New Year's Eve--plans?

HI Terri Reed here, can you believe it's New Year's Eve?
Our family will be joining another family for a game night. We'll have food and fun and leave early to get home to be with the dogs before all the ruckus starts. Every year there are fireworks!

Do you all have plans for this evening?


Stay safe, everyone. And have a Happy New Year's Eve.

Baby, It's Cold Outside: Not Really

Howdy, Pamela Tracy here, and I live in sunny Arizona.

Yup, that's right.  I haven't shoveled snow in a decade.  And, my family literally gets in hubby's car and drives for an hour just to play in snow.  Then, when we get cold, it's back in the car and return to T-shirt and jeans weather.

That doesn't mean we don't appreciate the ambiance of the season.

The weekend before Christmas we head to Williams and the Polar Express.
Here, my son accept hot, hot, hot chocolate

We've arrived at the North Pole.
No, I didn't allow my son to disconnect our car from the rest of the train

Here's Santa discussing Naughty and Nice with my son

The next day, once we got off the train and slept
we headed to Jerome, Arizona, explored back roads
We found a cool bridge over a stream

In Phoenix, we went to the best Christmas house in town.
Nope, not ours.  Isn't it cool!

This is my favorite.
And, yes, my 11-year-old often asks me if there's still a Santa Clause.
As for me, I still hear the bell.

Back home, I remember that besides falling in love with a handsome man,
I fell in love with a plumber!
This is Christmas Eve.

This is today.
I am losing my patio.  Seems that where the pipe broke is not a good place.
Me?  I'm thinking new patio!
Hubby is thinking that the broken cement look is workable.
Note that he is wearing a long sleeve shirt because Baby, it's cold outside.

So, what is it like where you're at?

Pamela Tracy writes for both Love Inspired and  Heartwarming.  Her next release is Holding Out for a Hero, an April 2016 release.

Pre-order

Blast From The Past – Guess the author

It's that time when we glimpse into the past of one of our Craftie Ladies. The first reader to correctly guess this month's author will receive a print copy (US only) of this author’s upcoming release.

Ready? Here we go…

 

Here's a photo from my high school days fifty-four years ago. My friend Milton and I were singing a scene from Annie Get Your Gun, the song "Anything you can do, I can do better," in a talent show at Alamosa High School, my alma mater.

Can you guess who this is?  Well, here's one more hint. This author has a December release.  

Leave your guess in the comments to be entered in the contest. And be sure to look for more clues in the comment section throughout the day.

 

Good luck!

 

Mary Alford

Books for Christmas?

     It’s almost a rule: Writers are readers first and last. We love books. We love words. So it will come as no surprise that some authors (like me) love books as gifts.  Love, love, love! This Christmas my girls blessed me with several to add to my TBR (to be read) stack. I have a few more on my iPad. Well, maybe more than a few. 😉 While e-books are wonderfully convenient and I read lots of books that way, I have to confess I’m still a hard copy girl who loves the feel and smell of a printed book.

     What’s your preferred way to read? Print or ebook? Did you get any books for Christmas? What were they?

    

Craftie Ladies ~ Love Inspired Suspense December 2016 Release

Jean C. Gordon here with what's new from our talented Craftie Ladies Love Inspired Suspense writers. To buy any of these wonderful books, just click the book cover. And to learn more about the authors, click on their names.

Rookie K-9 Unit Christmas

by Lenora Worth
K-9 HOLIDAY RESCUE
Holiday High Alert
After a cryptic note appears in the playground at Josie Callahan's daycare center, rookie K-9 officer Dalton West vows to protect Josie and the kids she loves—especially his daughter, Maisy. And with a stalker closing in, the widower and his four-legged partner are all that stand between Josie and a deadly Christmas.

Surviving Christmas by Valerie Hansen
When single dad Sean Murray returns from a war zone and discovers someone is following him, he turns to his old friend K-9 officer Zoe Trent for help. But as the threat escalates, can Zoe and her police dog find whoever is menacing Sean and his son…and make sure this Christmas isn't their last?

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Craftie Merry Christmas

Wishing you and your family a blessed Christmas filled with joy and wonder. 

