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Harmony #5.5
The Christmas Scrapbook
It's autumn in Harmony, and Pastor Sam Gardner has vowed to be ready for Christmas. Determined to redeem a dreadful history of gift giving, Sam enrolls in a scrapbooking class to make a Christmas gift his wife will never forget. However, Sam's absence from their home every Wednesday night, coupled with his fishy alibi of attending a men's group, raises her suspicions.
Meanwhile, Sam struggles in the class and must attempt to complete his project with only the help of his faithful secretary, Frank. As Christmas fast approaches and rumors of Sam's Wednesday night absences swirl along with the snow, a series of mishaps leads to a Christmas no one will soon forget.
Meanwhile, Sam struggles in the class and must attempt to complete his project with only the help of his faithful secretary, Frank. As Christmas fast approaches and rumors of Sam's Wednesday night absences swirl along with the snow, a series of mishaps leads to a Christmas no one will soon forget.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2005
32 people are currently reading
571 people want to read
About the author
Philip Gulley
38 books404 followersPhilip Gulley has become the voice of small-town American life. Along with writing Front Porch Tales, Hometown Tales, and For Everything a Season, Gulley is the author of the Harmony series of novels, as well as If Grace Is True and If God Is Love, which are coauthored with James Mulholland.
He hosts "Porch Talk with Phil Gulley" on the Indiana PBS affiliate WFYI television's flagship show Across Indiana.
Gulley lives in Indiana with his wife, Joan, and their sons, Spencer and Sam—in a rambling old house with Gulley’s eclectic chair collection (64 at last count) and a welcoming back porch.
Gulley is also the Pastor at Fairfield Friends Meeting House in Camby, Indiana. If you find yourself in Camby, you're invited to attend a sermon.
He hosts "Porch Talk with Phil Gulley" on the Indiana PBS affiliate WFYI television's flagship show Across Indiana.
Gulley lives in Indiana with his wife, Joan, and their sons, Spencer and Sam—in a rambling old house with Gulley’s eclectic chair collection (64 at last count) and a welcoming back porch.
Gulley is also the Pastor at Fairfield Friends Meeting House in Camby, Indiana. If you find yourself in Camby, you're invited to attend a sermon.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 193 reviews
December 22, 2018
An amusing read with just the right cast of characters to bring this delightful story to life! Determined to give his wife a thoughtful and inspired Christmas gift this year, Pastor Sam sets out to make her a scrapbook. He enrolls in a scrapbooking class, but tells everyone he’s joined a men’s group. Between trying to keep his secret and the mishaps at his class hampering his credibility, Sam’s soon got the whole town talking. Speculation runs rampant with everyone assuming the worst while Sam remains oblivious to the emotional upset around him. A quick and funny holiday read on how the best intentions can swiftly go awry.
December 7, 2016
This was absolutely hilarious! This book was written by a Quaker minister. The series is about a small town pastor. This Christmas book had me absolutely laughing out loud and reading parts of it to family members. I had to share it, too funny not too. Shows what happens when assumptions are made and gossips have their way. Read it and you'll get a real chuckle out of it!
December 5, 2018
This little novella is book 5.5 in the Harmony series featuring Quaker minister Sam Gardner, his wife Barbara, and the Friends of the Harmony meeting house.
I love the gentle stories of one man’s efforts to make a difference in his community. This time his focus is on his wife. He’s determined to give Barbara a better gift than the usual bought-on-Christmas-eve potholder from the local five-and-dime. So, Sam signs up for a scrapbooking class. The results are predictably hilarious. But also impart a lesson about faith, tolerance, love and the spirit of Christmas. As well as a caution about jumping to conclusions and engaging in gossip.
I love the gentle stories of one man’s efforts to make a difference in his community. This time his focus is on his wife. He’s determined to give Barbara a better gift than the usual bought-on-Christmas-eve potholder from the local five-and-dime. So, Sam signs up for a scrapbooking class. The results are predictably hilarious. But also impart a lesson about faith, tolerance, love and the spirit of Christmas. As well as a caution about jumping to conclusions and engaging in gossip.
