{"id":1061,"date":"2015-12-04T16:53:09","date_gmt":"2015-12-04T16:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crazy4fiction.com\/?p=1061"},"modified":"2025-11-02T21:28:42","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T21:28:42","slug":"christmas-mail-and-friendship-francine-rivers-thoughts-on-holiday-correspondence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/christmas-mail-and-friendship-francine-rivers-thoughts-on-holiday-correspondence\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Mail and Friendship: Thoughts on Holiday Correspondence by Francine Rivers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Christmas season is often synonymous with checking in with friends, both old and new. Below,&nbsp;<em>New York Times<\/em>&nbsp;bestselling author&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/2TNPwVthttps:\/\/www.tyndale.com\/authors\/francine-rivers\/539?utm_source=Dec0415_post&amp;utm_medium=FrancineRivers&amp;utm_campaign=C4F_Blog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Francine Rivers<\/a>&nbsp;shares her thoughts on one of her favorite holiday traditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>I have all kinds of reasons why I love the Christmas season, the most important of which is celebrating the birth of my Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.&nbsp;But one of the things I anticipate with great delight is the arrival of yearly newsy letters from relatives and friends who only write once a year.&nbsp;Some don\u2019t have email or computers and write lovely, long-hand letters filled with happenings.&nbsp;I have several friends who love to explore the world.&nbsp;Being in their sixties doesn\u2019t stop them from climbing mountains, riding rapids, camping in Argentina or Peru, mountain biking with grandchildren. I can\u2019t wait to read where they\u2019ve been and what they\u2019ve been up to over the last twelve months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not all my friends are in their sixties. My mother said, \u201cIf you only make friends your own age, someday you\u2019ll end up with no friends at all.\u201d&nbsp;This was at a time in her life where opening Christmas cards had become somewhat depressing because they carried news of yet another friend\u2019s spouse having passed through the Pearly Gates.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Friends come in all ages. As you get older, age doesn\u2019t matter.&nbsp;What does is to find friends who talk with you and listen, who share their stories and are interested in yours.&nbsp;I enjoy my golden oldies (friends I\u2019ve known since grade school) and those I have just met through a class or through a friend. I met one good friend at a book signing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em>Cherish those old friends, but don\u2019t be afraid to add new ones.&nbsp;Friendship keeps life full and interesting.&nbsp;<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-medium is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tyndale.com\/p\/the-shoe-box-25th-anniversary-edition\/9781496409126?utm_source=Dec0415_post&amp;utm_medium=theshoebox&amp;utm_campaign=C4F_Blog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/10\/978-1-4964-0912-6-217x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10113\" width=\"163\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/10\/978-1-4964-0912-6-217x300.jpg 217w, https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/10\/978-1-4964-0912-6-742x1024.jpg 742w, https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/10\/978-1-4964-0912-6-768x1061.jpg 768w, https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/10\/978-1-4964-0912-6-1112x1536.jpg 1112w, https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/10\/978-1-4964-0912-6-1483x2048.jpg 1483w, https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/10\/978-1-4964-0912-6.jpg 1575w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 163px) 100vw, 163px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>This Christmas novella tells the unforgettable story of little Timmy, a foster child with a very special and mysterious shoe box. Designed for gift-giving, this heartwarming book features Francine Rivers\u2019 favorite holiday recipes and Christmas traditions, and the complete Christmas story from the New Living Translation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Originally published December 4, 2015; updated for formatting and to add new edition of <\/em>The Shoe Box<em> on October 26, 2025; featured image added November 2, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Christmas season is often synonymous with checking in with friends, both old and new. Below,&nbsp;New York Times&nbsp;bestselling author&nbsp;Francine Rivers&nbsp;shares her thoughts on one of her favorite holiday traditions. I have all kinds ...","protected":false},"author":1266,"featured_media":13843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,58,18],"tags":[54,175,33,69],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Crazy4Fiction | Christmas Mail and Friendship: Thoughts on Holiday Correspondence by Francine Rivers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.tyndale.com\/crazy4fiction\/christmas-mail-and-friendship-francine-rivers-thoughts-on-holiday-correspondence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crazy4Fiction | Christmas Mail and Friendship: Thoughts on Holiday Correspondence by Francine Rivers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Christmas season is often synonymous with checking in with friends, both old and new. Below,&nbsp;New York Times&nbsp;bestselling author&nbsp;Francine Rivers&nbsp;shares her thoughts on one of her favorite holiday traditions. 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