Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner

Thank you to everyone who made this Christmas series so much fun! I loved reading about your favorite ornaments, traditions, music, and movies! Now to announce not just one, but TWO winners!

This week’s prize package included:

And the winner is…..

MARY CALHOUN

Merry Christmas Mary! I hope you enjoy the early Christmas gifts!

And now for the Merry Christmas Grand Prize give away, which includes:

The winner is….

SUSAN FRYMAN

Congrats, Susan! I hope you enjoy the goodies!

I will be taking a couple weeks off blogging to enjoy the holidays with my family. Which means I’ll see you on Monday, January 7th!

Wishing you all a very, very merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Christmas Movies

Today’s Giveaway Includes:

All to keep for yourself or give away as gifts to people you love!

Now let’s head to Peaks and see what Christmas movies my two leading ladies enjoy.

First, I asked Bethany, the main character of Wildflowers from Winter, to tell me about her favorite Christmas movie:

I can’t help it. The Christmas Story. That movie slays me. My brother and I used to watch it on VHS the entire week leading up until Christmas Eve. One year I even asked my dad for a Red Ryder BB gun. He laughed, but I was completely serious. And then in 1997, David and I discovered TNT was airing an entire Christmas Story marathon. I think we watched it five times in a row that first year.

I asked Robin, the main character of Wishing on Willows, the same thing:

Bethany has tried to open my eyes to the merit of The Christmas Story, but I’m just not there yet. The leg lamp? Ralphy and his mashed potatoes? I don’t get it.

Choosing a favorite movie is almost as challenging as picking a favorite song. If you read about my childhood tradition, you should know that I’ve watched almost every Christmas movie ever made. With that said, I’d probably have to go with A Christmas Carol–the old, black and white version. That’s my dad’s favorite. He always loved when me or Mom would choose that one to watch on Christmas night. The ghosts are a little freaky, but something about the way Ebenezer Scrooge changes at the end always gets to me.

To be entered in today’s giveaway, all you have to do is tell us about your favorite!

You will have until nine p.m. on Thursday to leave a comment. At which time, all names will be written on a scrap of paper and my husband will draw the winner. The winner will be announced on Friday.

To be entered to win the grand prize giveaway, you have to answer every “What Does Christmas Mean to You?” question. (Check out the first, second, and third.) To see the complete list of items included in the grand prize, please click on the link. The winner will be drawn tomorrow!

Let’s Talk: What’s your favorite Christmas movie?

I was very excited and honored to learn that Wildflowers from Winter made LifeWay fiction book buyer, Rachel McRae’s Favorite Novels of 2012! If you’d like to sample the story, you can read the first three chapters

The Grace Filled Christmas Blog Tour

I’m participating in this year’s Grace Filled Christmas Blog Tour, which is hosting a whole slew of awesome Christian fiction and runs through December 22nd.

If this is your first time here, thank you so much for stopping by!

My debut novel, Wildflowers from Winter, released this past May:

A young architect at a prestigious Chicago firm, Bethany Quinn has built a life far removed from her trailer park teen years. Until an interruption from her estranged mother reveals that tragedy has struck in her hometown and a reluctant Bethany is called back to rural Iowa. Determined to pay her respects while avoiding any emotional entanglements, she vows not to stay long. But the unexpected inheritance of farmland and a startling turn of events in Chicago forces Bethany to come up with a new plan.

Handsome farmhand Evan Price has taken care of the Quinn farm for years. So when Bethany is left the land, he must fight her decisions to realize his dreams. But even as he disagrees with Bethany’s vision, Evan feels drawn to her and the pain she keeps so carefully locked away.

For Bethany, making peace with her past and the God of her childhood doesn’t seem like the path to freedom. Is letting go the only way to new life, love and a peace she’s not even sure exists?

What makes this a good book for Christmas?

At it’s core, this is a story about God’s ability to bring new life and hope from those dead, winter seasons so many of us experience in life. I’m not sure there’s a greater example of this truth than celebrating Jesus’ birth in wintertime, the darkest days of the year.

Plus the novel, while not a Christmas story, does include its fair share of the holiday season.

If this sounds like a story you’d want to read or give as a gift this Christmas season, please visit my Wildflowers from Winter page, where you will find a list of retail links. If you’d like to try a sample first, feel free to check out the first three chapters.

Let’s Talk: Do you give books as Christmas gifts? If so, how do you go about choosing the perfect one?

If you haven’t already, I’d absolutely love to send you a welcome packet! To sign up, just scroll all the way down or up (your choice) and click on the Welcome Packet sign up button!

photos from stock.xchng