December 18, 2025
A charming, humorous Christmas story that’s sure to delight those who enjoy homespun stories a la Lake Wobegone.
Sam is a Quaker minister. For the past 17 years, he has been woefully inept at giving his wife an appropriate gift for Christmas. This year, he starts very early, having decided to give her an handmade, gift from his heart - a scrapbook. Unfortunately for Sam, he tells his wife that he’s attending a Men’s group on Wednesday nights, thinking he’s covering for his absence and this tiny lie won’t hurt. Sam also doesn’t have one once of artistic talent and is in danger of failing the scrapbooking class!
What ensues is small town hijinx, full of humor and good intentions but fueled by a massive “game of telephone” caused by good natured gossip. Sam is diagnosed with everything from having an affair, getting a life ending mouse bite to contracting leprosy and cancer; all diagnosed by the magazine certified townspeople.
His faithful, male, veteran secretary gets the meeting house in an uproar, (telling completely inappropriate war stories to the women’s group), one moment or many moments, but rescues Sam’s gift from certain failure at the 11th hour. He was my favorite character.
A very quick and easy read at about 90 pages, THE CHRISTMAS SCRAPBOOK, by Philip Gulley, (also a Quaker minister), is an enjoyable break during an hectic season📚
Sam is a Quaker minister. For the past 17 years, he has been woefully inept at giving his wife an appropriate gift for Christmas. This year, he starts very early, having decided to give her an handmade, gift from his heart - a scrapbook. Unfortunately for Sam, he tells his wife that he’s attending a Men’s group on Wednesday nights, thinking he’s covering for his absence and this tiny lie won’t hurt. Sam also doesn’t have one once of artistic talent and is in danger of failing the scrapbooking class!
What ensues is small town hijinx, full of humor and good intentions but fueled by a massive “game of telephone” caused by good natured gossip. Sam is diagnosed with everything from having an affair, getting a life ending mouse bite to contracting leprosy and cancer; all diagnosed by the magazine certified townspeople.
His faithful, male, veteran secretary gets the meeting house in an uproar, (telling completely inappropriate war stories to the women’s group), one moment or many moments, but rescues Sam’s gift from certain failure at the 11th hour. He was my favorite character.
A very quick and easy read at about 90 pages, THE CHRISTMAS SCRAPBOOK, by Philip Gulley, (also a Quaker minister), is an enjoyable break during an hectic season📚
August 24, 2018
This book was hilarious! First of all, if you've ever been involved in the workings of a church, you will recognize characters in this book. If you've ever had to organize (or act in) a committee, you will know these characters. You'll swear that Philip Gulley has gone to your church, and sat in on your committees, and listened to the gossipy ladies in the back pew, and incorporated those people into his novel. And he makes it all funny. This is the town of Harmony, central to the series, and it is the setting/backdrop for this tale.
Although Sam has been married for seventeen years, he has yet to give his wife a Christmas present that she actually likes. Determined to make up for almost two decades of crummy gifts, he enrolls in a scrapbooking class that meets Wednesday nights. This year, he thinks, he finally has the perfect gift.
His wife, however, is less than thrilled with his mysterious late nights and suspicious behavior. Is he having an affair? Is he sick? Somehow, as news travels down the grapevine, suspicion leads to rumor, and rumor leads to "fact," and suddenly everybody in Harmony, behind Sam's back, of course, is admiring his courage for facing his last Christmas and still not burdening his family with the news of his imminent demise. And his number one mourner, going out of her way to make his last Christmas comfortable? His wife. Of course.
This is a story about love and marriage, about rumors and misconceptions, about church activities and secretaries ready to go on strike for better photocopiers, about tacky Christmas presents and unfortunate accidents involving scrapbook glue.
This book made me laugh out loud in the library. That's about the highest praise I can give it.
