The participation of Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna in the Christmas story are presented through scripture verses from the Bible and the narrative of the author. The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs Waterbrook Press September 2013 The Women of Christmas by Liz Curtis Higgs is a wonderful book for the Christmas season or for any time of the year. The book covers the lives of Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna in the months before the birth of Jesus and a few weeks after His birth. Each woman is presented through Bible scriptures and the narrative of the author. Mary is newly betrothed but she is pregnant, Elizabeth is old and barren but she also becomes pregnant, and Anna is old, widowed, and lives in the Temple waiting for the arrival of the Messiah. Of course the story also includes Joseph a carpenter who is betrothed to Mary, Zechariah a priest who is the husband of Elizabeth, and Simeon also a priest and living each day waiting to see the promised Messiah. The one thing that all three women have in common is that their hearts belong to God. And Mary and Elizabeth are blessed to have husbands that love and obey God. Liz Higgs does an excellent job in presenting the story of these three women and showing the involvement in and contribution of each of them in the Christmas story. The style of the writing made for easy reading and enjoyment. Liz wrote a paragraph or two to introduce each woman and then a verse of scripture was given and Liz would then give her interpretation of that verse, another verse was given, Liz would interpret, and this style of writing was continued throughout the entire book.. This form was also used for the three men in the story. This style of writing made the Christmas story so easy to understand and brought new thoughts to mind even though I have been hearing and reading the Christmas story for decades. A study guide is presented at the end for individual or small group study. This is a small book but it packs a big punch. I definitely recommend this book to all who would like to know more about Mary, Elizabeth, and Anna and their participation in the Christmas story.