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Ring the bells

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Over the last week, Caroline has become a huge Travis Cottrell fan. Every time we get in the car she asks to listen to his song “2000 Years” and tells me “IT SOUNDS LIKE THUNDER, MAMA!”

In fact, on the way home from Luby’s Cafeteria on Saturday night (oh yes, we are living wild over here), she asked me to tell her all about Travis. So I told her about his lovely wife Angela and his three kids and how one of them is in Kindergarten just like her.

But that wasn’t enough.

When we got home she wanted to see a picture of Travis and his family, so I pulled up their picture on his website and we spent the rest of the evening listening to his music.

I believe this is how groupies are born.

Or maybe stalkers.

Anyway, the highlight of the evening was when I played her a few songs off his new Christmas album, “Ring the Bells”. I can say with all certainty that hearing Travis sing “Frosty the Snowman” may be one of the highlights of her life so far. I mean it’s one thing to sing about Jesus, but Frosty? Oh that is serious business.

Apparently, Caroline isn’t the only Travis Cottrell fan. “Ring the Bells” was released yesterday and is already at #4 on ITunes most downloaded holiday albums. He’s even ahead of George Strait.

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Not to mention that CCM reviewed it and called it “the goose-bump inducing holiday record of the year”.

If you want to hear the greatness for yourself, then you can listen to a few full-length clips from the CD on his site.

I’m just proud to say that I used to podcast with him.

I have been so fortunate to listen to Travis sing at various events and the thing that amazes me the most is the way his music reaches everyone in the audience, no matter their age or background. He truly has a rare gift.

The soundtrack for Big Mama’s Christmas ’08 will be “Ring the Bells”. It is pure greatness.

This is your chance to win an autographed copy of “Ring the Bells”. I have ten autographed copies to give away and, trust me, you do not want to miss out on your chance.

If there was ever a time to comment for a chance to win, then today is the day. I’d LOVE for EVERYONE who reads this post to enter for a chance to win their very own copy of “Ring the Bells”. You have nothing to lose and giving yourself the best Christmas EVER to gain.

IF YOU ARE A FAN OF CHRISTMAS, THEN YOU WILL BE A FAN OF “RING THE BELLS”.

And if you want to, you can tell me the best present you’ve ever received for Christmas. Or you can just say “enter me in the contest”.

See how easy it is?

So go. Leave a comment. I’ll close them on Sunday night and announce the winners on Monday, October 13th.

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  1. I’ve been reading your blog for a few weeks now. Your blog is full of wonderful memories of life captured. I decided that I wanted to capture that for my family also, and so I ventured into creating one myself. What a new world I entered into….somewhat unknowingly.

    I just learned how to post pictures, I’m so excited! And, leaving a comment on your blog today, and the first one at that…for a chance to win a cd is only adding to my excitement.

    My favorite Christmas present was the year that my husband proposed.
    I got him!

    May you continue to entertain, inspire, and bless others.

    Thank you,
    Deborah

  4. Newborn Jessica for Christmas ’87.

    I seriously want to win this CD. If I don’t win here I’m going to download it from iTunes or just buy the CD.

    I already failed in my mission to win it over at Sophie’s giveaway, dang the luck.

    xoxoxo

    Diane

  5. Sign me up! Sign me up!

    Sorry, you said say “enter me in the contest.”

    and the best present? Cold hard CASH!!!! 🙂

  7. The imitation that Travis did of Neil Diamond on the podcast was so funny I had to stop on the running trail and laugh out loud. The other people around thought I was crazy. So for that, I deserve to win this. Please pick me.

  9. Please enter me too! Best Christmas present ever? My daughter being flown home by my son from NZ as a present for me last Christmas.

  10. I’m with Jai — cash tops my list of fine Christmas gifts. As for the CD, enter me in the contest please. 🙂

  13. Please enter me. My favorite present was the Christmas I was 13 and got my own Kodak instamatic camera. You know the one where they included stickers and you could put your intials in three little squares. Heavenly!!

  15. After years of infertility, our daughter born on Dec. 29th was the best present ever!!(even though that was 10+ years and 4 kids ago……..we got the infertility thing figured out!!)

    We listen to Christmas music year-round, so I’d love a CD!

  16. I have heard a couple of samples and am very excited about this CD. I introduced my mom to Travis a couple of years ago and a couple of months told her about the Christmas CD…she immediately informed that was exactly what she wanted for her birthday this year which is in November. So enter me and if I win I not only can give her the CD but an autographed copy!

  17. ok, i am SOLD. on the new TC Christmas CD…hope i win! and thanks for the giveaway…

    my best present was in 1986 when my parents became believers in Jesus after a truly hellacious year of tragedy in our family. sweet redemption that was!

  19. Ooooh, Christmas music!! It must be a coincidence that I finally caved in today and decided to put some Christmas music on in the car!! I never usually succumb this early before Christmas but as I am making a Christmas quilt (and putting together a Christmas jigsaw!) I guess I have Christmas on the brain a bit early this year!!!

    Best Christmas present? Well now, let me think….actually nothing stands out, but that is because I remember the day more than the presents – that time when we all together enjoying each others company!

  23. Please enter me in the contest! Admittedly, I wasn’t familiar with Travis’ music so I hopped over to take a listen. Tears. I have to have it, so if I don’t win, another sale was made. (You should get royalties!) Thanks!

    p.s. God bless on your trip. Can’t wait to hear all about it.

  25. Your blog is the first thing I read each day… makes me laugh sometimes, makes me cry, too (Happy Birthday, P).

    Favorite Christmas memory is last Christmas, when we flew 1000 miles and surprised my 80 year old mother Christmas night..

    I am sure that as much as you love this CD, I would love it, too… so, I WANT TO WIN!!!!

  26. Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I don’t have many good memories of Christmas as a child, but since I have been married, my husband makes every Christmas extra special. This CD would be the icing on the cake–I love Travis–his music is just so conducive to worship!

  28. I tried really hard to win one of BooMama’s copies, but alas, it didn’t pan out. I love the Christmas music! Here’s hoping I can manage to finally win something from all the giveaways I enter!

  29. I have a 2 year old that prefers to listen to Travis’ praise music more than anything else! Every time we get in the car, I hear, “Momma, ‘sa-chew-wary’?” (meaning Sanctuary) 🙂

    We’d love to have some variety of Travis here in Ga.

    Help a momma out!!!

    Love you!

  32. Oh, pick me, pick me! Please??
    (Does shameless begging help?) :0)

    My best Christmas present ever…. tiny gold ring my late Mom gave to me which I wrote about in one of the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books.

  37. My best present ever was when my mom and dad sent me and my husband and new son tickets to come home to for Christmas

  39. You are soooo right about his music reaching all ages! My younger sister, mother, and I heard Travis and the Praise team in Atlanta this past summer – rocked our worlds! Please enter me in the contest! And Merry Christmas!

  40. Wow, ten of them to give away!! Increase my chances, baby, because I’d sure like to get my hands on this CD.

    I can’t really say what my best Christmas gift was because I’m usually more interested in seeing what everyone else received and whether they’re happy with it!

  43. Oooooohhhhh! I love Christmas music. This would be great to win! I’d feel like curling up by the fire with some cocoa right now if it weren’t 90 degrees here in Florida.

  44. Gosh – I can’t think of the best present I received. Aren’t they all good?

    I hope I win. I went yesterday to Lifeway to buy this, and they didn’t have it yet.

  46. My best Christmas present was my husband. We got married 3 days before Christmas almost 19 years ago.

  47. My favorite Christmas present was our honeymoon. We got married a few days before Christmas!

    My next favorite Christmas (or slightly earlier) present is the Travis Cottrell CD.

    Thanks! 🙂

  48. I love me some Christmas music – something about it always lifts my spirits!

    The best Christmas present I received actually came about 2 weeks before Christmas day in 1994 – our long-awaited first child was born! BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!

  49. Christmas music is so fun! I’m not quite listening to it yet… but I’d start if I win!

    Love to read your blog, my girlfriend and I love to read it, then talk and laugh even more.

    🙂 Becky

  51. Definitely not the best present I’ve ever received, but my husband is the practical sort (and he was in residency so we were wallet-challenged)… he gave me a new toilet for a bathroom. He loves me so much! I’d love to start getting in the mood for Christmas – please enter me in the contest! Thanks!

  52. My best present ever was when DH gave me a new diamond engagement ring after 15 years of marriage. It was the ring I had wanted, but we couldn’t afford, when we first got married. Now, I could have done without it, but he remembered and surprised me.

  53. My best Christmas ever was last year. It actually happened two day after Christmas when my son who had just spent 42 days in ICU at a hospital for viral encephalitis and 5 weeks in a rehabilitation hospital got to come home. We are still on the recovery road. Some seizures have returned and now we are looking at surgery, but my son is alive and I am blessed.

    Thanks for a chance to win and have a great day.

  54. Love Travis Cottrell, and my husband would be thrilled if I had a new cd to blast around the house for a little variety:-)

    Hope I win… (oh, my best gift would be the year Rusty was in school and broke, and sold his entertainment center to buy my pearl necklace. So Gift of the Magi, hm?)

  56. Best Christmas gift? Baby Alive and all her accoutrements (diapers, food, clothes, high chair, etc.), Christmas 1977! Even better than the hot rollers and shrimp earrings from Christmas 1983. It’s all about the timing.

    Can’t wait to hear the CD!

  59. (one of the )best Christmas present(s) ever- black patent leather shoes when I was five. I was so excited I broke out in hives.

    Thanks for the give away!

  60. I love Christmas music!! I got married 4 days before Christmas 2002, so would my hubby count as my best Christmas present ever? I think so! 🙂

  61. I more remember the great gifts I have gotten for my loved ones than the ones I have gotten. I just love Chirstmas shopping and picturing their faces when they open their special gift!!

  62. Ooooo Oooooo Pick ME!!!!!

    I love that Travis!

    Best Christmas gift? Being able to see family. We live over a thousand miles from “home”. Seeing all of them would have to be the greatest!

  66. I didn’t win over at Boo Mama, so I’m counting on you to pick me! pick me!!

    I’ve gotten a lot of cool gifts, so it would be hard to pick just one.

    May you have a beautiful holiday season. Starting now!!! =)

  68. I don’t usually comment (actually, I’ve never commented), but it’s a contest and I love Travis! 🙂 I do want to take the opportunity to tell you how much I love your blog. I read it daily, and it makes me laugh out loud. I am an Aggie too (class of ’93) and I have a Kindergartner as well. One big difference is that mine is a boy, and the youngest of 3 boys! So hearing about your girl world is definitely something different (although many times I think your daughter would get along just fine in our boy world! 🙂 )

  69. Oooo…I love Christmas time! And love Christmas music. Count me in please.

    Jessie in Maryland

  71. My husband is the sneaky gift giver at our house. One year he had my friend take me out so he could have an antique china hutch delivered – the same one I had been hart broken over because it was the only thing at a bazaar that I wanted but someone had bought it BEFORE the bazaar even opened. That someone was my husband! It’s scary how alike our tastes are.