Although Sam has been married for seventeen years, he has yet to give his wife a Christmas present that she actually likes. Determined to make up for almost two decades of crummy gifts, he enrolls in a scrapbooking class that meets Wednesday nights. This year, he thinks, he finally has the perfect gift.
His wife, however, is less than thrilled with his mysterious late nights and suspicious behavior. Is he having an affair? Is he sick? Somehow, as news travels down the grapevine, suspicion leads to rumor, and rumor leads to "fact," and suddenly everybody in Harmony, behind Sam's back, of course, is admiring his courage for facing his last Christmas and still not burdening his family with the news of his imminent demise. And his number one mourner, going out of her way to make his last Christmas comfortable? His wife. Of course.
This is a story about love and marriage, about rumors and misconceptions, about church activities and secretaries ready to go on strike for better photocopiers, about tacky Christmas presents and unfortunate accidents involving scrapbook glue.
This book made me laugh out loud in the library. That's about the highest praise I can give it.
May 1, 2009
The only bad thing I have to say about this book was that it was too short. It was really a novella rather than a novel, but it was a delight to read. I found myself laughing out loud at the outrageous situations. I won't give away the plot, but let's just say that it's a funny moral tale about gossip and communication. I highly recommend this book if you want a good laugh.
Apparently, there's a series with these same characters. I plan to start reading that right away.
Apparently, there's a series with these same characters. I plan to start reading that right away.
June 16, 2013
This charming Christmas story illustrates quite humorously the problems that can occur when people, possessing a little knowledge about something, use not-so-common sense to fill in the blanks. Sam, wanting to give his wife a special, one-of-a-kind Christmas gift, enrolls in a scrapbooking class, but deceives his wife and tells her he is attending a men’s group. Alas, his talents as a scrapbooker are few if any, and his ability to keep his mission a secret is even worse. Soon, the townspeople are coming up with theories of their own: Sam is seeing another woman; Sam is ill from an exotic disease; Sam only has weeks to live. But Sam has no idea that these are the thoughts running through the minds of his wife and friends. It is a comedy of errors, but when Sam’s wife finally discovers that his secret is not a fatal illness but rather a Christmas gift, Sam may wish he was really ill! This amusing tale is filled with all the wonderful characters you’ve come to love from the Home to Harmony series. It’s a lesson to all that while honesty may the best policy, a little deceitfulness is a lot funnier.
January 12, 2009
on page 25 and it's hilarious! Funny! Sam's taking a scrapbooking class to make his wife a scrapbook for Christmas. His teacher? Well, she could have been a Nazi. She shows the class by Sam's example, how NOT to make a scrapbook.
p. 37 - This is hysterical! Laughter! Funny! In scrapbooking class, Sam is alarmingly transported back to a 4th grade gluing endeavor.
A somewhat slapstick tale of scrapbooking woes and other follies.
His wife Barbara has no clue where he spends his Wednesday evenings. A mens meeting that talks about riding mowers for 2 hours!?!
Frank, Sam's secretary gets the Friendly Women is a huff.
Gotta have Sam's personality to pastor these people!
Is he dying of cancer, polio or some other disease? Anyone know the signs of a mouse bite?
p. 37 - This is hysterical! Laughter! Funny! In scrapbooking class, Sam is alarmingly transported back to a 4th grade gluing endeavor.
A somewhat slapstick tale of scrapbooking woes and other follies.
His wife Barbara has no clue where he spends his Wednesday evenings. A mens meeting that talks about riding mowers for 2 hours!?!
Frank, Sam's secretary gets the Friendly Women is a huff.
Gotta have Sam's personality to pastor these people!
Is he dying of cancer, polio or some other disease? Anyone know the signs of a mouse bite?
September 12, 2014
I read the entire book over my lunch break. I have never read any of the others in the series. It was a cute story that reminds me of Jan Karon and her Mitford series.
