Great tidings, my friends. The only gift guide you’ll ever need has arrived! And it’s bushels of fun. Click here to read last year’s.
For Your Elementary-Aged Godson Who You Can’t Help But Notice Hasn’t Been in Church Much Since the Baptism and No One Has That Many Sunday Morning Soccer Games: a LEGO-compatible Crucifixion brick set and a pair of 67 socks
For Your Hot Mess of a Friend Whose Shenanigans Are a Riot to Hear About in Book Group but Maybe Not as Fun to Experience in Real Time While on Vacation Together (for the Last Time): a selection of WTF/Notebooks (e.g., Times I Was Right and Nobody Listened or Reasons Why I Should Never Be Put on Speakerphone or Shit That You Just Can’t Make Up) or possibly a Well, Well, Well, If It Isn’t the Consequences of My Own Actions needlepoint throw pillow from Furbish
For Your Niece in Middle School Who Wears Sweatshirts That Would Look Baggy on a Grown Man: a Living Proof of a Loving God hoodie, an I Need God varsity sweater, or an Mbird crewneck sweatshirt
For the Gen-X Dad Who Doesn’t Golf or Drink (We Exist!) and Hasn’t Stopped Talking About the Oasis Show He Caught Last Summer Except to Tell You About His Far Fetched Plans to Score Radiohead Tickets: This Year: A Book of Days by John Darnielle, the Folio edition of The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, or The Uncool by Cameron Crowe. If you want to go all out, the Replacements’ Let It Be box set
For Your Brother-in-Law Who Shares Your Ice Cream Habit but Mainly for His Wife Who You Know Saw the Cholesterol Test Results and Suspect Issued an Ultimatum: The Lick Locker
For the Mom in Your Playgroup Who Schedules Those Get-Togethers Around Her Power Rides and Once Told You with a Straight Face That Peloton Is “Kinda My Church”: a Spin Bike ornament, and for her son who’s already veering in the opposite, non-fitnessy direction, a Vintage Arcade Game ornament
For Anyone Shaking in Disbelief About How Much Exceptional Music Was Produced This Past Year in the Devotional Space (Seriously, What Is Happening?!): Jon Guerra’s Jesus on vinyl, one of John Van Deusen’s As Long As I Am In This T-Shirt t-shirts, or an Andy Squyres’ “I Will Wash If You Dry” dish towel set
For the Recent College Graduate Looking to Out-Maneuver the Insufferable Aging Hipster at their First White Elephant Office Christmas Party: a White Stripes or MF Doom (NYC) action figure
For Your Beloved Spiritual Mentor/Director Whose Love for God Is as Infectious as It Is Stabilizing Yet Whose Refrain That “All Is Gift” Leaves You Wondering Where That Leaves Things Christmas-Wise: a set of 12 gorgeously illuminated Robert Farrar Capon quotations calligraphied by Ginger Oakes
For the Toddler Next Door Whose Security Blanket Finally Bit the Dust and You Could Tell the Parents Were Pretty Psyched: a Holy Spirit plushie from StoryMakers and a copy of The Very Persistent Pirate by CJ & Maddy Green (now 25% off!)