    Sign me up for the CD giveaway!

  74. Please enter me in the contest. I can’t say I have a favorite Christmas present that jumps out in my mind as my birthday is on the 21st so all gifts kind of get lumped together and we never did the Christmas morning thing. I do now because that is the only way my hubby did it growing up and it is always my fave being the mother of a seven year old and four year old. But based on the groupie you have on your hands though I do recall receving a record player and Shaun Cassidy album when I was seven that were pretty cool gifts. Just reflects that I am a little older than you I think! Ha! Have great day!

  75. All the gifts from my husband have been very good; he’s a great gift-giver and I am terrible. I always am scraping for ideas. This year I’m starting now to think of gifts for the man!

  77. I’m a new reader of your website, but I love it already! Now I’ve got to go listen to this Travis guy and see what the fuss is about. 🙂

    Thanks!

  82. Best Christmas present: My brother gave me an autographed Little House book last year. For this HUGE Laura Ingalls Wilder fan, that was simply amazing.

  83. My best Christmas present ever was the birth of my first child!

    Please enter me in the contest, too!

  84. I’d love to win. My favorite Christmas present would be my pink bike that I got when I was in second grade.

  88. Knowing, serving, and loving Jesus is the best Christmas present ever. As far as material possessions, probably a ruby and diamond ring that my husband gave me one Christmas to add to my wedding set.

  90. Enter me, please! I love Christmas music, and have heard such great things about Travis that I would love to win this.

    I’m not sure what my favorite Christmas present has been. I’ve been blessed so many times over that it is hard to choose. My daughter was due Christmas Eve, but would not be born until January 3 after A LOT of assistance from the docs!

    But I listen to Christmas music 11 months of the year (per my husband’s request, January is silent), so I could really use a new album!

    Thanks

  92. I comment rarely because when I try to form some kind of thought and type it, my 14 month old pulls a shenanigan on me that breaks it that very second. I don’t think I’ve finished a thought at once since I was 8 months pregnant.

    Anywho, COUNT ME IN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I start listening to Christmas music in August (on my birthday), really to remind me that I’m here because HE was first. My husband thinks all my little Elf’s aren’t quite the most productive ones of the bunch up in my little north pole, but whatever, he still loves me.

    I hope I win, I hope I win, I hope I wiiiiin!!!!!!!!!! If you kick it with Travis again anytime soon, tell him I’ll let everyone know that his reccord is THE Christmas reccord fo the decade. Mmmmmmhhhhm. If that’s not the best word-to-mouth advertisement then I don’t know what is.

  93. Big Mama,
    I LOVE Christmas! I usually haul out the Christmas music around Halloween and enjoy it all during November and December. The Christmas season is a joyous time for me to spend time with family and friends and focus on the birth of my Saviour! Plus I love seeing my house decorated and sitting in a dark room with the Christmas tree light burning.

  94. The best Christams present I ever received was a lovely iron cross that hangs outside my front door. I bet you can imagine exactly what it looks like if you try really hard.

  95. Fave Christmas gift: My husband had a picture painted of the chapel we were married in and wrote a poem that was framed to go with it. We were married in the blizzard of 1993, so the painting was beautiful and the poem even more so.

    Love your blog and love Travis Cottrell!!

  96. Greatest Christmas gift?

    Having my family together. I love far away from them, and every year I have a scare that I won’t have the money to go, and every year, it works out some how. This year, I get to bring my new husband! I get married next Friday! See, I could use a Christmas in October wedding present!

    Thanks for all you do!

  97. Oooh! Pick me, pick me!

    My family would be so blessed by that CD, and we are not in a position to afford it right now. We are all HUGE Travis fans around here. My 7-year-old LOVES to sing along with him to “In the Sanctuary”. My favorite part is when she rolls down the window and shouts up to heaven, “Jesus, we will praise you for th rest of our days!”

  102. I’m a huge music fan-and sports fan. My husband surprised me two years ago with XM Radio for my car. Now I can listen to great music or my North Carolina Tar Heels when I can’t watch them on TV.

    Love Travis’ singing and would love to win this CD!

  103. My favorite gift is kind of corny! I had just started dating my now hubby a few weeks before Christmas. We had been friends for a while but you know. Anyway, he asked what I wanted and I asked for a pink paper clip. This was before they were EVERYWHERE! He found me one and put it in a ring box and gave it to me. (He also gave me a beautiful outfit.) I just thought it was the sweetest thing that he went and found one just because I asked for it even though I was kinda being silly lol.

    I still have my pink paperclip! It makes me smile when I look at it.

  104. Please enter me in the contest!

    My best present for Christmas was a diamond engagement ring from my husband. Even though we had been married for 20 years. It bothered him that he couldn’t give me a diamond when we first became engaged.

  105. Last year I got a really nice video camera (after years of begging)–I was definitely surprised! We had all kinds of video of our oldest two kids, but the camera broke when our third was a baby, so we had almost no video of her. I know, I know . . . can you say THERAPY?

    Thanks for the giveaway!!

  108. I’m so excited! I am DYING to have this CD!
    I think my best present was a cabbage patch doll when I was growing up…they were hard to find and I was PUMPED to get one!

  109. Please enter me in the contest!

    My son was born Dec. 22. We weren’t expecting him until January. That was a nice surprise; also that year everyone came to my house and brought lots of Christmas Dinner food and LEFT IT!!!! Very exciting. (Honestly, I was more thrilled with our son than the food…)

  111. The best Christmas present for me will be if my son,in basic training right now, and then on to special training, gets to spend the Holidays with us. I am bracing myself that it wont happen but praying it does.He is 30 and has a family and when he joined the military this summer, it was not anything I ever expected.I am adjusting but it has been hard. In Jan his little family(my only grandchildren) will join him across the country.Life is full of change and one of them for us is that Christmas is going to be different around here from now on.

  112. My husband and I had been married not even 2 months when he unexpectedly lost his job. It was 2 weeks before Christmas. Needless to say, we had a tight budget that year. But, J. still managed to get me beautiful, thoughtful gifts. My favorite was a journal with a wooden cover with “For I know the plans I have for you” carved into the front.

    We are moving to Nashville from NW Ohio the week of Thanksgiving, and I’d love to have “Ring the Bells” be our family soundtrack for this holiday season and our big adventure as a new family of three. Thanks!

  115. Best Christmas present ever? That’s pretty hard! But a couple that stand out?

    Hand-made Adoptable doll in fifth grade–no plastic Cabbage Patch for me!

    Life-size doll that Mom made to look just like me–think that was second or third grade

    Yep. I have a crafty mom!

    Joanne

  116. When I was about 8, I got twin baby dolls for Christmas, complete with a double stroller and bunk beds. I still have them!

  118. My best Chrsitmas present was my wedding, which was 4 days after Christmas…almost 18 years ago.
    Thanks for the giveaway!
    mnatherson at comcast dot net

  119. Please enter me in the contest.

    Best Christmas gift – my first pregnancy!

    I love reading your blog first thing in the morning. It makes me smile!

  126. My sisters and I got a trampoline when we were young. To us, it was the best gift ever! My parents even wrapped the huge box in wrapping paper!

  128. I truly think the best christmas present ever is what I get ever single christmas since I had children. I will never stop loving the look on their faces while opening their presents on christmas morning and making monkey bread together!

  130. The best present I ever got was a bicycle. We were all done opening gifts and I thought I didn’t get it. We lived on a horse farm and I had to go out and help muck stalls. I go out to the barn and there it was waiting on me. I don’t think I will ever forget it.

  131. Last year we were able to go to Disney World for a family vacation the week of Christmas. That was the best Christmas present EVER!
    I love Christmas music….We drove to Florida from Texas, and had burnt a few Christmas music mixes from Itunes. My kids thought I was crazy because I wanted to listen to Christmas music for the whole 2 day drive…..LOL

  132. I hopped on over to Travis’s website, and I love his rendition of “What Child Is This?” which is my favorite Christmas song.
    Please enter me in the giveaway! Thanks!

  133. I can’t think of my best Christmas present, but I do remember the year I got my first cassette player. Somehow I opened the cassette tapes first even though they had been under several other presents. I asked Mom ‘why did Santa leave these, doesn’t he know I don’t have a cassette player?’ She told me to keep unwrapping and sure enough, he had left a cassette player too!

  135. My best presents are always those that my husband picks out for me all by himself. He got me a swell wooden cutting board, and I love it. Mostly, I love it because he thought of it.

    Enter me, please! I sure would love a new Christmas CD to play around here.

  136. Wow….best Christmas present…that’s a tough one to choose….I can give you the best present last year! I’m a missionary in Japan and last year this teeny tiny church sent me 8 boxes of goodies! Including my very favorite and impossible to come by in Japan Velveeta cheese and Rotel tomatoes. They even included tortillas that didn’t get shmooshed in the shipping! I don’t know how they did it!

    Would love to add some Travis Christmas to my Holiday play list! Sign Me UP!!

  137. ohhh…i love Christmas AND Christmas music. so, for an early wedding present (i’m getting married in december)hopefully, i’ll win! 🙂

    i think my best Christmas present is yet to come (well, on december 6th…it will be an early present).

    amy

  138. Really need this cd since I lost his other cd. I’m very sad about it. I miss 2000 years. 🙁 I guess I need to make a trip to Life Way and get another copy.

  139. My Christmas came a little early in 2006 when Caroline was born. I heard Travis for the first time at the Living Proof event in San Antonio. Wow!

  140. I would love to listen to this album. I’ve been hearing a lot about Travis the past few months. Thank you.

  146. I love your blog! We experienced seconday infertility after the birth of our first little girl, but finally had our second daughter when #1 was a little over 4 years old. Our very-much-waited-for second little girl was born on Christmas Eve in 1998 – she was the very best gift we have ever received!!! That baby – now almost 10!! – asks if she can check the Big Mama blog every day and is as big as fan as I am! : )

  148. Hat to admit this but my second BEST gift was some diamond earrings ! I know this is materialistic but it was a great gift that will last a lifetime. My really best gift was my daughter who was born in December 21 years ago. Loving you…Robin

  149. Please enter me!
    The best present? That’s a hard one because I have so many thoughtful people in my life! I love watching my kids on Christmas morning. That’s a great present!! Priceless!

  150. My favorite Christmas present ever is my oldest son who arrived on December 29th, 1999.

    As a side note, my favorite Valentine’s Day present ever is my younger son who arrived on February 7, 2002.

    And my favorite Super Bowl present ever is going to be my baby daughter, who is due in 2009. 🙂

  152. It’s no secret, I’m a huge fan of Christmas. I think we should have Christmas six times a year. My favorite gift ever was a cutting board. We were so poor we’d agreed not to give each other gifts, but my husband sneaked a cutting board under the tree. I really, really needed a cutting board. Doesn’t even compare to the diamond earrings he gave me twenty years later. LOL

  153. The best gift I’ve ever gotten was in high school while my dad was out of work. My parent’s Sunday School class had an anonymous donation given to them to be given to our family for Christmas presents. It wasn’t much money, and we didn’t get much stuff but what we had was more special to us than if we’d had everything under the sun under our tree.