A husband wants to make a memorable Christmas gift for his wife and wants it to be a surprise so he tries to be secretive about it. This gets his wife's overactive imagination thinking all sorts of things may be going on. Because it is a gossipy but well-meaning small town, it ends up being like the childhood game of "telephone" where everybody sort of adds their own spin to the info they are given and it ends up being a comical conclusion. It was a sweet, fast, feel good about the upcoming holiday type book.
A husband wants to make a memorable Christmas gift for his wife and wants it to be a surprise so he tries to be secretive about it. This gets his wife's overactive imagination thinking all sorts of things may be going on. Because it is a gossipy but well-meaning small town, it ends up being like the childhood game of "telephone" where everybody sort of adds their own spin to the info they are given and it ends up being a comical conclusion. It was a sweet, fast, feel good about the upcoming holiday type book.
December 4, 2012
Very cute Christmas story laced with homespun charm and lots of humor! I believe that it is most enjoyable if you have read his other "Harmony novels" as you know the characters better, but I really enjoyed this and laughed out loud at the very funny misconceptions portrayed in the novel!
March 12, 2009
This book will always be a personal favorite. I read it to my angel Mother before she died, and reading it together ... was an escape for us both during a very difficult time.
The story line was humorous and light hearted and to think of a man taking scrapbook classes for his wife's gifts was a true treasure.
The story line was humorous and light hearted and to think of a man taking scrapbook classes for his wife's gifts was a true treasure.
April 25, 2012
This is a perfect Christmas book. Phil Gulley is at his fictional best in this story of a loving gift which goes horribly wrong. In the attempt to create a Christmas surprise, Sam weaves a tangled web of deception that backfires, but turns out well in the end.
Highly recommend as a wonderful Christmas read. I gave my autographed copy to my brother-in-law for Christmas several years ago.
Highly recommend as a wonderful Christmas read. I gave my autographed copy to my brother-in-law for Christmas several years ago.
August 17, 2012
I loved this! I decided to start the Harmony series after reading it. It is a quick read and full of laugh-out-loud hometown "stuff". Very connected author. If this is the only Christmas book you read during the Holidays you'll be glad you did. I am always on the lookout for a good one. This is a gem and not sappy like so many of them. (Is that too strong of a word, "sappy"?) ENJOY!!
September 28, 2011
This was a really fast read. I read it in one evening and never laughed so hard. Philip Gulley has written some of the funniest books I have ever read. Nothing but small town stuff with small town residents. I love the Harmony Series and wish there were more!!
December 15, 2015
This was hilarious, partially because it is so exaggerated. My own interest in scrapbooking, as well as all things Christmas, made this a fun read. It's very easy, you'll get a good laugh even if you do groan at the sheer stupidity of the whole scenario. A fun read.
March 10, 2019
This was genuinely the strangest book I have ever read. I don’t think anything else needs to be said about it.
December 27, 2010
I enjoyed this lovely, comfortable read.
Sam Gardner is a pastor of a small church in small town Harmony Indiana.
Vowing to finally give the perfect gift to his wife, Sam enrolls in a scrapbook class. He is the only male and, it appears that he is also the only one flunking the class.
As he tries to hide the fact of the class from his wife, things spiral into a funny comedy of small town whisper down the alley communications.
This is a cute story with likeable characters that leave a warm feeling from the first page through the last.
Recommended for a warm glow during the holidays. I'll be sure to read the other books in the Harmony series.
Sam Gardner is a pastor of a small church in small town Harmony Indiana.
Vowing to finally give the perfect gift to his wife, Sam enrolls in a scrapbook class. He is the only male and, it appears that he is also the only one flunking the class.
As he tries to hide the fact of the class from his wife, things spiral into a funny comedy of small town whisper down the alley communications.
This is a cute story with likeable characters that leave a warm feeling from the first page through the last.
Recommended for a warm glow during the holidays. I'll be sure to read the other books in the Harmony series.
