‘Twas the Night Before Christmas: A Story of Love Paperback – Illustrated, January 14, 2020 by Joni Loyland Prater , Gabe Sappenfield

How can I explain the night of Jesus’s birth to my young Sunday School class in a way that they can picture the events, imagine the emotion and fear of Mary going into labor far from home, and Joseph, her soon-to-be husband trying to console her, help her, and deliver the Christ child? I wanted them to experience it in their hearts.

This was my prayer one Thanksgiving evening while I washed the dishes and thought about the coming Sunday that would begin the Christmas season. All of a sudden, the words of this poem started flowing through my mind, and I remember scribbling them down on a piece of scratch paper on the kitchen table with soap bubbles still all over my hand and water stains on the paper.

I’ve never experienced such a quick response to prayer, and I was beyond excited to read this to my class and the entire congregation that Christmas. I gave the children a copy that year, and many have told me they still take it out every Christmas.