Must Have Christmas Decorations by Pat Simmons

Happy Christmas Eve! What are some of your must-have decorations for the holidays? The Simmons family doesn't do the "Chevy Chase Christmas Decor." Lol 

Outside, simple can be elegant, right? 

Inside....well, I have to display my black angel tree toppers. No Christmas tree is needed for these beauties.

The nativity scene is a must for me. It's on the second shelf. Although I don't remove my crystal figurines from my curio after the holidays, I do enjoy getting them cleaned up so they can shine for Christmas like the Star that shined brightly on the night Christ was born. 

Christ's birth is so magnificent that I'm in awe when I admire my figurines.  Even the angels and animals bowed to their Creator. They aren't fooled by their God in a human form. In humility, Jesus came to save us from the craziness of this world and from the sins we've committed against Christ.

Christmas Eve is my time to celebrate Jesus' birth and His purpose. I hope all will take a moment to celebrate the best gift of all--Jesus, our Savior, not a baby, but a King!

Merry Christmas, everyone. If you're looking for more Christian inspirational stories for Christmas and the holidays, please check these out at https://www.patsimmons.net/holiday-titles

Oh, if you didn't download our #Puppies4Christmas stories, it's not to late to fall in love with those adorable pets:

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Pat Simmons is a multi-published Christian romance author of forty-plus titles. She is a self-proclaimed genealogy sleuth passionate about researching her ancestors, then casting them in starring roles in her novels. She is a five-time recipient of the RSJ Emma Rodgers Award for Best Inspirational Romance and recipient of the 2022 Leslie Esdaile Trailblazer Award. Christmas Dinner was also an Emma Award winner for Book of the Year. Christmas Dinner and Here for You were featured in Woman’s World Magazine.

As a Christian, Pat describes the evidence of the gift of the Holy Ghost as a life-altering experience. She has converted her sofa-strapped sports fanatical husband into an amateur travel agent, untrained bodyguard, and GPS-guided chauffeur. They have a son and a daughter. Pat holds a B.S. in mass communications from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts, and has worked in radio, television, and print media for more than twenty years. Visit her at www.patsimmons.net.

Sad Mac beanie by Camy Tang

My husband’s office at work is colder than Aunty Aikiko’s heart, and he wanted a unique beanie to wear. He chose the “sad Mac” icon that appears when your Mac has given up the ghost.

So I knit him this:

If you want to see the specs, you can check them out on Ravelry: http://ravel.me/camytang/smb. Non-knitters would probably be bored by my description of how I made it, so I posted it there.

What do you think??? I think my husband’s coworkers will get a kick out of it.

Holiday Traditions by Janice Lynn

I recently gave a few family members a Board & Brush experience as their Christmas gift. We had a great time. While we were there my sister commented that she hoped we made the event an annual holiday tradition. Her comment really stuck with me. Partially because we did decide that we were going to make it an annual event, but also because it got me to thinking about our family holiday traditions and others' traditions and how they get started. 

I have friends who do big Christmas cookie parties each year and I always look at their photos and think, "How fun!" I've even thought about hostessing one, but knowing how many of them I'd eat myself has held me back a bit. For others, having the entire family get together to decorate the tree, going to view Christmas lights, or having a huge Christmas morning breakfast are things that are their 'norm' holiday routine.

Do you have holiday traditions that carry forth year after year? Any new things you've done this year that you hope become family/holiday traditions?

Janice's Wrapped Up in Christmas books from Hallmark Publishing are available, also!

Buy Your Copy HERE

USA Today, Wall Street Journal, & Publishers Weekly Bestselling author JANICE LYNN lives in Tennessee with her Prince Charming and their princes and princesses, her vivid imagination, an adorable Maltese named Halo who's the true royalty of the house, and bunches of unnamed dust bunnies that moved in after Janice started her writing career. In addition to writing romance, Janice is a nurse practitioner, a quilter, an exercise queen, a military mama, and an avid supporter of the Quilts of Valor Foundation. Just kidding on the exercise queen. www.janicelynn.com  The WRAPPED UP IN CHRISTMAS books are available at AMAZON Barnes & Noble WALMART & many other place where you buy books. WRAPPED UP IN CHRISTMAS LOVE is coming Christmas 2023.