  158. I bought the CD yesterday and must say it is the best!! I’ve broken my self imposed rule of no Christmas music before Thanksgiving but it is worth it. Winning an autographed copy from Travis would be great!

  162. My best present ever was the match to my wedding band (7 round diamonds) on our first Christmas together (married)! I want to win so bad – I’ve never heard him sing, but everyone else has and seems to love him!

  163. I probably start listening to Christmas music too early, so I need as much variety as possible – Travis’ “Oh Holy Night” on his website is fabulous. Can’t wait to hear the CD!

  164. Honestly, I have gotten much more excited about the gifts that I have been able to give to my family over the years than the gifts I have received! Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE to receive gifts……but the excitement really builds when I am chosing and giving a gift to someone I love and know that it is something they will love.

  165. Enter me.

    And I always loved the paperbacks my parents would put in my stocking when I was a kid.

  166. The Christmas season is one of my fave times of the year-my birthday is a week before Christmas (I was actually due on Christmas!). My favorite Christmas gift would have to be those special homemade gifts from my kids-those are PRICELESS and original and most important from the heart. They to me symbolize the true meaning of the season.

  167. Oh how I want! I had already decided to break my usual pre-Thanksgiving Christmas music ban, and this would be PERFECTION. Oh please Mr. Random Integer, choose me!

    Favorite Christmas gift. I hate admitting this. Gift cards. Because that is the gift of shopping.

  169. My best Christmas present was the year that we found out that we were pregnant with my second child after six years of infertility!

  172. I have already listened to some of the clips on his website and ooohhhh they are so good!!

    My best Christmas present ever, wow that’s hard. I got a Teddy when I was little, and last year I actually squealed when I got a Strong’s Concordance from my parents. But I guess the best gift is seeing my kids faces light up on Christmas!! Oh, and of course, JESUS!!

    Thanks BigMama,
    rebecca in e.tx

  175. One of my favorite presents was what my dear hubby gave me last year – a trip to NYC to see the Christmas windows of which I have been longing to see for years. I also would love Travis’ CD

  176. I love Christmas and I love give aways!

    My favorite Christmas gift? A toss up between my Mork and Mindy Sleeping bag and the Snoopy automatic toothbrush set.

    Take care,
    Julie

  177. I love to hear Travis sing! Even if I don’t win, I am going to buy his CD but I would love to have one with his autograph!

  178. I feel like a TC groupie already! I am moved to tears when he opens his mouth to sing. Godly-ordained for sure.

    My favorite gift was a pair of earrings from my husband that were picked out for our 20th wedding anniversary. I got them 7 years early!! Love my man.

  179. We love Christmas Music! That’s all we listen to in the car between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Since that is a short time this year we might have to break it out sooner.

    My hubby surprised me with an anniversary ring after 13 years together and wrapped it in 13 layers of paper with comments about each year on each layer. It was so great! Needless to say, I cried like a baby!

  182. My best Christmas present ever was getting engaged to my husband! I would LOVE to win this CD!

  183. the best christmas ever is EVERY christmas ~~ profound gratitude for
    this life, my family, my husband and his love.

  186. I would love to win this and give it to my husband – he plays worship for our church, and always loves adding to his collection!

  187. I will probably be having my best Christmas this year. Not that it won’t be a little stressful… I’m due with our 2nd child the end of December! I always love new Christmas music!!

    Thanks!
    Kristi

  188. Hey There,

    I have been following your blog for a while now. What can I say, you entertain, inspire and so much more.

    My favorite Christmas Gift is two-fold. My now husband, gave me two boxes for Christmas 2006. The first one he said was from my dog, Gizmo – it was a ring pop! Needless to say my heart melted when in the second box was an engagement ring!!

    Keep on inspiring and loving living life.

    Abby

  190. I am excited to enter for a chance to win the CD. My kids adore Christmas music. Well, really…I’d like to find a kid who doesn’t but I digress.

    The best Christmas present I ever received was my husband. He was deployed to Kuwait/Iraq 1 week before Christmas in 2003 and it was heartbreaking. But he came back in 2004 2 weeks before Christmas and it was the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER. Never have I been reminded of what the true meaning of the holiday season is than during that year.

    Love your blog!

  191. I would love to have this CD!
    Best thing for me at Christmas, having all my family home and watching them, and maybe the new sewing machine I was surprised with one year.

  193. So apparently I’m not the first one to write this (shocking!), but my best present was when my husband proposed to me on Christmas day of 2006! And I would love a copy of the CD 🙂

  196. I would love, love, love to win!
    I just love Christmas music.

    My best Christmas gift ever… my beautiful second daughter, Ashley!

  198. I think I’ve been blessed with many a Christmas gift over the years. I will say one of the one’s I remember the most:

    Mork From Ork suspenders (sp?). Rainbow striped, no less. I was the coolest kid in the 2nd grade.

    Would love to be entered–thank you! : )

  199. PLease enter me in the contest! My best Christmas present was the year I was 10 and got a pony.

    I am looking forward to hearing about your trip!

  200. My favorite Christmas gift was probably when I got my Western Barbie and horse. I don’t know why but that gift from my childhood is so vivid! The Barbie had bright blue eyeshadow and would wink when you press the button on her back. Oh yeah a classic!

  203. One (and I mean only one) of the highlights of a Beth Moore conference is the worship experience with Travis Cottrell. His annointing gives me goosebumps. Enter me!!! Pick me .. pick me .. pick me!!!!

    I happened upon your blog from Vickie Courtney (huge follower of her ministry). It’s now one I follow daily. Thanks!

  206. First, I love reading your blog, it brings a smile to my face every morning.

    My favorite Christmas gift ever was the year my dad built my brother and me a go-cart. He even painted Driver Ian and Driver Heather on each side.

  207. The best Christmas gift I’ve received was, of course, the birth of my Savior!

    I also got a robe from my kids last year. It’s not really because of the robe itself, but the fact that my kids searched and searched for what they thought would be the best one for me. It just warms my heart. 🙂

    I’d love this CD.

  208. Christmas is the best holiday. I’ve already been playing Christmas cd’s. Please enter me!
    I’d have to say my best present was my very own first bike(there were 8 of kids and I was #6)

  210. My son–he was born January 7th, but I consider him a late Christmas present:-)

    Thanks for the chance to win!
    mommmykoala (at) live (dot) com

  211. My favorite Christmas gift would be the first year married and my new husband bought me a couple of outfits – totally not my style, size or anything! He hates to shop and this showed me the great lengths he would take to make his new bride happy!

    I hope I win!

  213. Ooh! Ooh! Pick me! Pick me! (said while raising my hand and wildly waving it around)

    =)

    One of my favorite gifts was the CD player I got when I was 15. (Which was way back in the olden days when not everyone had a CD player.) I also got my very first CD, Geoff Moore and the Distance’s “A Friend Like You.” Oh, those were good times.

  214. I’m bilingual…English is my 2nd language. Music is my first. I need music more than food. (I need to tell myslef that 10 times a day – I like that! Please enter me in the contest.

  215. Love your blog- I read every day!

    Please enter me in the contest.

    It’s awfully hard to pick my favorite Christmas gift, because my birthday falls just 3 days before, and well, I’ve gotten quite a few great ‘combo’ gifts. :0)

  216. I would LOVE to win one of the CDs. One of my favorite Christmas presents was an Emma Bridgewater teaset!

  217. I love your blog AND Christmas. It is my favorite time of year! This CD would be absolutely divine while decorating the tree this year!!

  219. Doing the ‘walk-through’ on our new house on Christmas Eve was my most exciting present.

    I would love love love this CD!!

  220. Ooh I love Christmas and Christmas music. I guess my best Christmas present would be my daughter. She was born on Dec. 19. That was a truly special Christmas.

  221. Since BooMama’s random number picker didn’t pick me, maybe yours will!

    My most memorable Christmas gift was when I was 7. I came downstairs to find a bright shiny red bike! Since we lived in Iowa, and it snows at Christmas in Iowa, I got to ride it around the dining room table! 🙂

  223. I’ve been keeping up with your precious family for a couple of months now. I love your humor and Caroline! I was terribly disappointed to learn you were an Aggie. Ha Ha ! My daughter attends Texas Tech and there seems to be some rivalry there. I would love to win the CD!! Christmas is just around the corner.

  224. My favorite Christmas gift would have to be last year when my husband arrived home safely on Christmas Eve, after a 15 month deployment to Iraq. :)!

    Thanks for doing this contest!

  225. I’ve been looking for some new Christmas music. Thanks for the review. I would love to win one so I don’t have to buy it!

  226. A little Diamond ring my Mom gave me when I was 16, it had my initials on it (I thought that was awesome), and she made me hunt for it with clues all over the house. I loved it!

  228. I love how others teach their children to be a little over excited about singers the way I do. He he he. j/k

    It’s great that Caroline loves Travis. You’re right…he has such a gift.

  229. Favorite Christmas was celebrating my parents 50th Anniverary in Mexico– they took all 19 of their family with them for a week long celebration (children,children-in-laws,grandchildren and grandchildren-in-laws)it was so special.

    Love Christmas music-would love to get this CD…. 🙂

  230. One of my most memorable Christmas presents was the year I got my Cabbage Patch Kid. Little did I know as a child that my parents had more than a few “scouts” out looking for those crazy dolls the year they were the hot ticket. Santa comes to our house while we are at church on Christmas Eve (and he comes back overnight to fill our stockings, I guess we never questioned why he came twice). That Christmas Eve the weather was too nasty to go to church. My parents had my younger sister and I take a bath, and lo-and-behold when we came out Santa had come! 🙂 The pictures of us that Christmas are priceless–giddy with excitement and looking like drowned rats with wet hair from our bath. I still have my CPK, Warren Ray, and he gets played with at Grandma’s by my two daughters now.

  233. Best Christmas present ever?

    When Big Mama gave me the Travis Cottrell CD.

    Oh, yeah, and when the Almighty Father sent His son in the form of a baby. That was awesome too 😉

  237. I have a very rough and tumble 5 year-old boy who loves Josh Groban, classical music, and old Chicago songs. This would be right up his alley. Actually, he’s sitting next to me listening to samples on the computer saying, “Mommy, this is the bestest song I’ve ever heard.” It would make his day if he won. Plus, then I could put up a blog video of him dancing to it because it’s really something. (He’s doing it right now.) 🙂

  238. Favorite gift? Hmmmm……
    My son was born two days after if that counts – I don’t count the horrible fake contractions and leaking fluid that started on the fine Christmas morning.
    That’s another rant and it ends with I gave birth to you so that is why I am right!

    Gift – my Nana made me a quilt out of all my dresses from my childhood. LOVE IT!

