Holiday Joys

            Good morning – Lorraine Beatty here. I hope everyone had a fun and or relaxing holiday shared with family and food and lots of sunshine. Growing up, my holidays were like that. The grandparents and aunts and uncles would get together at a local park and grill burgers, play ball and take hikes through the park trails. But these days my hubby and are living our retirement years and our holidays are more quiet. We live in Mississippi but our families live in Ohio. Our sons and their families live in Louisiana and Tennessee - a little too far to come for a three day weekend.

            This year however we had a really wonderful holiday weekend. We just had it the week before Memorial Day. This past February my husband and I celebrated our 50^th wedding anniversary. Our sons gave us the gift of a family weekend in Panama City Beach. We all love staying at the Gulf Beaches so it was the perfect place to get together, and better than a huge party that some people get. We had one on one time with the grandchildren, lots of morning coffee talk with our sons and daughters-in-law and each evening we went out to eat. This mom was in high cotton all weekend and supremely grateful for her sweet family.

            Holidays are special, whether it’s an anniversary celebration or a birthday or Mother’s Day. I like including special days in my books whenever possible. Christmas of course is the most popular  holiday featured in the Love Inspired books. But the editors are also eager for us to incorporate other holidays as well.

            My June release – Her Fresh Start Family – has a child’s birthday theme running through it. Single dad Bret’s youngest daughter, Georgie is very clear about what she wants for her birthday. A princess dress, a book about bugs and a puppy. I chose the party as one of my suggested scenes for the cover and I was thrilled when I first saw the cover. You can see for yourself that all her requests are granted – the heroine is holding the gift that contains the bug book.

            Celebrations, especially family ones give a sense of reality to the stories for me. No matter what’s happening in the character’s lives – death, loss, change, emotional upheaval - the holidays and birthdays and anniversaries still come around and allow us to take a step away from our troubles and remind ourselves of what’s really important. Sometimes our characters need to be reminded as well. We give them so much angst and turmoil to deal with in our books it’s nice to let them take a deep breath and enjoy a few happy moments.

            Both my characters in this books are dealing with multiple issues of loss, regret and guilt some of which overlap with each other and when it comes to light they both will need to rely on the Lords strength and guidance to cope and overcome.

            Do you like reading about celebrations in the Love Inspired books?  One thing I don’t recall seeing often is a birthday celebration for the hero. Hum. Maybe I’ll put one in a book soon. What holidays would you like to see in a Love Inspired book?

You can reach me at:

Lorrainebeatty@comcast.net

Facebook – Lorraine Beatty, Author

https://twitter.com/lorraine_beatty