Christmas in Times Square and 40% off select paperbacks!

I'm not a city girl. At all. So when my husband suggested we go to New York for our anniversary, I was like, "If you want." Not to mention our anniversary is in December, which means snow, right? Well, we got really lucky, and the weather in New York was unseasonably warm, even warmer than Arkansas. And while I've been to New York before, I've never been during Christmas. If you're ever going to go--I highly recommend this time of year. I wish I could pass along the magic we felt walking down Time Square at midnight, thousands of people around us, Christmas trees and displays lighting the streets, and beautiful Christmas songs blasting through the air. It was beautiful, and I came to appreciate how, even as different as a New Yorker is to a country girl like me, we have so much more in common. I came away feeling more connected to a culture that's so foreign it's almost like visiting a different country.

The Statue of Liberty Grand Central Terminal

Lights on Time Square Enjoying a wonderful chocolate dessert

40% off Paperback books While ebooks are all the rage, sometimes we just want to hold a book. And for gift-giving, there's nothing like having a physical object. Just for you, I'm offering a coupon for 40% off select paperbacks. This coupon is not valid on Amazon.com but only through the link provided in this email. Click the book title to see it online! coupon code: YYVZ6ZSD Expires Dec. 31, 2016

Inevitable Lay Me Down Cassandra Jones: Walker Wildcats Year 1 Cassandra Jones: Walker Wildcats Year 2

Romance short story People have been telling me to do it for years. I've hemmed and hawed and changed the subject. But I'm finally writing a romance. With no serial killers. Granted, it's a short story, I'm doing it with friends, and I've only written a page so far. But I'm DOING IT. Hopefully I'll have it completely drafted by the end of this month. I'll keep you posted. Any exciting Christmas plans? What places have you visited that really impacted you? Where do you want to visit? Thanks for reading! Love,

And We're Back

We've had Christmas and family and sickness and more family.  And it's been so much fun, I almost forgot I have a blog.

But I didn't. I'm here, and I can hardly wait for the new year, with all the goals and expectations it brings with it!

This weekend is also your last chance to purchase my book for only $10!

Hope you had a merry Christmas! See you soon!

Christmas Cookies

Tis the season for cookies. Like last year, we're doing the twelve days of Christmas cookies.

Unlike last year, I don't have time to type up all the recipes and share them with you. Let me just say that I made Spice, Raisin and Walnut cookies on Monday and Almond and Toffee cookies yesterday. Yum.

If you need something more to read, I really like the post I made yesterday. Just saying... :)

Advent to Christmas

I love the Christmas season. It starts right around Thanksgiving as the temperature gets cooler, and we put up the tree, then the lights start appearing on houses, the radios start with the Christmas music, and everything takes on a happy, surreal luster for me.

I love everything about it. From the shopping to the wrapping to the baking to the parties, but especially the reminders of Christ and the kindness that almost everyone seems to have.

I heard something on the radio the other day that made me pause and reflect, however. The guy talking said that we forget what this time period was actually like. In the days, months, and years leading up to the birth of Christ, people lived in a time of  fear, repression, and despair. There was little reason to rejoice.  It was a time of figurative darkness.

And then Christ was born, and with the appearance of that star in Bethlehem, a light came into the world. Both literally and figuratively.

To celebrate this, this used to be considered the advent season, or countdown to the birth of Christ. It wasn't a time of celebration, but a time of remembering the grave darkness that permeated the world. The days preceding Christmas were spent in quiet somberness with as little light as possible. And then on Christmas day, the lights came back, and the celebration began. For twelve days after Christmas, Christ's birth was celebrated.

Something about this felt so poignant to me. It shed a bit of a different "light" on my view of the Christmas season. While I'm not about to stop all my holiday festivities, we might "turn out the lights" for a few minutes with the children to help them really see what it meant when Christ was born. I get goosebumps when I think of the song "Silent Night." I'm glad we get an entire month to celebrate this occasion.

ebay addiction

$50.00

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Need I say more? I'm having fun.

Finding Baby Jesus

I may have mentioned a few days ago that I have a fetish for Nativity scenes. I love them. I collect them, especially unique and different ones.

Last year for Christmas, my husband got me a hand-carved wooden set from India. It has a dozen little pieces to it. And they are tiny. (Those people are the size of my pinky finger.) Naturally, my children love to play with it. I came in to the living room the other morning to find that the entire set was gone. They had happily tossed it around the house. We spent all day looking for pieces. We found all except one, and it would be the most important one: Baby Jesus.

I was not happy, naturally. But we set up the set with all the animals and figurines, and unless you were looking, you wouldn't notice that the set was missing the most important part. It's a very busy nativity, with all the extra animals and the high profile kings and the Virgin Mary and Joseph.

Which got me thinking. Isn't this how Christmas ends up sometimes? We get so very busy doing really good stuff. We have the extras, the high profile parties, the gifts, even the love that we share with family. With everything going on, we might not even notice if Baby Jesus is not at the center of our activities. But if He's not there, all the great stuff going on isn't worth anything. Because, after all, He's the reason for it.

The Baby Jesus is the reason for my nativity. Without him, it's just a bunch of wooden toys, and my children can throw them around to their hearts' content. Jesus is the reason for the season. Without Him, I can bankrupt my credit card with gifts and parties without ever finding the peace and joy that comes along with Christmas.

My oldest found the Baby Jesus this morning. We're keeping Him in the forefront.