For the Guy in Your Men’s Group Who Can Talk for Hours About the Merits of Various First Century Currencies But Has a Significantly Harder Time When It Comes to His Own Emotions: a set of Coins of the Bible (Lepton, Denarius, and Shekel) and a copy of Chad Bird’s Untamed Prayers
For Your Stranger Things-Obsessed Nephew Who Will Drive the Rest of the Family Crazy Unless He Finds Something to Distract Him from How Disappointing the New Season Is: The Goonies Pirate Ship LEGO set, or if homeschooled, The Bais Hamikdash Holy Jerusalem Temple brick set from Aleph Brick
For the Person You Religiously Forward Every New Installment of Nick Cave’s Red Hand Files to as Soon as It Drops: a Murder Ballads jigsaw puzzle and/or Bring Your Spirit Down bobble hat. And speaking of the Red Hand Files, wowza
For the Introvert in Your Bible Study Who Consistently Surprises Everyone with Their Hilarious Comments and Keeps Asking You to Pray for a New Car and You’re Not 100% Sure If They’re Joking or Not: a God’s Most Awkward Soldier bumper sticker and a Mockingbird keychain
For Your Incredibly Gracious and Long-Suffering Wife Who Never Gets a Moment to Herself Unless It’s in the Bath Preferably with a Cup of Tea but Also How Many Baths Can One Woman Take: a Proverbs 31 coffee mug or a Things Could be Worse mug and one of those bath pillows you see on social media all the time
For Your Pastor Who’s Getting a Little Loose-Lipped as He Nears Retirement and at the Most Recent Retreat Finally Let Slip Some Denominational War Stories and Oh-Whee-Boy Church People Are the Worst: a bottle of Ministr-eeze pills, a tube of Alriyan’s Frankincense toothpaste, or a Jesus Christ What a Year 2026 calendar by WeirdWatercolours
For Your Mother Whose Commitment to Cozycore Has Reached Near Cult-Like Levels Since Your Little Sister Moved Out If Only It Would Mellow Her Personality Some: a Hygge Box subscription (each of which includes an “element of light”) or a Kintsugi bud vase from Hope Heals
For the Well-Meaning but Precocious Seminarian from Your Church Who Insists on Telling Anyone Who Will Listen That Their Favorite Reformer Is Actually Martin Chemnitz: a bottle of De Atramentis Martin Luther Ink and a Goulet Pilot Kakuno fountain pen to use it with, and perhaps a copy of Andrew Root’s Evangelism in an Age of Despair to annotate
For the Person in Your DMs Who Clearly Has a Great Sense of Humor but Might Also Benefit from a Bit More Discernment in the Reels-Forwarding Department: Hi It’s Me Again by Asher Perlman or Disquieting Levels of Egg by James Donald Forbes McCann
For Your Pentecostal Former Babysitter Who You Love Dearly but Have a Hard Time Understanding When She Starts Talking About Her Faith, Bless Her Heart: Leave Room for the Holy Spirit needlepoint kit by Canvas Queen or a Holy Ghost enamel pin from John Hendrix
For Your Colleague Who Texts You About HBO More Than He Texts You About Work and You’re Here for It: an embroidered TASK baseball cap and a Miracle over the Mojave poster or the updated edition of Mockingbird at the Movies we quietly sneaked out a few months ago
For Your Cousin the Marathoner Whose Sweet Tooth You Like to Encourage Because She Was Frankly More Fun Before She Got so Healthy but Also Cause All that Exercising Makes You Feel Insecure: Coops Original Hot Fudge, a Bubs & Swedish Candy Mix 1 lb bag from ScandyCandy, or a box of Ruth’s Toffee
For Your Know-It-All Stepbrother Who Majored in Religious Studies and Is Always Recommending Books About the Gospel of Thomas When He’s Not Gushing About Stoicism: Jonathan Linebaugh’s The Well That Washes What It Shows or, if you really want to drop some knowledge, Todd Brewer’s Hermeneutics and Early Christian Gospels
For Your Former Co-Worker Who Got Fired in Spectacular Fashion and Whose Instagram Suggests He’s Logged Some Time in Rehab Since: a set of Serenity Prayer pens and a four pack of Ish Non-Alcoholic Spritz
For the Most Intentional and/or Therapized Person in Your Life Who You Admire but Also Makes You Tired Just Thinking About: a box of Boss Energy – Empowerment Affirmation Cards, a variety pack of LMNT Zero Sugar Electrolytes, and if they seem extra on edge these days, maybe a copy of Laura Delano’s Unshrunk
For Anyone You Truly Love: a ticket to our Annual Conference in NYC (4/23–25) and a gift subscription to The Mockingbird Magazine
Merry Mockingmas