"This is the real-life Advent devotional I've been waiting for. Sherah-Leigh Gerber's reflective, stripped-down theology leaves room for everyday peril amid the twinkle lights. May this honest guide be our reminder that Emmanuel showed up, stuck around, and journeys with us in our doubt, our grief, and our ordinary bliss."

"Advent is my favorite season of the year, but it is not always an emotionally easy season. If we hold space for the true nature of the waiting of Advent, it's a countercultural time for the unknown and even the unhappy. But as the angel said, "Do not be afraid," for this lovely book holds reflections and blessings to accompany you through all the days of waiting that Advent brings."

"Sherah-Leigh Gerber clearly loves Advent, not only as a lead-in to the main event of Christmas, but as a season of honest reflection and deep longing, a season for waiting on God and being surprised by unexpected blessings. This is a book to savor: with readings from Scripture, daily reflections and words of blessing, and bonus materials to use this book with a small group or in a worship setting."

"A refreshingly honest and unique Advent devotional. Sherah-Leigh Gerber readily admits that all is not merry and bright. Not for us, nor for those who first sat in darkness, longing for the Messiah to break in to their realities of fear, disappointment, oppression and death. If you're struggling to find joy this Christmas season, Unhappy Holidays will speak tender words of comfort to your weary soul."

"Unhappy Holidays is the book we all need at some point in our journey. As a therapist, I value this resource as a gentle companion for anyone struggling through the holidays for a variety of reasons that the reader may not be able to articulate. This book is a great gift for the person who meets the holidays with grief, loss, or ambivalence."

"I know very few people who feel 'merry' around the holidays. Most, though, long to engage with the One who is intimately familiar with the lives they lead and the challenges they face. If that's you--and I suspect it is--I hope you'll welcome Unhappy Holidays as the new holiday tradition that will bless you and the ones you love."

"Unhappy Holidays invites us to live into the beautiful complexity of Advent rather than succumb to the cheerful veneer of the secular holiday season. In her gentle weaving of the biblical story with our contemporary stories, Sherah-Leigh Gerber creates a nurturing space for those who carry grief with them into this holy season."

"Unhappy Holidays somehow recounts the familiar Advent journey where the darkness of grief meets the light of grace with honesty and comfort. As a pastor honoring the spirit of waiting, Sherah-Leigh Gerber captures the slow moves of God in this season of unfolding. Her ordinary but parabolic stories are like the bread and wine of communion that meet us in our unique Advent locations and fill us up with the richness of having been with God. This book resources a sacred Advent with extra prompts to use in worshiping communities of many sizes, ensuring we don't journey alone."