Sneak Peek at Winter Wonderland Inn by Merri Maywether

Tomorrow my Christmas story, The Winter Wonderland Inn,  launches. 

Kristopher and Noelle are childhood friends who reconnect as adults. Noelle is raising her younger sister, Adrianna. Kristopher has returned home after learning his Uncle Clark might not make it until the next holiday. Both team up to make the holiday season special. 

He's an unapologetic grump, and she sees rainbows in every storm. If they're not careful, they might fall in love. 

 I was so caught up in writing this story, I haven't shared much. So here is a little scene. 

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Kristopher said, “It aggravates me that people have opportunities to be kind all year round, and they choose the last month of the year to do it. But if doing all these activities will make his holidays brighter, I’ll do everything: decorate ornaments and cookies and trees.”

His admission was like someone had squeezed the air out of a balloon. It squeaked at a pitch that made anyone with good hearing cringe. “You don’t like Christmas?” 

Noelle was shocked at being right. Kristopher-Ebenezer-Baldwin needed her help finding joy in the holiday season. 

Kristopher shook his head. 

She was stunned. “You do realize that people are nice year round? Most don’t notice it until December.” 

“How did you hurt your foot?”

He was trying to use her strategy. It wasn’t going to work. “You’re changing the subject.” 

He turned to Adrianna. “How did Noelle hurt her foot?”

Adrianna plopped some silver sprinkles on the trim of her gingerbread person. “Laurel took me to see Santa. Uncle Nick took her to the doctor. When I got home, she had a special shoe. She has to wear it all the time, and she can’t go skiing.” 

“Going to a kid who won’t lie. That’s not cool.” Noelle almost regretted talking to him.

He replied, “It was pure self-preservation. You were going to point out that I’m here because it’s December.”

“I was going to call you a Scrooge.” 

Clark kept his focus on decorating his cookie. “You two should just get it over with and go out already.” 

“He’s cranky.”

“She’s clumsy.”

Clark and Adrianna shared a moment where they spoke without saying a word. They were not impressed.

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Winter Wonderland Inn is available on Amazon as a Kindle Unlimited book.

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Merri Maywether lives with her husband in rural Montana. You can find her in the town's only coffee house listening to three generations of Montanans share their stories. Otherwise, she's in the classroom or the school library, inspiring the next generation's writers.

A New Christmas Book Release from Kimberly Rose Johnson

 

The very first book I ever had contracted with a publisher was a Christmas book. That was back in 2012 and it released in 2013. I've had a Christmas book release every year since. It has become a tradition that I really enjoy.

Do you enjoy Christmas books?

Found: An Almost Perfect Christmas is a romantic suspense set in rural Montana. My new home state was the inspiration for the setting. Ironically, after I wrote this story, I ended up taking a job at the local school. This school is very small. There are no more than 80 students in pre-K through 8th grade. 

Here's the back cover blurb for the book. 

When a young boy’s life is threatened, his dad will do anything to keep him safe, including eliciting the help of his single and beautiful school teacher.

One of Hope Creek, Montana’s most desired single men has his hands full this Christmas with a new puppy litter, work, and a rambunctious young son. Now, someone has threatened to harm his son if he doesn’t reveal the location of a mystery woman.

Second grade teacher, Bethany Evans, loves her job, but she wants more. Could Toby and his dad hold the key to making this Christmas extra special, or will the trouble they are facing not only ruin Christmas but destroy their lives in the process?

From Selah award winning author, a Christian romance novella with a touch of mystery and suspense.

For the month of December you can pick up this book for 99¢. The price will go up in January. It is also available to read free with Kindle Unlimited.

Amazon buy link.

Merry Christmas and Happy Reading!

Award winning author Kimberly Rose Johnson married her college sweetheart and lives in the Pacific Northwest USA. From a young child Kimberly has been an avid reader. That love of reading fostered a creative mind and led to her passion for writing. She especially loves romance and writes contemporary romance and romantic mystery and suspense with a heart.

Kimberly holds a degree in Behavioral Science from Northwest University in Kirkland, Washington, and is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers.

You can sign up for Kimberly's newsletter via her website.