December 4, 2017
Pastor Sam Gardner, a Quaker pastor, has given his wife wimpy presents year after year. This year he decides he is going to make her a fantastic scrapbook. So he signs up for a scrapbooking class on Wednesday nights in order to learn how to do this. He can't tell his wife though, so he tells her he's going to a men's group. Between being a scrapbooking disaster and his wife thinking he's cheating on her, this novella is a rollicking romp through the Christmas season.
Definitely one to curl up with when you need a break from wrapping Christmas gifts!
Definitely one to curl up with when you need a break from wrapping Christmas gifts!
February 28, 2010
This was a very quick read. Read it in about 2 hours! A funny, sweet story of a pator who decides to make his wife a scrapbook for Christmas. Trying to keep it a secret, turns into a series of events that lead the entire community to think he is dying. The ending could have one more chapter to reconcile the community and his "return to health." ha!
November 29, 2010
I'd consider giving this one 3.5 stars for being such a sweet little book. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, especially since it is one I probably wouldn't have picked out. It was humourous and the characters were endearing. A very simple, easy read you can finish in the time it takes to eat a candy cane and drink a cup of hot cocoa!
June 25, 2013
I don't think I've ever laughed so hard reading a book.
Mr Gulley has done it again. His slightly kooky characters have come up with all sorts of crazy explanations for perfectly reasonable events...
Poor Sam has the whole town worried and he has no idea.
Bravo for a fantastically fun Christmas tale!
Mr Gulley has done it again. His slightly kooky characters have come up with all sorts of crazy explanations for perfectly reasonable events...
Poor Sam has the whole town worried and he has no idea.
Bravo for a fantastically fun Christmas tale!
March 20, 2014
I have always enjoyed reading books about Christmas and during the Christmas holidays they are out on the shelves at the library for all, I look for them during the year. Enough about me and my love of Christmas books. This is one of the cutest I have read in a while. This is a fun book and will have you laughing but the underlying story of love of one's mate will rope you in.
January 23, 2017
Utterly charming story of a man secretly trying to come up with a thoughtful Christmas gift for his wife. Concatenations and misunderstandings fly all over as he bumbles his way around. Did not know it was part of a series and perhaps I will keep an eye out for more in the Harmony series by this author.
March 31, 2018
The game of gossip
The misunderstandings of snippets of information, buoyed by town gossips spreading wild tales results in a delightful, laugh-out-loud read. The townspeople of Harmony never fail in their quest to be first to "share" information. Philip Gulley has a well developed sense of humor plus the ability to subtly convey this to his readers. Thorough enjoyment.
The misunderstandings of snippets of information, buoyed by town gossips spreading wild tales results in a delightful, laugh-out-loud read. The townspeople of Harmony never fail in their quest to be first to "share" information. Philip Gulley has a well developed sense of humor plus the ability to subtly convey this to his readers. Thorough enjoyment.
December 28, 2010
I always enjoy Philip Gulley's Harmony series (and wish there was a new one!)and this was true to form. While it was a short story and I think I had read it before, I still got a kick out of it and it was a good Christmas story about good intentions.
October 10, 2015
This is a very short book and a pleasant evening read. Suspicion, misunderstandings, and gossip made for a very humorous story. I laughed quite a bit while reading. My family thought I was crazy when I would laugh out loud. Anyway, I thought this book was definitely worth spending an evening with.
August 10, 2016
Mr. Gulley tells such great stories about people, namely his main character Sam. In this short story Sam is on a quest to make his wife a Christmas present she will like. In trying to keep it a secret all kinds of conclusions are drawn making this a fun story.
January 24, 2016
A fun, quick read (took me about two hours) about a small-town minister who wants to surprise his wife with something nice for Christmas and hilarity ensues. The story paints men and and women in rather traditional, gender-biased roles, but is mostly harmless Christmas fun.
January 20, 2016
This was a quick little read. A preacher is making a secret scrapbook for his wife, hiding out and getting into mishaps. Because of the mishaps, the whole town, the wife and his church members think the worst about him. They prepare in ways that will make you laugh and be sad.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 193 reviews