Bishop Thomas Paprocki, Jeff Cavins, and other Register friends share their most memorable Christmas presents.
A Mother’s Love
“My favorite Christmas gift was from my mother. She gave me a box filled with colored paper, glue, scissors, a ruler, crayons, stickers and a plastic protractor, among other items. With it was a note, ‘Create Whatever You Can Think Of.’ This, I believe, was a seed planted in me that, oddly enough, came to mind when I created the Bible timeline. I mentioned this in the eulogy at my mother’s funeral.” — Jeff Cavins, creator of The Bible Timeline study (AscensionPress.com), refreshed for 2025 with onsite videos from 50-plus locations across the Holy Land, Egypt, Rome and beyond (Find more Bible resources at EWTNRC.com.)
Simple Season
“The best Christmas present I received is one that didn’t come wrapped in a bow. In fact, it was given during a season where we had no Christmas presents at all! In 2018, I was pregnant with our second child, due around Christmas, and my husband was finishing his demanding doctoral program. We were getting ready to move 500 miles from our tiny Birmingham apartment to our newly purchased home in Ohio; and knowing that our son was due ‘any day,’ we decided to strip down Christmas to the bare minimum. We didn’t set up a tree; instead, we made a tiny tree out of craft foam with our toddler. We hung stockings from command hooks on the wall. The only boxes in our living room were packed moving boxes stacked from floor to ceiling. It was the most peaceful Advent and Christmas season we’ve ever had because we weren’t concerned about buying presents or hosting parties. We saw the connection to the Holy Family who, in poverty, celebrated the first Christmas in a stable with a baby lying in a manger, and we were able to focus our hearts on preparing for the Christ Child’s birth. I don’t recommend suddenly deciding to eliminate presents from your Christmas tradition, but if you can have a ‘stripped-down’ Christmas that embraces the true reason for the season, you’ll find yourself receiving what — or Who — is truly the greatest gift.” — Debbie Cowden, senior manager for social media at EWTN and the co-author, with her husband David, of The Prayer Book for Tired Parents (EWTN Publishing)
Gift of Vocation
“It is always a joy to receive a present from a loved one, but one Christmas, I received the gift of my vocation. My husband proposed one chilly December evening a few days before Christmas. Though the ring was lovely, it is more beautiful to meditate upon the reality of such a gift. Vocations aren’t store made, but a profound gift nonetheless. With the nearing of Christ’s coming, it is worthwhile to pray and seek counsel over discerning your God-given vocation.” — Emily Malloy, food and floral editor at TheologyofHome.com and author of Theology of Home IV: Arranging the Seasons
Rosary and Reading
“Tokens of faith and spiritual reading are lasting gifts, as they serve to form the recipient in many ways: a beautiful rosary (many to be chosen from on EWTNRC.com), along with countless books (I love Raymond Arroyo’s book on Mother Angelica’s vocation and life: Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve, and a Network of Miracles).” — Emily Malloy, food and floral editor at TheologyofHome.com and author of Theology of Home IV: Arranging the Seasons
Saintly Selection
“The most impactful Christmas gift I ever received was as a high schooler, when my parents generously bought me Butler’s four-volume Lives of the Saints. Every night for the next decade, I read the biographies of the saints whom the Church would celebrate the next day. The exercise not only helped me sleep with the saints and angels but hunger, thirst and strive more for holiness when I would awaken.” — Msgr. Roger J. Landry, national director, The Pontifical Mission Societies
Find these books (limited stock) and other saint biographies at EWTN Religious Catalogue.
Family Portraits
“One gift I love to get for others is an original sketch of them or their family from the street artists I meet in Rome, New York and other places. With a decent digital photo and sometimes as little as $25, I can get a unique gift that the recipient will appreciate and not be tempted to regift!” — Msgr. Roger J. Landry, national director, The Pontifical Mission Societies
Hockey Fan
“My favorite gift as a child was a goalie stick, which is fitting because I still play hockey today as a goalie.” — Bishop Thomas Paprocki, the shepherd of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, also known as the “Holy Goalie”
Musical Moment
“Favorite Christmas present received: My dad gave me a cello when I was 17 (and scheduled an instructor) because he knew I wanted to grow in my musical abilities. The gift keeps on giving!” — Mary Harper, founder of LiturgicalStyle.com, where she focuses on the theological significance of clothing based on Scripture, the stories of the saints and the liturgical calendar; Instagram.com/liturgicalstyle/
Cooking With Love
“Every year since we have been engaged, my husband, Raymond, gives me a hand-designed five-course menu, which he then cooks for me sometime during the Christmas Octave. It is the best food I eat all year, but I’m even more touched each year by the thoughtful consideration, time, labor and love that goes into it! I also love the memories we’ve made on those at-home date nights eating his delicious food, reminiscing on the past year, and dreaming and goal-planning for the year ahead.”
— Katie Warner, children’s book author, wife, and mother of five; KatieWarner.com
Blessing of Books
“It’s not surprising given the size of my home library now, but my very favorite gifts as a kid were always books! My mom would wrap up a whole stack of them, and then the hardest decision was which one to start reading first. I’d spend the rest of my Christmas break curled up, reading one book after another.” — Katherine Bogner, Catholic schoolteacher from Central Illinois and children’s book author; online at LooktoHimandBeRadiant.com
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