There were years when I had a big footprint where it came to Christmas. It goes back to childhood with Santa coming Christmas Eve, and then Christmas Day with our family, aunts, uncles, grandma, and cousins for big meals and more gifts. When Ranch Boss and I formed our own home, there was always a Christmas tree and more gift giving through all the years of child rearing-- even as they formed their own homes and grandkids came along.
Regularly, we'd have a big dinner at our home twice-- first one for neighbors and friends with even luminaries to light the driveway, second for family and again some friends, who didn't have family nearby. I loved the preparation, the decorating, the sharing, and setting up three tables for sit-down dinners.
In decorating, I had Christmas nativities, ornaments that went back to childhood, collectible ornaments (some hand painted), white twinkly lights, and a huge Christmas village. Lots of greens were cut, along with a Christmas tree along with many white candles.
We generally did the Advent calendars and, in Catholic days, attended midnight masses (that is so special). Then out here in the rural community church, we were involved in Christmas programs. It's a busy season when someone is in a community.
I enjoyed all that until-- well, nobody was coming to our home. The kids had other families. Friends moved away, divorced, or even died. We left the local church and lost more 'friends.'
Putting up the Christmas tree went when we realized it always gave us sinus problems. We got some artificial greens for the fireplace mantle but never really wanted an artificial tree with only us to see it, but boy they have improved them. I admire seeing those others put up. Life changes, and it's one of the things I accept but admittedly sometimes think back nostalgically on what once was-- the excitement, the fun, the beauty.
It was that which I mostly have tried to bring to my books where Christmas is either the destination or a theme. Having now reached a point in my life where I've also seen it as about loss, I felt I could bring some of both to any book where I have Christmas at its heart. These four novellas fit the bill. Two are contemporary and two historical.
The historicals all connect to other books for characters, but they stand alone. Rose's Gift has the widowed Rose finding a new start for romance and Christmas when she thought all of that was behind her given she had never had children. That is about to change. Frederica's Outlaw has a rich woman traveling to Tucson to find her daughter, who had left the East in a rush. Frederica finds her own second chance with a love such as she'd never known, and Christmas on a ranch on the border.
A Montana Christmas takes the characters in From Here to There to the season where the challenge is to make Christmas heal a dysfunctional family or will it make it all worse? Standing alone is Diana's Journey where she was reluctantly divorced and decides to find a new life as a full-time RVer. She dreads Christmas for a reminder of all she has lost. Bluff, Utah might give her reason to rethink that.
Then, I remembered how important Christmas was in my second Hunter's Moon historical romance (full length novel) and decided to add it to the sale. The Marshal's Lady (previous title Tucson Moon) finds two unlikely people brought together to make Christmas special for a little girl who hasn't known any of that. While the heroine has, the hero has been as deprived as his estranged daughter. Their celebration is traditional for the 1880s but has something more-- a part of Tucson's culture, a Yaqui celebration.
The eBooks, all intended to bring elements of the holiday season to people in need of some uplift and sometimes healing, are on Amazon at 99¢ until after Christmas:
6 comments:
Your Christmas yarns are truely uplifting. Enjoyed all of them.
Thank you, Diane :)
Hi Rain, thinking of books, 10 years ago I did a lot of research on someone called Oliver Cope, he came from Avebury and emigrated to America with his family in the 17th century. What brought him to my notice was a poem written in the Victorian era by Mary Cope when she came to visit England. There is a story in all that somewhere, Oliver was probably what would have been called a 'dissenter' in England and the Cope family went on to become wealthy, they were Quakers. Anyway here is a link hopefully Just type Oliver cope in the search box if you are interested......
https://northstoke.blogspot.com/2012/07/awbury-cope-family.html
Thanks for the tip, thelma. I'll keep it in mind. It's interesting how for some that kind of shift works well and others find disaster. Your story reminds me of something I wrote last at a group blog, Sweethearts of the West, and about a woman from the East Coast, who came out to Oregon hoping to be a missionary. Margaret Jewett Bailey, Oregon's first published author even and still died in poverty. She was Methodist though.
Hello, i think that i saw you visited my site so i came to “return the favor”.I'm attempting to find things to improve my website!I suppose
its ok to use a few of your ideas!!
I am glad to see you; and of course, use ideas that can help your site. I do visit sites now and again when I have time. You can leave a link here if you wish; sometimes that brings more visitors.
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