World’s Largest St. Nicholas Database Is Moving

Virginia Theological Seminary’s exhibit is ready for the December 6 Feast of St. Nicholas

THIS WEEK, WE ARE CELEBRATING WITH ALL THE WORLD’S ST. NICHOLAS FANS—and in particular we are celebrating with our long-time friend, educator and writer Carol Myers in Holland, Michigan, the creator of the world’s largest database of online St. Nicholas resources.

Please, read our cover story this week and share it with friends who may enjoy marking St. Nicholas Day on December 6 as a way to remember some of the heroic lessons of this saint beloved by millions around the world. If you enjoy this story, please share it on social media or via email. Spreading a little good news like this is especially appreciated in our troubled world, these days.

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Holidays & Festivals

Happy Thanksgiving!

OUR NEIGHBORS TO THE NORTH, IN CANADA, already have celebrated their Thanksgiving. Now, it’s time for Americans to dig into the traditional feast—while expressing our gratitude for all we have received. Our Holidays & Festivals columnist Stephanie Fenton has the story, plus—as always—Stephanie has added some delicious links to online recipes and links to DIY family activities, as well.

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WANT TO SEE ALL OF THE UPCOMING HOLIDAYS & FESTIVALS?—It’s easy to find our annual calendar of global observances. Just remember the web address: InterfaithHolidays.com

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And More Good News From Our Authors—

Laura Elizabeth invites readers to decorate their Christmas trees with a bit of island magic.

WE’RE ALWAYS INSPIRED BY OUR AUTHORS’ CREATIVITY and, just in time for Christmas, we are impressed that cozy mystery author Laura Elizabeth is offering an array of Christmas tree ornaments as well as beautiful color photographs—all suitable as holiday gifts for the cozy mystery lover on your shopping list.

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Howard Brown

You might see this man smiling from your airline seat

Howard Brown’s story featured in two European magazines for travelers

HOWARD BROWN, author of the popular, inspirational memoir Shining Brightly, is a great example of the way our community of authors reaches out around the world. In this news story, we explain why Howard’s smiling face may turn up in an airline seat pocket, facing you this holiday season if you’re flying into Europe.

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Click on this movie poster to read Ed McNulty’s review of The Holdovers.

Click on this image to explore the November 2023 issue of Visual Parables Journal, packed with film reviews and discussion guides of movies including Killers of the Flower Moon, My Sailor My Love, Nowhere and The Life of Bayard Rustin.

Faith & Film

ED McNULTY, for decades, has published reviews, magazine articles and books exploring connections between faith and film. Most of his work is freely published. Ed supports his work by selling the Visual Parables Journal, a monthly magazine packed with film reviews and discussion guides. This resource is used nationwide by individuals who love the movies and by educators, clergy and small-group leaders.

Here are some of Ed’s most recent free reviews and columns:

• THE HOLDOVERS—Ed gives 5 stars to this unusual “Christmas movie” about a disgruntled teacher (Paul Giamatti) stuck with students who can’t go home for the holidays.
• JOURNEY TO BETHLEHEM—Ed writes, “Director/co-writer Adam Anders and writer Peter Barsocchini have served up an interesting Nativity Story by combining the Gospel accounts of Christ’s birth and then adding to them a lot of fanciful material that includes singing and dancing.”
• ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE—Of this four-part Netflix series, based on the best-selling novel, Ed writes, “I fell under its spell and found it hard to wait for the next episode.”
• THE UNKNOWN SAINT—”Moroccan screenwriter and director Alaa Eddine Aljem’s first feature film was his nation’s entry into the Oscar race in 2021. And a worthy one it is, serving as a drolly comic morality tale of greed and human planning gone awry.”
• KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON—”We are indebted to master filmmaker Martin Scorsese that during the process of co-writing this film he switched from making it a police procedural show centered on a white detective and focused instead on the Osage Indians who were being victimized by the greed of their white neighbors.”
• MEDICINE MAN: THE BRIAN BROCK STORY—”In director Paul Michael Angell’s documentary, we discover a man whose concern for health care has benefitted hundreds of thousands of people, even though he was not a doctor.”
• MY SAILOR, MY LOVE—”Director Klaus Härö’s film could be seen as a variation on the classic story Beauty and the Beast, with James Cosmo’s grumpy, retired sea captain Howard a good stand-in for the Beast.”
• NOWHERE—”Director Albert Pintó’s film is a paean to motherhood, a story in which a timid woman discovers an indomitable will to survive, not for herself, but for her new-born child who is totally dependent upon her.”
• FLORA AND SON—”Director/writer John Carney has given us a delightful ode to mother-son relationship.”

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