On January 2nd My Daughter-in-Law Handed Me a Laundry Basket of the Toys I Bought.

January 2nd: She Handed Me a Laundry Basket

On January 2nd my daughter-in-law handed me a laundry basket.

It was full of the toys I bought for Christmas.

A doll with her head off. A robot missing both arms. A drone with three propellers. A light-up unicorn that wouldn't light up. Batteries everywhere.

She said, "Bren, can you take these? Just too many toys stresses me out these days."

She said it nicely. She's a nice girl.

I carried that basket to my car and sat in the driveway with it in the passenger seat like a passenger.

$612. I added it up later. $612 of Christmas, broken or forgotten in 8 days.

Every Year I Promise to Keep It Simple. Every Year I End Up in the Toy Aisle.

I'm 71. I have 7 grandchildren in 3 different houses.

Every year I make the list on the back of an envelope in September. Names down one side, ages, sizes, what they're into this year.

Every year I tell myself I'm going to keep it simple.

And every year I end up in the toy aisle on a Saturday in December buying whatever has the most lights on the box. Because I want to see their faces.

I always say, "Christmas is about Jesus, not presents."

I've said it at every Christmas dinner for 40 years.

And then I spend the whole December budget on plastic. And I give them nothing about Jesus. Nothing.

I'm the Grandma Who Gives Stuff. Not the One Who Gives Faith.

Sitting in that driveway, with a headless doll looking up at me from the passenger seat, I finally heard myself.

I'm the grandma who gives stuff.

Not the one who gives faith.

That's what my grandkids are going to remember. Grandma brings the loud toys.

My own grandmother gave me a little New Testament when I was 6. I still have it. I don't remember a single toy she ever gave me. I remember that.

So what was I going to be for these 7 kids?

I'd tried before. A children's Bible one year. Too long, too many pages, it sat on a shelf.

Single books from the church table, one per child, that got lost in the toy bin.

Gift cards, which my son spends on sneakers.

He Walked Right Past the TV. "Read It." Four Times.

Here's what changed it.

In February my sister Joan sent a set of books to her great-grandson. I was at her house when he came over.

He's 4. Busy little boy. Never sits still.

He walked right past the TV and pulled a thin bright book off her side table. I Am Brave.

He climbed into Joan's lap and said, "Read it."

She read it. It took about 4 minutes.

He said, "Again."

She read it again. He said, "Again!"

Four times. I counted.

Then he went and got another one.

I asked Joan what they were. The With Jesus Series by G.L. Charles. 11 books in a set.

Each one is short. Each one is about one real thing a little one goes through. Being scared. Being mad. Telling the truth.

And Jesus is right there with the child in every story. Jesus on every page. A verse at the end.

I'm not a pushover. I've bought plenty of "Christian" gifts that turned out to be a cartoon with a cross on the cover.

But I had just watched a 4-year-old pick a book about Jesus over a television. Four times.

3 Sets, One Checkout, One Set for Every House

$59 for all 11. Regular price $165. That's $5.36 a book.

Less than one of those light-up unicorns.

And they had a deal: buy 2 sets, get the 3rd one free. 3 sets for $118.

3 sets. One checkout. One set for every house.

So that's what I did. They came to my house, and that Saturday I drove them around myself. One set to my son's house. One to my daughter's. One to my youngest boy's.

Same set to every house so nobody can say Grandma has favorites.

Free shipping.

April. The Toys Were Long Gone. The Books Were Still Being Read.

Here's what came back to me.

My granddaughter Mia, who's 8, started reading them to her little brothers.

She sent me a video. Her, on the floor, two little boys leaning on her, hanging on every word.

My son's 3-year-old calls them "Grandma's Jesus books." He won't let anybody else's books on that shelf.

And my daughter-in-law, the one with the laundry basket, sent me a text in April.

"The kids still ask for your books every night. Thank you for not sending more toys. I mean that."

April. The toys from December were long gone. The books were still being read.

This Christmas I'm not buying the loudest thing on the shelf.

Every one of my 7 grandkids is getting a book about Jesus from Grandma.

This Christmas every house gets Series 2, the next 11 books.

They'll get one toy each too. I'm not a monster.

But I know which gift will still be in the house at Easter.

Over 75,000 copies sold. I understand why now.

If you're a grandma with a long list and a short budget, look at that list.

Every toy on it will be broken or forgotten by New Year's.

Give them the one gift they'll ask you to read again.

P.S. I kept the headless doll. It sits on my sewing table. Every time I'm tempted by a toy aisle, I look at her.

Dramatization based on customer experiences. Individual results vary.

Why the Big Children's Bible Ends Up in the Closet

"Most children's books end up collecting dust after one read, but this collection has completely transformed our daily routine."

Lacey, parent, Amazon review

Almost every family in these stories tried the same thing first. A big children's Bible. Gold edges. Hundreds of pages. A good gift, given with love.

And almost every time, it ended up on a shelf.

It isn't the Bible's fault. It's a grown-up-sized book handed to a 5-year-old at bedtime. A long chapter, a tired child, a parent with ten minutes left in the day. The bookmark stops on page 11.

Think of it like dinner. You don't hand a 4-year-old the whole cookbook. You hand them one plate.

Little kids take in faith the way they take in everything else: one short story, one problem they actually have, one answer they can hold on to. Scared of the dark tonight. Mean to a sister this morning. A fib at school.

Grandparents who buy these books say the same thing in their own words:

"The short stories are good and allow for further conversation on the values in each book."

Lynn F., grandmother, on Trustpilot

"I'm always looking for quality easy, quick read books with Christ centered truths."

Janis N., grandmother of 16, on Trustpilot

What Families Try First, and Where Each One Stops

• The big children's Bible: loved, gifted, and too long to finish at bedtime. It waits on a shelf.
• Bible apps: the tablet is one tap away from YouTube.
• Bible cartoons and DVDs: fine in the car, and "for babies" by age 6.
• Monthly Christian book clubs: a box a month, a renewal you forgot, and a pile nobody chose.
• Single picture books from the church table: one here, one there, lost in the toy bin.
• More toys: the loudest thing on the shelf, and the gift the grandmas in these stories worry about most by New Year's.

What changed things in every story was the same: a complete set of short books, each one about a real thing a little kid goes through, with Jesus right there in the story.

A set means there is always a next one. Short means it gets finished. A real problem means the child asks for it.

How One Five-Minute Book Works at Bedtime

1. Pick the problem. Scared, angry, tempted to fib, not wanting to share. Each book is about one everyday struggle.
2. Read the story. Jesus is with the child in the story, on every page, not in a lecture at the end.
3. Read the verse. A short Bible verse ties the story to Scripture.
4. Ask one question. Point at a picture. Ask what they would do. Let them answer.

One story. One verse. One calm talk. That is the whole routine, and it fits in about five minutes.

The 11 books in Series 1: I Give, I Am Brave, I Love, I Am Calm, I Am Kind, I Am Smart, I Tell the Truth, I Am Thankful, I Don't Give Up, I Am Talented, I Share. Ages 3 to 8. Suited for most Christian denominations.

Written by a Mom Who Couldn't Find These Books for Her Own Daughters

The With Jesus Series is written by G.L. Charles, a best-selling Christian children's author who also publishes as Good News Meditations Kids. In her own words:

"I'm a mother of 2 beautiful daughters and a Christian author who publishes books under the name Good News Meditations Kids and G.L. Charles. What pushed me to write my 1st book is that I had difficulty finding Christian books for my 2 daughters that put forward beautiful Christian values and were centered on Jesus. So, I decided to write one."

That first book became a series. Today the With Jesus books have sold over 75,000 copies.