~Christine Johnson

Merry Christmas from Portland Oregon to all our readers. We are so thankful for each of you. may God bless you today and everyday.
Terri Reed

Merry Christmas! I wish you peace, joy and lots of reading! Love to all!
Lenora Worth

  Have a wonderful Christmas and a Blessed New Year.
Leann Harris

Tis a Craftie Season

Merry Christmas. May the spirit of Christmas be with you throughout 2017.

Merrillee Whren

Wishing you and your loved ones a Blessed and Fun-filled Christmas and Joyous New Year.

Jean C. Gordon

Wishing you a joyous and love-filled Christmas

Winnie Griggs

Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and a blessed New Year!
Roxanne Rustand

Tis the Craftie Christmas Tree Parade

From the Love Inspired Authors to You!

We attended the Twin Singing Christmas Trees 

at First Baptist Church of Orlando. 

Some 400 singers plus orchestra and actors present 

the saving Gospel message of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

May He bless you this Christmas season and throughout the new year! 

Louise M. Gouge

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful Christmas.

Merry Christmas,

Margaret Daley

Wishing all my writer and reader friends a very Merry Christmas and much love in the New Year!

I hope you enjoyed reading the Christmas Reunion story. 

It was so fun to see how Grace and Jericho eventually found their happily ever after. 

The keepsake Christmas ornament that played an important role in the story hangs on my tree 

and reminds me of the wonderful Craftie Ladies of Romance 

and the stories we love to share with those who visit our blogspot. 

All of you have a special place in my heart!

May the Lord bless you throughout this Christmas season and in the New Year!

Debby Giusti

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas 
and a most blessed New Year, 
filled with light, love,and of course, books! 
Deb Kastler

A very Merry Christmas from my family to yours. 

May 2017 be full of joy, laughter, love and books...lots of books.

Jolene Navarro 

Merry Christmas from beautiful Arizona where my puppy has never seen snow,

and my 11-year-old is desperate to step in snow.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Pamela Tracy

Wishing all of you a Blessed Christmas! 

Here’s a photo of my husband and I at a Victorian museum dinner. 

Barbara Phinney 

Christmas Reunion Christmas Serial by Terri Reed

Hello, readers. We’re happy to share our gift to you, a short Christmas story that started December 12 through today, December 21.

To start from the beginning scroll down to the older posts. 

Dec 12--Lenora Worth
Dec 13--Barbara Phinney
Dec 14--Margaret Daley
Dec 15--Debby Giusti
Dec 16--Deb Kastner
Dec 17--Louise Gouge
Dec 18--Jolene Navarro 
Dec 19--Jean Gordon
Dec 20--Cate Nolan
Dec 21--Terri Reed

Please join us and comment each day to win what we call a BOOK BLAST! We will pick two random names and if you win, you’ll get books mailed to you from our authors. Several books!!!

And now…

Chapter Ten by Terri Reed

So cold.

Grace shivered beneath the blanket Jericho wrapped around her. She burrowed closer to him, needing his warmth, his strength. She’d always needed him.

But she didn’t deserve him. Or anyone.

Not after…

A sob escaped. Guilt choked her, cutting off her breath.

Jericho’s strong arms lifted her off the bench.

“What are you doing?” she squeaked.

“Taking you away from here,” he said close to her ear.

She pulled back to look in his eyes. “It was my fault. They shouldn’t have died.”

         He tightened his hold, drawing closer until his lips touched hers in the softest, sweetest kiss of her life.

Then he carried her away from the place that tormented her nightmares. She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. When they made it to his car, he helped her into the passenger seat, buckled her up and shut the door. As he jogged around to the driver’s side, she lifted her mind and thoughts to God. How do I do this? He’s too good for me. Why didn’t you take me with my family?

         Jericho slid into the driver’s seat, started the engine and turned the heat to full blast. Soon the chilly air heated, cocooning them in an intimate barrier that protected them from the winter weather outside of the vehicle.

         Facing her, Jericho gathered her hands in his. “This isn’t the place I’d prefer to do this but we can’t go on like this.”
         Her stomach knotted. After the way she’d acted, she wouldn’t blame him for not wanting anything more to do with her. “I’m sorry. It’s just, I thought I’d buried it all. But seeing you again, being in Reunion at the cabin…”

         He touched a finger to her lips. “The accident wasn’t your fault. You have panic attacks from the undeserved guilt you carry. You have to accept the accident for what it was and let go. Let God heal you. Let me help Him.”
         She shook her head. “If I hadn’t thrown a French fry at my brother and hit my father instead, he wouldn’t have got angry and lost control of the car.”

