmas Jars in definitely one option. The jar can, of course, be of any size. And the recipient’s need doesn’t have to be monetary.

Indeed, that was one aspect of the book I particularly enjoyed. In fact, there was an example where the Christmas Jar, full of change, was given to a person of means – they had absolutely zero need of the money contained in the jar.  But we know that charity is more than giving money, and that sometimes, when you drop a few quarters into a jar you are also dropping a little bit of yourself into that jar as well. And when, in charity, you give that piece of you to someone else – well the effects may be rippling. Pay it forward, so to speak.

There has been a call to action this Advent about performing acts of charity, Christmas Jars might be a nice way to get started. I just don’t think you need to read the book to understand the concept or to learn how it’s done. Glance at the cover. Got it? Good.

A better read would be the Catechism, the section on The Beatitudes.

What You Need to Know

• Role Models/Authority Figures –  Everyone is squeaky clean.
  
• Violence –  None
• Language – None
• Sexual Content – No sexual content, but a few phrases between the married couple that come across as sexist. Even thought the author interrupted the story to tell us that this was the kind of man who could get away with speaking to women like this, I didn’t buy it. Wasn’t cute. But I ignored it.
  
• Consumerism – None
  
• Drinking/Smoking/Drugs – None
  
• Religion – No mention of any specific religion, but the book is full of perfect people doing ideal things.
  
• Other –
  
• Neat stuff –