  240. Hmmmm… lots of great Christmas presents over the years. I remember getting my first Cabbage Patch Kid! Her name is Samantha Harmony. I think she’s in the attic… sad. I need to find her soon. We’re having a baby girl in January! Her preemie “sister,” Sally Toni, should be there, too.

    I love Christmas music. What a fun giveaway!!!

  241. My best present was a Getaway Weekend to the Grove Park in Asheville, NC for my husband and myself. The gift was great but it was given by my wonderful, thoughtful, 20 year old daughter. That is what made it soooooo special.

  242. please enter me in the contest!! I would love a new CD…. then I could say my best Christmas Present was the one I won on from Big Mama!! :o)

  243. My best Christmas present came a couple days after..my oldest son, Brodie. I love Christmas music, please enter me in the contes.

  244. My favorite Christmas present was a Publisher’s Proof Thomas Kinkade painting entitled “Bridge of Hope” from my husband. He gave it to me after our twins were born prematurely the previous summer. He said we had had an amazing journey thus far, and now we were crossing a “bridge of hope” into the realm of parenthood with our precious miracles! It hangs above the sofa now, and reminds me of how far our journey has brought us, through God’s grace.

    Thanks for entering me in the contest!

  245. My daughter and first child was born just a few weeks before Christmas – one of my best presents!
    Blessings…

  246. I know it’s cliche, but an engagement ring 🙂

    And random generator, HOW I LOVE CHRISTMAS AND TRAVIS…. so pick me! 🙂

  248. Enter me! Since I buy pratically everything you recommend, I’ll wind up buying both just cause you said to.

    My best Christmas gift was in middle school when Guess jeans were the thing to wear. Although they did not particularly flatter my bubble (ghetto) bootie, I wore those things daily and tried to convince everyone I had several pairs. I even wore them with holes in the knees which thankfully became cool!

    I loved your post about your husband the other day. You are truly blessed and we all apreciate you sharing with us daily!

  250. It’s a toss up: my radio flyer little red wagon (circa 1988), my very first camera (1991) or the llbean down vest my husband gave me just last year!

  251. As a huge fan of Travis and his music, I spent last Christmas season wishing he had a Christmas CD. You can imagine my excitement when he announced he was in fact coming out with one!! It would make my Christmas to win one of those autographed CDs! Enter me in the contest sister!!

  252. I love Christmas music. My best presents are the ones my boys make on their own for me. Nothing like getting an electrical box with screws and wires. makes for the best presents.

    Thanks for entering me!

  253. The best Christmas present I ever received is kind of funny….it was two tickets to a Colin Raye concert that I dearly wanted to attend on New Year’s Eve. My dh, who doesn’t like country music at all, hid the tickets in a box full of kitty litter!!! So on Christmas morning there I was digging through kitty litter (umm, I should say it was CLEAN kitty litter lol) not knowing what I was digging for. And, he even went with me and sat through the concert and even enjoyed himself! He has been the best and funniest husband in the world for 23 years now!

    And I would LOVE to win this cd!

  255. My best Christmas present ever was the knowledge that I have a genetic mutation that causes breast and ovarian cancer. My mom suffered and died from ovarian cancer but during her battle she was passionate to find out if my sister and I could also suffer the same fate. She pushed down the “insurance” doors and got genetic testing done. We found out that she had the BRCA gene and then I was able to test against her gene. I also have the BRCA gene and I consider my mom fighting to help me gain that knowledge one of the greatest gifts of my entire life. My mom went to heaven last November and I will always be so grateful for her courage and selflessness she showed in arming me with the tools to hopefully not suffer the same fate she did. She’s my hero!!!

  256. ooh this is a hard one… so many wonderful gifts to pick from..

    I would have to say the one that stands out in my childhood memory the most was my Cabbage Patch Kid doll named Laurel Carlene (I want to know who got the job at the Cabbage Patch Kid Doll Factory of naming all those dolls, cush job). She made my little 7 year old heart warm and fuzzy on Christmas Day all those years ago.

    Thanks for your fun, entertaining and inspiring blog!
    -c

  261. I don’t know what my favorite gift is, but my favorite Christmas was 2 years ago when I used my money to buy presents for my family (instead of using mom & dad’s money). It was so much fun watching everyone open their gifts, I don’t even remember what I got that year.

  262. My favorite gift is really just being able to go home and be with family. No gift wrap necessary. Thanks for sharing your Christmas treats. Travis rocks!

  264. Well, I didn’t win over at Boo’s site, so please enter me in your contest.

    Random number generator, please, please, please pick me!

  265. I don’t really remember a special gift–I really like giving gifts and watching my children open them!

  266. I don’t think you could have chosen a better theme song for Christmas this year! 😉

    My favorite gift — being able to go home for the holidays with my spouse and kiddos in tow. :- ) I love white Christmases~!

  270. Travis is amazing. The first time I heard him was this past summer at a Beth Moore conference and I got chills everytime he sang. What an amazing gift that he has. I would LOVE to win his CD, but if not, I am definitely buying it anyway. I can’t believe Christmas is so close! YEAH!!

  272. My favorite Christmas presents are my husband proposing to me in December 1996, my sons birth in 2004 (he was an early Christmas present) and of course Jesus.

  273. Wonderful Christmas music and would LOVE to win this cd!
    Thanks for sharing your ‘life’ with us and please know I am praying for you as you prepare for your trip.
    Blessings today and always,
    Kaye

  275. I’d love to win this CD so that I can introduce my friends to Travis’s amazing voice! It would also be a great pick-me-up for a cold, grey, snowy day in Cleveland. 🙂

  276. Just listened to the songs on his site…do you have any idea how hard it is to swallow Diet Dr Pepper with a big lump in your throat?

    Sign me up.

  277. I will need that CD to drown myself out when I insist on singing in the car!

    I use to sing lullabies to my daughter…but she learned to put her hand over my mouth! lol.

  278. My favorite “gift” was in 2001…my kids, then ages 6 and 7) asked that we give our Christmas money to a missionary instead of buying a tree and gifts.
    I would LOVE one of Travis’ new cds.
    Thanks!

  279. Your blog is soooooo much fun!!!! This is my first comment, but what better start then the chance to win that holiday CD!!! 🙂

    My favorite Christmas present definitely has to be the Teddy Ruxpin I got when I was little!

  280. Me, me, me, me!! (please)

    I previewed the songs last night on itunes and LOVED them all. Now today I’m trying to decide whether to buy mums or Christmas decorations.

    Top Christmas presents- as a child, a giant stuffed panda. As a teen, my brother surprised me by installing a TAPE DECK in my car! Our first married Christmas, a full length beautiful mirror. Such a surprise!

  281. I love Christmas music! I usually break it out on my birthday (Oct 1) and adore ALL of it. I’ve been reading this blog for months and love the stories & opinions-a great read! I would have to say my favorite Christmas gift wasn’t really a gift at all. It was just one Christmas spent with grandparents from both sides, cousins, aunts and uncles. My family lived so far from our extended family that this was a rare treat. And what a treat it was! Definitely a favorite Christmas memory.

  286. Thanks for recommending his music, I LVOE IT! Listening to the clips made me super excited for Christmas!

  287. I have created a couple “groupies” of my own age 10 and age 7!! We all love Travis and my girls love to hear about his family, especially LK….(they met her at a concert and were thrilled).
    My best Christmas present was a pair of diamond earrings from my husband the year my father died. He said he new it would be a tough Christmas, so he wanted me to have a good present….awww.

    please enter me to win–THANKS

  291. My favorite Christmas present was at some point in elementary school – during the heights of Cabbage Patch doll phenomena. Santa brought me the most precious Cabbage Patch doll. She came with the name Phoebe Georganne, but I sent in her paperwork and had her name officially changed to Christina Lynn!

    Oh, childhood…

    Sign me up! : )

  292. My favorite Christmas present was an antique trunk that my husband bought me. It is from 1886 and has a sticker from its travels in Chicago. It is one of a kind, and so beautiful.

    Thanks for the chance to win!

  293. My parents led me to Christ on Christmas Eve when I was 6. I’ve loved and followed him (mostly) all my life. That was the best gift.

    As far as stuff goes…I got an engagement ring 10 years ago this year. Pretty sure I’m not allowed to say anything else ever topped that.

  295. I listened to parts of the cd on his website and OH.MY.GOODNESS. that man can sing!!!!

    I’d love to have a chance to win one of his cds…especially if its autographed.

    Thanks for giving me the opportunity.

  297. I can’t think of my favorite Christmas gift ever…but I do know I love Christmas music!! Thanks for the give-a-way opportunity!

  301. I love Christmastime and I love Christmas music! PLease enter me in the contest 🙂

    Jesus is of course the best Christmas present of all times, but materially speaking, cash is the best way to go 😉

  302. I would love to win this CD!

    The best gift I ever received was getting engaged on Christmas Eve.

    Susan

  303. I would oh so love to win a copy so that my Christmas, nay, even my Fall will be as complete as you have described.

    As for my favorite Christmas present, that’s easy. From the age of about nine to twelve, I was OBSESSED with Nancy Drew mysteries. I devoured them as quick as I could get my hands on them. Christmas Day, eleven years old, my Aunt Joann had drawn my name for our giant family gift exchange. When I opened the box she gave me, there they were. TEN BRAND NEW Nancy Drew books I hadn’t yet read. I sat there and screamed in glee for a good minute and a half. There are pictures. It isn’t pretty.

  304. I would LOVE to win this!! I didn’t win when BooMama did her drawing, but maybe I’ll have better luck over here. Please pick me!!

  305. Thank you kindly for the give-a-way! My favorite gift was a tree the first year we were married – a long story – but no $ = no tree. My hubby got a bonus and we were able to buy a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree on Christmas Eve!

  306. Okay, Mel. Enter me in your contest.

    About the best Christmas gift ever…it was last year, and Austin was at the Church thrift shop helping my mom. Someone had brought in a jewelry box. It is pretty marked and scarred, but my mom said that he got totally excited. He asked if she would bring him home to get a dollar from his wallet so that he could buy it for me because I really needed one. I will keep it forever.

    Now I just need to sell the Suburban that my ex bought me for Christmas a few years ago…

  308. We love Christmas music. I am planning on buying this cd, and would love to win a copy for my sweet mama!

  310. I think my best Christmas present ever is coming this year…although a week or so late. I’m due with our first baby on December 31st! 🙂

  311. Yes, please. Because I need another CD to pile on top of the Christmas stack, which is already 20-some high. My husband will be so thrilled.

  313. I think my best Christmas present was my IPod I got last year. I carry it around with me everywhere and use it all the time. Love it, love it, love it!!!!

    BTW, You Rock!

  315. Most memorable gift – Madame Alexander doll and Santa had made it a trunk load of clothes that exactly matched all the clothes my mother had made ME…! Just could never figure that out!!

    Love Travis and would love to win this!

  316. Please enter me in the contest and this year will be my best Christmas ever. Not only am I recovering from breast cancer treatment but I’m going to Israel!!!!! I love Christmas time and I know this year we be more special than ever.