Bargain books for a limited time

From Camy:

Free on Kindle only until December 18! Book 1 in my Christian Regency Romantic Suspense series, Lady Wynwood’s Spies, volume 1: Archer!

A Christian Historical Adventure set in Regency England with romance and a supernatural twist
Part one in an epic-length serial novel

She met him again by shooting him.

After four seasons and unmarried because she is taller than most of her dance partners, Miss Phoebe Sauber receives the shocking news that she is being callously banished from her father’s estate because he is remarrying. Feeling betrayed by her father and by God, and wanting to escape her family’s presence, she attends an archery tournament with her friends.

But her perfect aim fails her, and her arrow hits a piece of paper held by Mr. Michael Coulton-Jones, whom she hasn’t seen much in society in several years. But strangely, her arrow tears a section of the paper with a partial symbol that looks eerily familiar to her.

He met her again while searching for a killer.

Michael had quit his work as a spy for the Foreign Office when his brother was poisoned. His search for the murderer leads him to Apothecary Jack, a criminal underworld leader with a penchant for poisons, who is gathering a powerful army through an alchemical potion that can give men supernatural strength.

But his path unexpectedly crosses again with Miss Sauber, who saves him from a trap laid by Jack. She and her Aunt Laura, Lady Wynwood, have found a vital connection to Apothecary Jack and the mysterious group he works for.

Now Michael, who had vowed to never again allow civilians to come to harm, must work with a nobleman keeping dangerous secrets, a human lie detector, a chemist, a fellow former spy, and the one woman he’s never allowed himself to get close to.

And it is only this ragtag group that stands against a traitorous organization that could enable Napoleon to conquer the world.

PLEASE NOTE: Like the novels published in Jane Austen’s time, this is a novel in multiple parts. Each volume has a completed story arc, but this is NOT a stand-alone novel and ends on a cliffhanger.

From Josie:

I have a 99 cent Kindle Countdown sale December 14-19 (US only), for my sweet holiday romance, A Chocolate-Box Christmas Wish:

★★ Fall in love with cozy small-town romance filled with delightful characters and brimming with holiday joy.★★

He’s been all over the world. She’s a home-town girl. Can a holiday wish bridge the gap?
In Cora Carpenter’s small California hometown, Christmas is tailor-made for couples. Unfortunately, Cora is a party of one, thanks to a con man who stole her heart, then bilked her out of thousands of dollars.

What’s on her Christmas wish list this year? Nothing whimsical. She’ll take a new vacuum cleaner, thanks—and no dating for the foreseeable future. But when she meets a stranger with a broken-down car, his warm smile and perilously blue eyes almost make her want to tweak that list. If only she could get over the pain and humiliation of her past.

A double whammy of betrayal and a broken heart sent anchorman Patrick Gervez thousands of miles west looking for a fresh start. But the pretty child care provider’s unforgettable amber eyes and deft hand with a set of jumper cables does funny things to his heart—and makes him wonder if she’s a forgotten dream come true.

Except she’s as skittish as a piece of tinsel in a windstorm. And the only way to help her forget her heartbreak, is to convince her to forgive. Especially herself.

This heartwarming, sweet and wholesome contemporary holiday romance will rekindle your belief in love, Christmas, and Happily-Ever-After.

Perfect for fans of Debbie Macomber, RaeAnne Thayne, and Susan Mallery.

This story celebrates the joy, blessings, and true meaning of Christmas.

Readers are saying: “Cora's story is sweet and touching,” and “Whether you're short on time or not, this wholesome, inspirational holiday story is sure to lighten your heart and put a smile in your soul, so don't miss it."

A Chocolate-Box Christmas Wish is the perfect gift to yourself.

Puppies for Christmas Are Still a Bargain

 If you haven't grabbed all the Puppies for Christmas novellas, you can still get them. They are all still 99 cents each. You don't want to miss these wonderful Christmas reads. They will put you in the Christmas spirit.

Use this link to learn more about each novella. 

 

If you like books with dogs, you will certainly enjoy the last book in my Kellersburg series, HOMETOWN HERO. 

 

Do you like stories that involve pets? Why or why not?

 

Merrillee Whren is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award presented by Romance Writers of American. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of forty-plus years, and has two grown daughters. Connect with her on her Facebook page and sign up for her newsletter.