Debra Hopkins
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
Shellie Tomlinson has a new book out, though it isn’t quite new. In 2001, which was early in her career that now includes several faith-based titles, Tomlinson self-published the children’s book “‘Twas the Night Before the Very First Christmas.” “Behold the Light” is the new name, but it is the same poignant story. While the book had long been out of print, its message never left Tomlinson’s heart. Nor did the dream of bringing it back. Not so long ago, she realized that the files of the original drawings for the book were lost. Last summer, an opportunity presented itself when her friend, the artist Nicole Seitz, “caught the vision” with Tomlinson and thus began the book’s journey back to bookshelves. The motivation behind the book, she said, happened on Christmas Eve many years ago, when she was a young mother. “I lay in bed wondering how to impress on my children the true meaning of Christmas.They knew the story of Jesus’ birth.They’d already been in countless church plays as a shy Mary, a fidgeting Joseph, and even a hesitant wise man,” she said. “Still, it seemed more of our family’s holiday was swallowed up every year in the commercial trappings that surround it. I was amazed at my kids’ abilities to recall every jingle on television, and they could practically recite Rudolph backwards. I longed to give them an age appropriate and easy way to remember the true Christmas story.”