  317. The best Christmas present I ever got was a quilt that my grandmother gave. As a kid, I would sleep under it every single time I went to her house.

    Thanks for the contest! 🙂

  318. I am a huge Travis fan. Alive Forever is in my cd player in the car now. Please sign me up =)

  320. I just found your blog through a friend’s and have to tell you how much I love you writing style. Makes me feel like we’re sitting together, chatting, having a cup of coffee – right at home. So, when can you come over? 🙂

    Guess now I’m leaving to go start one of these blogs on my own. Hope you’ll come and stop for a visit.

    Beth

  321. ONE of my favorite gifts ever was last Christmas when 5 of our 8 kids made us a book that was for a fun-filled day. It included b’fast in bed, lunch at Olive Garden (gift card inc), movie of our choice (gift card inc), Starbucks (again gift card inc), and home to a home cooked meal. They are treasures from heaven, these children of ours!!!

  322. Hmmm, This is a tough question.

    But as ridiculous as this sounds, my favorite present from my childhood was a pair of high top Reebok sneakers with Velcro at the top. I wanted these shoes so bad that I dreamed about them. I was in third grade at the time and my parents had just bought me new shoes. I didn’t need new ones, but I REALLY wanted these! I mean so bad, that I talked about them every day! They were the shoes that we going to help my basketball team win (because we had not won a game yet and I was convinced it was the shoes fault)! We had opened the last round of presents on Christmas morning and I was so bummed that I didn’t get them. I really thought that if I was going to get these shoes, that it would be part of my gifts. A few minutes later my mom came out with a box that said “To Bethie…From Santa.” The gift of course was MY shoes and I was elated.

    Oh, and after reading about my favorite gift, please enter me for the CD!!!!

  323. I would love to win this CD. I’ve seen Travis live before, and he is truly awesome! Plus, I love Christmas music.

    My favorite Christmas present was the Kitchen Aid Artisan stand mixer I received and had been wanting for a few years.

  324. My best Christmas gift was the birth of my son, just before Christmas. I can’t say the sleepless nights were much of a gift, but I wouldn’t “exchange” him for the world.

    I LOVE Christmas music, so maybe this will be my day! 🙂

  325. Enter me in the contest! I don’t know which Christmas present was the best. It’s a tie between my husband’s marriage proposal in ’96, or my first Christmas with my little boy in ’03.

    The best gifts, can’t be bought though… My favortie Christmas gift is when all of our family can be together. All of us happy and healthy….And we always need some great Christmas music playing in the background. So here’s to hoping I win this CD!

  326. Enter me in the contest please. Listening seriously bought tears to my eyes. Just beautiful. My best present is spending time with my family. When it comes down to it, really its just them.

    Thanks Big Mama!
    Sarah

  330. I don’t know if you have a rule about winning twice- I did win one of the Third Day cds, so it’s okay if I’m not allowed to win again.
    But oh! I would LOVE to. 🙂

  331. should I be diplomatic and say that they are all good?

    Or should I mention two christmases ago when I got my husband a basset hound puppy and in return he got me everything on my list? (No, as tempted as I was, I did not get him a puppy the next year. All the presents were nice but one basset puppy is enough.) Oh, I think my favorite gift was when we were young and poor (as opposed to older and poor) and he surprised me with the softest suede coat imaginable. I still love the coat (although it’s not so soft any more, what with babies and puppies and the like.)

    please enter me for the CD!

    karen

  333. I’d love a copy of this CD!

    And assuming Christ’s birth, my family, my blessed life are all a given in my favorite Christas gifts, I’d have to say hubby surprising me with a MAC DADDY laptop this past year topped it for me. (And it’s a Dell, not a Mac – but y’all get the point)

  337. I have been reading your blog for several weeks and I just love it. Many times you make me laugh or think back to when my kids were younger.

    My favorite Christmas present was when my husband proposed to me 24 years ago.

    Please enter me in your contest.

  340. Best Christmas present? My engagement ring…16 years ago. Golly, I’m old.

    Um, and please enter me in the contest. 🙂 Thanks!

  341. Thanks for a great blog. I look forward to reading it everyday. You have a great gift of writing.

    Oh and I love Christmas!!!!

  342. My best present was when my husband surprised me with a gorgeous new wedding/anniv ring to replace the one I’d lost! It’d been a horrible year, and then we had just a wonderful Christmas after all; it was more than just the ring, but it reminds me of that.

    Please enter me–I really need some new Christmas music. Thanks.

  343. I love Christmas music, a CD would be awesome.
    Hmm, don’t really know what my best present is. Maybe just being with my family. Then of course there was the engagement ring.

  345. My favorite present is definitely the look in my children’s eyes and the simple wonder and awe of Christmas itself and what it represents. What an incredible gift to the world!

    Now I can only imagine the beauty of the season enhanced by Travis’ music playing softly (or loudly) in the background.

  346. Best Christmas present that I remember from my childhood was a Walton’s dollhouse! Wish I still had it. Please enter me in the giveaway! Thanks. =)

  349. I used to make fun of my mother-in-law for getting so addicted to people’s lives through their blogs. But I felt like I needed to read a few before I could really make fun of her.

    But, lo and behold, I got addicted to yours!

    I read it every morning, expecting a laugh, some good shoes, or a heart-warming message about Jesus Christ.

    I would love to have the Travis Cottrell cd! Please enter me in the contest.

    And, as for my favorite gift. Honestly, (as corny as it may sound) the incredible family that I spend every Christmas with far outweighs any gift I receive.

  351. Anything my kids have ever made or bought for me is the best Christmas present ever. Right down to the measuring cup I got from my 16yo son last year, because he remembered me saying at some point that I would like to have a bigger one. It showed me that he was listening to me and thinking of me.

  352. My best Christmas present ever was my senior year in high school…My older, married brothers gave me a 1982 Ford Mustang with t-tops.

    Can’t wait to hear Travis’ cd!!

  354. I would love a chance to win! My best Christmas present was when my husband proposed. Now we enjoy making memories with our kids 🙂

  355. My husband always gives gifts that I love! He is the best present-picker. Last year it was 4 new outfits from my favorite place to shop!

    I absolutely LOVE Christmas Music and I have loved Travis Cottrell’s music for 12 years now! To have both on one CD would be FABULOUS!!!

  360. I’m not sure what the best Christmas gift I ever received was, but my best Christmas memory is the year my mom searched high and low and several stores to get us Cabbage Patch kids with our names. She found a “Jessica” for me, but could not find a “Rebecca” for my sister, so she settled on getting a boy baby doll for my sister instead, thinking she would enjoy that. Well, my sister immediately was upset that she didn’t get a girl doll, so what did I do, the sweet, kind older sister? I traded her my “Jessica” doll for her boy doll. My mom was flabbergasted. 🙂 Oh, and I’d love to enter the contest. The album title reminds me of the song, “Come on ring those bells, light the Christmas tree…” Love it! 🙂

  362. I’m a regular stalker, I mean reader, of Big Mama.

    My daughter’s name is Caroline.

    If that doesn’t qualify me for Ring the Bells, I don’t know what does.

    Except my love of Aussie Scrunch spray in jr. high.

  365. My best Christmas gift ever was from my dad when I was 14 he gave me a PHONE for MY ROOM! Hello! 🙂 Please let me win!

  367. I have just recently discovered the awesomeness that is Travis Cottrell and would LOVE to win a copy of the Christmas cd!

  368. Enjoy reading your blog! And love Christmas–celebrating Christ’s birth & being with family! Also love listening to Christmas music–hope I win the CD. :o)

    Leigh

  369. I am listening to the delightful tidbits on the website now and loving it! Please enter me in the contest. My best gift every year is watching my children’s delight.

  370. Best Christmas present I ever received was in 2002 when my first son was born 2 weeks before Christmas!

    Although…my husband got me a Stainless Steel KitchenAid Stand Mixer a couple years later and that has been a very close second. 😀

  371. Hmmm…my best Christmas present? Ok, not my BEST, definitely my FUNNIEST. Oh, my husband would kill me for sharing this with the internet…
    Our first full year as a married couple (we were married 12/19) my husband bought me the most hilarious gift. He bought me a Hickory Farms summer sausage gift pack. Oh no, I am NOT kidding. Bless his heart, he wanted to get me something I would like, and he knew that I liked summer sausage pretty well.
    Um, in what could only be deemed as one of the most insensitve moments of my life…I took it back. Ouch. Poor guy. So, definitely not the BEST gift ever, but the BEST memory we’ll have of gift giving:) I look forward to hearing Travis!

  373. Oh, how I treasure the Christmas gifts my boys have made for me in school/Sunday school. They are usually simple, handcrafted and full of their love! I adore the way they are giddy with excitement when the gifts are presented with much anticipation. Who says a gift has to be expensive?

  375. My brother giving me money at a particularly difficult time in my life.

    With all that I’ve heard I would love to have a copy of this CD.

  376. I feel like I should say soomething meaningful, but…there’s nothing like huge brown Louis Vuitton boxes under the tree! I’m listening on his website now…AMAZING!

  378. When I saw 372 comments left so far, I started not to leave a comment. I thought “I don’t have a chance”. But if
    I don’t leave a comment I really don’t have a chance and I would love the Christmas CD. I recently found your blog
    and daily enjoy it!

  379. Hey Big Mama – pick me – i’m a friend of Cindi Webers! Also, i love me some Christmas music and Travis Cottrell!

    Thank you
    Robin

  384. I love your blog. It makes me smile every morning when I read it. The best Christmas present I got was the year when my husband proposed to me. I knew I was going to get to spend the rest of my life with a man I knew I was going to love forever. It has been 4 wonderful years

  386. Last year my mother got me the set of pearls I’ve been coveting for years. That’s the best present in recent years. I hope I win a copy of this CD!

  387. I may be the only GUY on here (and should win just for putting my masculinity on the line!)! Oh well. The best present my wife got started out as a terrible one. I planned for months to have a water color of our two daughters painted for her. A friend distracted her one day in October so I could dress them up and meet with the artist. The painting was huge and kept at a friend’s house until it was time. When I walked in with it I expected her to ooh and ahh but – she was horrified! We had agreed on a monetary limit (this was WAY over it) and she does NOT like surprises. She cried and made me put it away. I was devastated, I had planned so hard and was sure it was a great surprise. Before long though she came around. Now some ten years later, though, its one her favorite gifts. I learned though to never surprise her again with something major!

  388. Hey Big Mama!

    You still make me laugh when I read. Thanks for brightening my days!!

    Favorite Christmas gift? A trip to Steamboat with family and friends–I was 16, my wonderful friend’s dad had just died, and my family went skiing with her, her twin and her mother.

  389. Enter me into the contest, please!! I listened to a few songs online yesterday…Travis is soooo talented!

  391. My favorite present ever was probably a stuffed monkey that my grandfather gave me…he picked it up by himself because he knew I liked it. He even wrapped it himself. This was a first for him because he usually had my grandmother pick and wrap all presents!

