Borrowing a page from the mystics who maintained that every creature is a secret signpost pointing to God, Gayle Boss spends each of the twenty-four days leading up to Christmas pondering the significance of various animals—wood frogs, muskrats, brown bats— in their seasons of waiting. Common loons ride the cold Atlantic waves in community, shedding their summer selves. Opposums keep warm by congregating wherever humans dwell, and have gradually migrated north as people became better at warming themselves. There is something beautiful and true on every page of this book. Boss approaches faith and nature with the heart of a poet, and the experience of reading is like sitting down with a particularly wise and benevolent friend. (BH)