  392. I LOVE Christmas and I love Travis….so the two of them together…YES!! Please sign me up! My best Christmas gift ever would have to be my baby Caleb born 4 days before Christmas in 1991!

  393. I LOVE this CD and was listening to it on his website yesterday afternoon. If I don’t win this one, I’ll go pick it up at the store-promise!! We love Christmas music in our house and what better way to celebrate the season than with beautiful music playing in the background as we decorate the tree! Oh, the gift. A silver heart necklace from my 8 yr old daughter. (that she borrows all the time!)

  395. I freaking love your blog! Thanks for your ministry. Is it a bit selfish that this is the first time I have ever commented? I’m all about winning – but not all about my comments getting lost in the millions of others you get apparently! HOWEVER, my favorite Christmas gift that I ever received was a new house!
    Now, pick me!

  397. Big Mama!
    You are such a gifted writer and story teller. I laugh everytime I read your blog. Thank you for that! (and I am not trying to be a suck-up- I just wanted to be honest!) Love your blog.
    I am a mama of 4 beautiful kids (that right there is a good reason and best gift ever… thank you Jesus!) and our favorite holiday is Christmas. I love to have Christmas music playing all the time, and would LOVE to win a copy of this CD! Thank you for the opportunity, and for sharing your blog!

  398. I found your blog through “Bring the Rain” and I check in on you often. You always make me laugh!

    I love Travis Cottrell! I saw him with Beth Moore a few years ago in Detroit. I would LOVE to win his CD!!!

    Love ya,
    marilena

    P.S. I’m Italian too and I laughed so hard when I read your post about visiting your family. I can so relate!

  399. Oh how I LOVE me some Christmas music! My kids love the clips!

    My favorite Christmas gift- a + on a little stick

  400. My best Christmas gift was the entire series of Friends on DVD. I know that might make me lame, but no one cheers me up like Phoebe and Joey. 🙂

  401. My best present, besides Jesus, would have to be my Coach purse Hubby bought me last year, and he let my daughter pick it out! They done good, y’all!
    Please, please, please let me win this CD! I LOVE Christmas and great Christmas music!
    I LOVE your blog, too! Please, don’t ever leave us! 😉

  406. I would love this CD! I love Christmas music. I can’t say which present would have been my favorite for Christmas. I have received many wonderful gifts over the years!

  407. My best present ever was my strawberry shortcake that blew kisses. I have waited 27 years and nothing has compared to the excitement I felt opening that doll.

    Love your blog.

  408. I get another chance to win?!? Hoorah!! I think I’ll go put it on my del.icio.us list just in case hubby wants to buy it for me, but I’m still hoping to get the fun and excitement of winning it!

    Ok, so instead of my favorite Christmas present, I’ll tell you about del.icio.us. It’s a website where you can put bookmarks for other people to see. You can find stuff you want for Christmas, bookmark, and send a link to your list to all your friends so you can get exactly what you want from anthropologie for Christmas!

  409. Well,my husband proposed to me on Christmas Eve 2001.He gave me a beautiful white gold princess cut engagement ring.Oh,I hope I win.I never win anything!

  410. I honestly can’t think of a favorite, although any year when I get new, good books makes me happy.

    But I love Christmas music and this cd could be my new favorite Christmas gift ever.

  411. I collect Christmas CD’s and would be thrilled to win a copy of my favorite worship leader’s Christmas CD. God has blessed Travis with an amazing gift of leading worshippers to His throne. Thanks for the contest 🙂

  414. Fingers crossed (because somehow praying would feel like cheating!) I have been checking out a lot of your links and been on Travis’ blog from yours. He sounds like such a “good guy” (like the kind you and I are married to!)
    Thanks for the opportunity!

  415. My best present was last Christmas when I found out I would not have to leave my home in Arkansas and move to Minnesota. God provided a job for my hubby right at the bitter end. (I was packed and ready but heart broken) I read your blog everyday and love it!

  416. Gosh! I have so many favorites that it is hard to list them all. The top of the list was a surprise from my husband. After the kids had opened their gifts, he pulled a real carrot out from under his shirt. I didn’t know what to think. Then he pulls out a box and in it is a real 1 carat diamond. It was also our 10th anniversary. So that was probably my most favorite present of all!!

    I hope I win, I love the soundtracks!

  417. One of my favorite Christmas presents was a sapphire tulip ring in 6th grade. I thought it was the most beautiful piece of jewelry ever. Love reading your blog, eispecially your Friday Fashion.

  420. The best Christmas present I’ve received, besides the Talkboy from the Home Alone movie in junior high, was my pink Kitchenaid Mixer that I got last year!!! Woohoo!

    Bring on the Christmas music!

  421. When I was little I got a whole hutch full of rabbits…real ones!
    As an adult, I really liked my diamond earrings. I get more joy out of finding the “perfect” gift for someone else:)
    I would love to win the CD!

  422. I’ve been reading your blog for some time and this is my first post. I would love to be entered for a chance to win the Christmas CD! I love Christmastime… Christmas music puts me in the mood, and I know this CD would be the highlight of this Christmas. It would be a great addition to the few favorite Christmas CD’s I have, though I haven’t gotten a new one for several years now.

  423. Best present was Christmas Eve 2005 when my husband proposed to me!

    Although, my best present runner-up–and it’s really only because it’s the best story–is the year my father gave me a THREE YEAR membership to the NRA. I have absolutely nothing against the NRA. I also do not own any guns of my own. But, according to Dad, they needed women members. And, lucky me, the membership came with a subscription to American Rifleman. It was the gift that kept on giving. Every month. For three years.

  424. Oooh, enter me in the contest!!

    I think the best gift was a trip to France that my entire family took to visit my sister and her husband who’d been gone for an entire year on a mission’s trip.

  425. I would love to win this CD!

    My favorite Christmas gift was a trip to Jamaica in the midst of infertility. It was so good to just get away with my husband and forget about ‘stuff’ for a while.

  427. Hi! My sophomore year of college. My parents bought me 4 tickets to the Young Messiah tour, and I got to treat three friends to some awesome music for Christmas! It was great.

    Love your blog.

    Blessings!

  430. Best gift: a pink Barbie bicycle–the kind with the banana seat and fringe on the handle bars. Oh, yes!

  432. The best present I ever got was a love letter from my husband. It was the sweetest thing I have ever gotten and I still treasure it to this day.

  434. I LOVE Travis…and I LOVE Christmas, so what could be more perfect than Travis Christmas music???…listening to Travis sing Christmas music on my ipod while I am relaxing at Starbucks while I’m sippin’ a grande nonfat, no whip, peppermint Mocha! Now…that would put me in the Christmas spirit!

    BTW…I love your blog!

  435. My favorite Christmas gift was the year my husband surprised me with a plane ticket to go visit my sister (my best friend) for a week. 🙂

    Kelly S.

  438. Love your sense of humor and authenticity.

    One of my favorite childhood Christmas gifts is the year we got oranges and little things in our stockings to represent a surprise trip to Disney!

  442. I’d love to win a copy! Thanks!!

    Favorite gift? Hmmm. A few years ago, I had apparently spent 11 months complaining about my ragged dish towels. Four family members bought me dish towels for Christmas. I now have, like, dish towel inventory. Not the fanciest gift ever, but it was sweet.

  447. Thanks to you and Sophie, I’m now a big Travis fan! I’d LOVE to win this CD.

    I have so many favorite or best gifts, it’s hard to choose (my family is awesome). Upon reflection, I’d say it was an antique handblown glass bowl and two matching candlesticks given to me by my mom and dad. The artist had named the set “Jennifer,” and the colors and design reminded my parents of me. I cried when I opened the box and still get teary-eyed every time I see the pieces.

  448. Enter me in the contest please 🙂 I love his music. I read his blog and that is how I found out about yours.

  451. Thank you for this opportunity. I am new to the TCM blog (however a big Travis fan after attend two Beth Moore events!) and just added yours to my reader.

    Even if I don’t win..I enjoy following your blog!

    Faithfully His,
    Robin

  452. I’m a sucker for Christmas music. I love to start listening to it right after Thanksgiving but my husband insists I wait until Dec. 1st!

    My best Christmas present ever? Probably the homemade gifts my girls made me last year and hid under the tree.

  453. First of all, I got pumped for Christmas a month ago. It’s my favorite time of the year (it’s also the most wonderful). And I can’t wait to hear the CD!
    ENTER ME! 😀

  455. Not sure if it’s the best present ever, but last years brand new bed is the gift that keeps on giving. Thanks!

  456. All time favorite gift: Easy Bake Oven…I can’t remember the year (you know, the first time around when they were popular!)

  458. When I was 11 my oldest sister gave me a manicure set – I still have it and use it!

    But the best gift every year – it the Christ child!

    Would love to win a CD!

  459. Wow! 455 comments already! Well, it still can’t hurt to try. I love Christmas music, so I’m stoked to hear about a good CD.

  462. I’m in!!! This CD will be in my player all season long no matter what, but it would thrill me to win! Thanks for the chance!!!

  465. Ohhhh I soo want a copy of Ring the Bells! Sign me up!

    And because you asked, I’m not sure what my best Christmas gift was, but one of the more memorable ones was when I was 8 and Mom and Dad bought me a hampster. Turns out that he slept all day and never really did anything, but at the time he was the most awesome gift EVER!

  467. Thank you for this chance to get Travis’ cd! Best gift ever? a beautiful winter coat from my husband!

  472. I would love to get a copy of Travis’ CD! I would have to say my favorite Christmas present was last year having my family fly across country to spend some time with my daughter and myself. It was wonderful!

  473. Nearly 500 entries so far…wow.
    I really enjoy reading your blog. I wish I was a better writer and could write more eloquently about my suburban life.
    May God continue to bless you.

  475. In 1990, my “Christmas” gift was an engagement ring from my husband. But then, in 1991, he gave me something tiny and itchy from Frederick’s of Hollywood… forunately, he’s a quick learner and ever since then, he’s chosen “soft and cozy” over “tiny and itchy” 🙂

  476. The best present I ever received on Christmas was watching my grandmother who was homebound hold her new great-grandson 10 days after his birth. We made the trip from Nashville to Killen, AL just to surprise her for Christmas. We were all blown away. She spent one more Christmas with us before going home to the Father but she saw her great-grandson open his presents all by himself at 1 before she did. Truly a gift from God! What an awesome Father we serve!

    I must confess that I had the privilege of having Travis serve as our interim music minister at our church years ago. Two Rivers misses him greatly but I have followed him ever since. I would love for him to record “I Have Seen the Light” on an album some day. That song will bring you to your knees!

    Thank you Travis for your witness and your service for the Lord.
    Tina

  478. My best Christmas present was back in the mid 1970’s when I received my Easy Bake oven. All those mixes…started me on my love for raw cookie dough.

    Please enter me in the contest!

  479. Well, i would love to have something meaningful be my favorite Christmas present ever, but the most excited I’ve ever gotten was the Christmas of the Atari. uugh, I’m so old!!
    Pick me anyway!!

  480. Getting engaged!!

    Is it bad if this is the third blog where I’ve tried to win this CD? 🙂 If it doesn’t work out, I’ll just go ahead and get it off of Itunes.

    Thanks for the giveaway!

  481. please enter me in the contest!

    My fav gift was a necklace my hubby gave me. My fav recurrent present is a good pair of PJs! Nothing beats thst!

  483. please enter me in the contest!

    The best Christmas gift I ever received was a baby girl. Born on Christmas eve.

  484. My best Christmas ever will be this Christmas – we are expecting the arrival of our first grandchild, Emily Rhyse. We are very excited, and would love to win this CD. Thank you for your inspiring blog. I try to read it everyday.
    [email protected]

  486. I listened and loved the music. Thanks for a very entertaining yet inspiring blog. Your daughter and my granddaughter are the same age and Sloan is also a fashionista so I look forward to hearing and seeing Caroline’s fashion looks.

  487. My best Christmas gifts ever were my daughters. One born on the 22nd of December- got to take her home on Christmas Eve. The other on New Year’s Eve 6 years later. Even more reason to celebrate the season!

  489. My favorite Christmas present was when I was 7 years old and got a full-out 7-year-old version of a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader outfit–complete with white leather cowboy boots WITH fringe!
    I would love to win the CD! I listen to Christmas music year-round

  490. Please enter me! I always enjoying seeing what my kids get me for Christmas and their perception of what I like. I’ve gotten some killer socks over the years and my son bought and picked out earrings and they are my favorites!!

  492. The best Christmas gift was a Barbie house that my sister and I got. My poor dad had to spend hours putting it together for us! I’m sure it was worth it because we could play Barbies for hours!

    Another good “gift” was seeing the look on my children’s faces when they saw their first Christmas tree and on the morning of their first Christmas (not the same day)!

    I would love the CD, love Christmas music, and always looking for a great new one!!

  494. Hey! I would absolutely love a copy of this cd! I love Travis’s music and to get a copy of his Christmas music would absolutely be the best! I love Christmas music and usually am listening to it by now! So enter me in the contest!!!!!!!

  495. I can’t come up with a favorite present, but I know it the CD would be a gift-that-keeps-on-giving!

  496. The best Christmas present I received has yet to be topped and it was back when I was five!…A tent. It was my very own haven and I spent every day that I could in there…I’d zip up the door and windows and have my own little world!! 🙂

    P.S. I love Travis Cottrell

  497. I hate it when people ask me what I want for Christmas. Gifts isn’t my love language, so I just don’t care so much. Anything is nice.

    Well, one memorable year when I was a teenager, I satisfied my mother’s incessant, “What do you want for Christmas?” question with a simple answer – “Scrabble. I’d like a game of Scrabble.” What can I say, I love words. I felt sure to receive this inexpensive gift.

    Christmas morning came around and I opened gift after gift. As my sister remembers it, when all was said and done I needed help taking the many loads of Christmas loot back to our room.

    But it seemed like something was missing.
    Then I remembered. “I didn’t get the Scrabble game.” It wasn’t a complaint, just a simple statement of fact. I thought it strange that I didn’t receive the one cheap gift I asked for.

    Well, my Scrabble comment has gone down in infamy in my family. Hardly a Christmas has gone by that I haven’t been reminded of my “greed.” So a couple of years ago, after a dear friend heard the Scrabble story from my sister, my friend went out and bought me a deluxe Scrabble edition as a Christmas gift. I smile every time I see it.

  500. We need some Christmas cheer in this house after all the bad news we get on the economy!
    The best Christmas gift I ever got was my Shaun Cassidy sweatshirt in 7th grade!

  502. on christmas morning my (then) 5 yr old standing in the middle of the street, arms outstretched, taking in her 1st ever snowfall.
    she twirled & danced & said “my life is complete.”
    when anyone asked “what do you want for christmas?” her answer was always & only “SNOW” so the rest of the family prayed non-stop. it was a gift to us all.

  503. Favorite Christmas present: I was 9 and she was a blonde haired/blue eyed Cabbage Patch Kid. I thought we looked like twins (but thankfully, we didn’t).

    Count me in, please!

  504. I would love to win this! I would start playing Christmas music beginning in September if my husband wouldn’t think I was crazy. 🙂

  508. The best Christmas present I ever received was after we moved from TX up to Northern Va away from all the family and friends we had ever know….we came home for Christmas and my aunt presented me with the Family Bible…telling me that she was giving it to me because she knew I would love and cherish it more than her children would. I cried and cried. I flew home with that Bible in my lap (it’s a big Bible with a leather carved cover, over 100 years old and heavy as all get out.

  509. My favorite Christmas present was the year I got my car… I wasn’t expecting something that huge… I was a happy college junior!

  510. Okay…so here’s the deal. I NEVER WIN ANYTHING. At this point, seriously, I can’t believe I’m even commenting. But, I’m a missionary overseas…who could use some good Christmas music…so I’m desperate for the “lift.” Count me in!

  511. Oh please, please, please!!!! I would love to win! The thing that actually makes Christmas Christmas is the music. I know Travis’ CD will become a tradition in our home/car each year.

  514. I’d love to win this! My favorite Christmas gift was a hope chest – given to me by my parents a week before I got engaged (that was a new year’s gift, so i couldn’t count it!)

  516. Ugg boots were my favorite Christmas present! Our Michigan winters here sure require them :). Thanks for the fun contest; I’d be so excited to win!

  517. I was working on my Christmas lists this morning….I need new Christmas music!

    Please add me to you very long list of entrants.

    My favourite Christmas gift was my red KitchenAid mixer. It was love at first sight. We’ve been in a long term relationship for 3 years now. Oh…the pumpkin scones we’ve made together……

  520. I juststarted reading your blog a couple weeks ago and I sure am glad I did. It sounds like we have a lot in common. I made you one of my favorites already.

    Now, I just have to say, I am the BIGGEST Christmas fan in the world. It’s not about the presents, it’s about the season. I start counting down to Christmas on September 16, which is the 100 days-till-Christmas mark. Last year was the best Christmas ever. It was my first Christmas with my daughter and was filled with so much joy and family. A few weeks after Christmas my mom died and I have been worried last year was my last best Christmas. So I think I am going to have to find some really special ways to light my Christmas spirit this year. I don’t know how I am going to do this, but just reading this post and listening to a little bit of Oh, Holy Night (which was sung at my wedding!) makes me think it’s possible.

    OK, enough of the sad story! Here’s to lots of lights and great smelling trees, and the best music of the year, and presents! I want to win!

  522. Favorite gift: (are you seriously reading all these?!!!) When I was 19 years old I had a new car car payment and overdue cell phone bills…totaling about $700.

    For Christmas my Dad paid off all my bills.

    Yes, I know – spoiled brat. But strangely enough, I was so humbled and blessed by this gift of redemption …I vowed never again to let my bills get out of hand.

    Even to this day, when I’m tempted to “live outside my means” I’m reminded of that humbling time when Daddy bought my redemption…and I remember the lesson.

    We are doing Travis Cotrell’s “All Bow Down” for our Church’s Christmas Program this year…it’s amazing!

    Would love the new cd too!

  523. My favorite Christmas present of all time was my ipod – on which I can download lots of Travis and Nicole C Mullen my all time favorite singers. Am very excited to add this CD to my holiday collection! Maybe my 15 year old will learn to play some Christmas music the Travis way on this guitar…cuz all he knows now are Larry the Cable Guy renditions.

  524. Please enter me in the contest!! I love Christmas music (although banned by my husband to start playing it until December 1). I would love this CD!!!

  525. Best present ever?? Having my husband’s stepson with us for just one Christmas morning ever. It was wonderful.

  527. My husband proposed a few days before Christmas 2 years ago – the best gift I ever got was sitting next to him on Christmas Day, knowing I would never spend a Christmas alone again….

  528. Hmmm…I’ve been trying to think of the best Christmas present I’ve ever received. Right now all I can think of is the handmade doll furniture from my grandpa and the handmade doll clothes from my grandma.

    I would love to win the cd – I can’t wait to start playing Christmas music!

  531. my best gift is watcing the joy on my family’s faces as they open their gifts!
    What better to open their gifts to?!!

  532. I would love this cd. Christmas music is my favorite music to listen to. My boys would love the cd if Frosty was on it. We had to sing Frosty by the campfire this summer. 🙂

    Love your blog!

  534. Oh! How very fortunate! I signed up for BooMama’s and LOST! So now I have another chance. Maybe this’ll be the one time in my life that I actually WIN SOMETHING! Plus I would seriously love some new Christmas music. I’m already slobbering over the ornaments in the stores so I just need some tunes to throw me right into Christmas overload! I’m ready for it! [pick me] [randomly, of course]

    Oh, and best present? One year all the money I owed to my fake Mama in loans was erased. And every year I get Christmas Cash. That’s always my favorite.

  537. Hello Big Mama,

    The best Christmas present I ever recieved was my XBox 360, after all what man doesent enjoy his “toys”

    My wife would just love this c.d….shes a little OCD with Christmas Tunes!!

  538. I’d have to say finding out I was pregnant with my daughter was the best Christmas present I ever got, as cheesy as that sounds.

    And this album—WANT! If I don’t get it before Christmas via a giveaway, I’m going to put it on my Christmas list and listen to it through March!

  542. Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!

    Pick me! Pick me!

    See me with my hand held up high in the air, oh random number generator??? Pick me!

  544. My favorite Christmas present would be…
    you know I really don’t know what the best
    present I ever got was, I just love Christmas and I love giving. So enter me in the contest.

  546. We have already started playing Christmas music at our house too! This would be a fab addition to our collection.
    Thank you!

  547. Of course my 2 best “gifts” were a marriage proposal in 1998 and my first baby in 2002. Can’t really beat that. Unless, of course, I win this CD.

  554. I am going to have to go with all the other December mommies here and say my best Christmas present ever was the birth of my daughter!

  555. Probably the most memorable was 1980. I was ten and got a pink banana seat bike, and and “Animal” puppet. WAKA WAKA WAKA!!!

  557. Ok, this is gonna sound corny (and long) but here goes. The best Christmas present I ever got was from someone who wasn’t even related to me or in love with me. My family was stationed in Germany my senior year in high school and we lived in a little village called Freisen. My dad had made friends with a G.I. there who was doing a “hard tour.” That’s two years abroad without your family for those of you who don’t know. Anyhoo, this guy had broken his leg and was staying with us during the Christmas holidays. He happened to see me looking at some books in the store during an outing. A collection of Edgar Allen Poe’s works, and a collection of poetry. I loved to read. Anyways, I open up a present on Christmas morning and it’s those two beautiful books I had been looking at. It’s special to me because 1) G.I.’s are usually broke. G.I’s with families are even worse off. So the fact he even bought me and my 2 brothers presents was really great.
    2) He cared enough about me to shadow me around a freaking bookstore for hours just to see what I liked.

    His name was Rob. I still have the books. Wherever he is, I hope he’s doing well. Sorry for the long comment, but I warned ya.

  560. My niece was born 4 days after Christmas last year, so she was a little late but definitely the best Christmas gift ever!

  562. My most memorable Christmas present was the year I got a a Red Flyer wagon. Then, not long after that my dad was pulling me around in the wagon and I fell out and broke my collarbone. Oops.

  570. My favorite Christmas present was the year we got new carpet for our house!! I know, only a SAHM would love something like that. Thanks for the contest

  571. I’m a big Travis fan, too!! Enter me in the contest, please!!!

    My favorite Christmas present ever would have to be my engagement ring in 1988!!!

  572. Last year my husband got me a pea coat…I didn’t even know that he knew what a pea coat was!

    I don’t really remember any /favorite/ Christmas gifts as a child…my best memories are just of my family being together!

    I’d love some new Christmas music…what a beautiful voice!

  573. I realize now that my chances are few and far between, but it’s a chance none the less. 🙂 I am such a groupie, but haven’t had the chance to get to the stores to buy a copy, yet. Here’s hopin’! 🙂

    Lori Boyd

  577. I’m a big Travis fan…please enter me in the give away!!

    My favorite Christmas present was an ornament from hubby on our first Christmas together!

  580. The best present I ever got for Christmas was a lump of coal. Now to explain…

    A friend of mine was really sick one year at Christmas and outlawed Christmas at his house. Mainly, because he didn’t want to deal with it. But his daughter was 3 and while he was sure she wouldn’t remember I knew she’d never forget.

    So we broke into his house while he was at the hospital for a long Chemo treatment and decorated it top to bottom…even the bathrooms. Complete with lights outside.

    When he drove up he swore if he found out who did it he’d put them on Santa’s naughty list for life.

    That Christmas 4 people got a stocking of coal for Christmas.

    It was naughty… but it was nice.

  581. I’m not a big present person and I have a terrible memory so I really can’t think of the best Christmas present, but the best present(s) I’ve ever big given are my four beautiful children.

  582. Best present ever: A purple hairdyer when I was 7 years old. I “secretly” asked Santa for one as a test of his reality. Told NO ONE else I wanted one and it showed up under the tree Christmas morning. Beautiful, Santa!

  585. Enter me please. One of the sweetest Christmas present I can remember is from my dear husband. One year early on in our marriage he lost his job. This man is Mr. Frugal and still somehow he managed to buy me a cedar chest and to fill it to the brim with all forms of wrapped gifts. It was just precious. Not to mention the fact that my mom had cancelled our family Christmas that year(don’t even ask)so this gift/gifts from him meant all the more. Not because of the gifts really, but b/c of his effort to make me feel loved and special. Precious man. I’m so blessed.

  586. I want that CD. Big Christmas fan here. Best present ever…hmmm….probably my Guess jeans with yellow ankle boots in 1986. Good times.

  592. One of my favorite presents was a trip to Chicago. I got a “voucher” to use the trip whenever I wanted to go. It was too cold so I waited until the summer to use the trip. It was so much fun!!

  593. Travis is wonderful!!

    My favorite Christmas gift ever is a little box my husband picked up for about $2 at an odds-and-ends shop. It has a floral design and is in bright, cheerful colors. It told me that he “gets” me and I love it.

  594. Best gift ever was the engagement ring from my husband!!

    Would love to win the CD- I LOVE Christmas music and I need a good CD to replace the Mariah Carey Christmas I wear out each year. ( I know…I know…)

    🙂 Jenny

  597. I love Travis and LOVE Christmas so combine the two and heaven here on earth……..also love reading of your adventures~

  599. I would like to enter as well!
    I LOVE his version of O HOLY NIGHT
    Best gift?
    Well, second best gift…just in time for the holidays…
    Baby Gus born Sunday

  600. I PRAY and I really mean PRAY that I win!! Please enter me I LOVE Travis’s voice, so worshipful!
    My best gift, besides my salvation and my DH is my hand delivered gifts from God, the adoption of my children!! What a gift!!

    Thanks for the chance to win!
    Blessings
    Sue
    [email protected]

  601. I’ve heard too much about this cd from you and Boomama to not comment! And as for the best Christmas gift I’ve received, a few years ago my hubby gave me a necklace he bought with some fun money he had (which he was supposed to spend on himself!) that represented himself and each of our kids. So much better than another sweater. 🙂

  602. I am in the hospital in labor right now, but had to take the time to enter. My mom loves Travis Cottrell too, but I have not had the opportunity to hear much of his stuff. I’d love to win!

  603. I would love to be entered. My husband and I always try to find at least one new CD each year to add to our collection and this one sounds like a great one to own.
    Thanks,
    Billie Jo

  608. My best Christmas present ever was the year I graduated from nursing school(2005) I had five kids at the time (now I have six) and the most supportive and loving husband on the planet was there to cheer me on!

    Now….enter me in the contest:-)

  609. My best present yet, not necessarily for Christmas, has been the successful 2nd heart surgery of my 86-year old grandmother in August of this year. I’m fairly certain she will make this Christmas one of the happiest ever, simply with her zest for life and faithfulness in the Lord.
    And thanks for the uplifting blogging. Keep it up!

  611. My best Christmas present is Jesus Christ’s birth. I know that isn’t really when it happened but it is when we celebrate it and it is so magical!
    I love Travis Cottrell and would love to win one of the c.d’s. I have been fortunate enough to see him three times at Beth Moore’s conventions but don’t own any music of his 🙁 I would love to though!!

  612. Ooh, pick me, pick me! 🙂 I love Christmas music.

    Favorite gift? My husband recently surprised me EARLY with a new laptop!!! Gotta love an early present!

  615. Enter me too! I’ve received so many wonderful and meaningful Christmas gifts, I can’t even think of one in particular to mention here!

  616. I would love to win the CD! And I also love reading your blog–I read it everyday and always get a kick out of you!

  617. Wow, I’d love that. But seeing how many comments you have already makes me think I’d better save up my pennies and make that album the Christmas CD I purchase this year (I usually get at least one a year).

  618. Ooh, ooh, me, me! I love Christmas music and have actually already started listening to it! I’d love this to add to my collection, along with my New Kids on the Block Christmas CASSETTE tape. 🙂

  619. Would LOVE to win. Best Christmas present ever was when our whole family gave each other a week at the beach over New Years!

  622. Best Christmas present… hmmm… we got a trampoline one year for Christmas. That was fun!

    This CD sounds awesome!

  623. I came across your blog about a month or so ago. I started reading and immediatley felt a kinship with you and then…I saw it. A link to a category titled Aggieland. That was when I knew that this was a connection that was going to last!

    Thanks for you amazing words of faith, your servant’s heart and your love for everything A&M!

    Please enter me in your contest!

    Gig Em!

    Kelley

  624. The best present I get is traveling home to GA to visit family every year. We’re a military family and living so far away is tough, but we enjoy the visits so much. I know it sounds corny, but it’s so true..it’s my favorite gift!

  627. Please enter me. I can’t think of a “best” Christmas present ever, but I am incredibly grateful for every year I get to share the holiday with my Mom & Dad!

  629. I love Travis’ music and hopefully the cd will be one of my best presents ever–he already populates my iPod.

    One of my favorite presents is spending time with my husband near the Christmas tree – corny but true.

  630. ooohh! please pick me! Christmas music is my favorite. I would have a hard time picking a present as my favorite during my life, but I would have to say that the celebration of the birth of my Savior is better and better every year.

  632. Christmas music is my FAVORITE music! I literally start listening to it two months before my favorite time of year!

    I sure hope I win this awesome CD! THANKS!

    Megan

  634. Yes, Please enter me in the contest. I’d love to have one of his Christmas cd’s for free! (I’ll use the money I save by winning it to put 2 gallons of gas in my car).

    Best Christmas gift? Wow…Could never pick just one. No way. I’ve been blessed with so many friends and family… I’d have to say time spent with them at the holidays beats any gift EVER.

    Thanks for doing the giveaway!
    (It helps on BooMama’s blog to have the name Amy or Jessica it appears, so let me just sign off this way:)
    Lavondamy
    Lavondajessica

  637. Enter me please!

    I think that the best present I ever got were pearls from my non-extravagant gift giving husband. It was the year we tried getting pregnant, and he thought that every woman should have pearls, so he bought them for me before our lives became less self-centered with the addition of children.

    The worst? From the same man a year or so later? A muffin tin. There was sort of a misunderstanding, because he thought I asked for one, so I was confused and not excited about the gift at all.

  638. Whoa! There’s a lot of comments. This CD sounds wonderful and it is on my Christmas wish list. If I don’t win one, that is!

  639. This is my first time ever commenting on a blog 🙂 You make me smile everyday!!

    Christmas is my favourite time of year and there is nothing better then a good Christmas song – Please enter me in your contest.

  640. I LOVE listening to Christmas music so I hope I win your contest. I’m REALLY tired of listening to my Alvin and the Chipmunks Christmas CD!

  646. Big Mamma,

    I love your blog. It reminds me of so many of the conversations that I have had with girlfriends.

    Please enter me in the contest.

    Probabally the best Christmas memory/present was the year I got my little brother. I was 5. He was born on November 21. That Christmas I put all my presents around him because he was the biggest and the best. 20 years later, I still think he’s pretty great!

  647. Besides Jesus, my best Christmas present ever was when I found out I was pregnant with my first child. After years of infertility, finding out on Christmas Day was even more of a blessing.

  650. Best Christmas gift? Christmas Eve 1996, when my (now) husband proposed. He tied the ring around a Precious Moments figurine “Love One Another” & when I opened the gift, he insisted that I take it out of the box. As I starting unwrapping it out of the bubble wrap, I saw the ring & watched him get down on one knee & ask “Will you marry me?”

    This was also our very first Christmas together. And I loved that he asked at my family gathering, in front of my entire family! Other Christmases have been sweet with the addition of our children, but nothing beats our very 1st Christmas together. 🙂

  653. Please enter me. My best Christmas present ever was the Christmas my kids and I stayed home on Christmas morning, no traveling, and just felt happy to be together as a family. We were poor in $$, but rich in blessings.

  655. I am new to this “blogging thing” but I LOVE Travis Cottrell’s music. I first heard him sing about a year ago at a Beth Moore conference in Atlanta and bought the “Alive” CD. If you don’t have it, you should get it because it is awesome and proves to provide an amazing worship experience whenever you listen to it. I don’t think I have a favorite Christmas present but I will say that I have always enjoyed the “smells” of the season from the amazing food to the sweet fragrance of family coming together again. Have a great day!

  657. As a child the best Christmas present was actually for my brother but we all got to share – a little puppy. As an adult it was the year I got my sewing machine. Thanks for the chance to win.

  658. I heart Christmas music. My DH agrees to let me start playing it Thanksgiving weekend… can’t wait!