         “You were a little girl,” Jericho reasoned. “From what Jeb has told me, your father had a temper. He was the grown up driving the car. He shouldn’t have taken this road to begin with. But none of that matters. It was an accident. Out of anyone’s control.”

         Her heart twisted. Words she’d hung onto for years slipped passed her lips. “God could have prevented it.”

         Jericho smoothed her hair from her cheek. “God isn’t a puppet master. He gives us free will. He mourned along with you. But your family is with Him now. They and God would want you to release the guilt and embrace your life.”

         Was it true? Jericho’s words bounced through her head and her heart, soothing the rough places. “Oh, Jericho. I’ve wasted so much time.” 

She had to tell him how she felt before she blew it again. She wanted a second chance.  Her words, so angrily spoken early about there being no second chances,  mocked her.  

         He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed each knuckle. “The past is done. There’s only the future. A future for us. If you’re willing.”

         Her heart soared. “Really?”

         “I love you, Grace Holly.” He smiled, his eyes bright with emotion. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If you’ll have me.”
          Infused with happiness, she threw her arms awkwardly around him and held him tight. “Yes. Oh, yes. I want that too.”
         He pulled back and dug the special ornament from the pocket of his coat. “Open it.”
         She blinked back tears of joy and took the bulb. Gingerly, she pried open the top and plucked the rolled note out. Her heart beat in her ears as she spread out the paper, she read the words written in Jericho’s bold scrawl.

         “One day you will be my wife. I want to love you forever.”

         Tears streamed down her cheeks. She lifted her stunned gaze to meet his. “All this time. I thought you’d abandoned me.”

         “Never.”

         “I love you, Jericho Walker with all my heart.”

         “Good.” He grinned. “Now that we have that settled, we should get back to the cabin and make sure Mary Noel and Jeb haven’t eloped while we were gone.”
         Grace giggled. “I can’t believe it. Grandfather has found a second chance at love.”
         Linking his fingers around hers, Jericho said, “So did we. We found our own Christmas miracle.”

         “Amen to that,” she said on a contented sigh.

The End.

Christmas Reunion Christmas Serial Chapter Nine by Cate Nolan

Hello, readers. We’re happy to share our gift to you, a short Christmas story that will run from December 12 through December 21. Please join us and comment each day to win what we call a BOOK BLAST! We will pick two names and if you win, you’ll get books mailed to you from our authors. Several books!!! So come back often and enjoy our gift to you.

And now…
Chapter Nine

Cate Nolan

Jeb and Mary Noel running interference. That was definitely a ‘thanks but no thanks’ situation.  “I appreciate the offer, but don’t you two have some business of your own to resolve?” Jericho glanced from one to the other. Their contented grins confused him.

Jeb leaned against Mary Noel, and she patted his shoulder. “We’re good. We just want to help you to be happy.”

Jericho shook his head. The last thing he needed was these two running off into the snow. “No. This is my mess. I’ll fix it.”

Mary Noel stood, hands on hips, and stared up at him. “Spoken like a man.”

Jeb nodded. “One hopeless in love. Trust me son, I know the feeling.”

Jericho lost all his bravado and slumped against the counter. “Why can’t I ever seem to do the right thing when it concerns Grace?”

Mary Noel reached up to lay a hand on his chest. “Because you’re thinking with your head instead of your heart.”

“What does that mean?”

Mary Noel laughed as the men’s voices chimed together with the same question.

“It means that you’re thinking too hard about what the right thing is. Just listen to what your heart says.”

Listen to what his heart said, Jericho muttered an hour later as he drove down yet another snowy road looking for Grace. Follow his heart. Well his heart had said to follow Grace, so he had.

But neither his heart nor his brain could tell him how to find her.

Where could one woman get to in this amount of time?

An airport.

The thought chilled him more than the freezing temps.

No, she wouldn’t abandon Jeb before Christmas. Of that he was certain. He just wished he was as certain she wouldn’t leave him.

What had he done wrong? Why had she left?

Listen with your heart.

Hard to do when your teeth were chattering louder than your heart was speaking.

“Okay, heart. Speak up. Grace is upset. Where would she go?”

Suddenly the answer was right in front of him. His heart may not have been calling him a dumbkopf, but he certainly felt like one for not realizing sooner.

Apparently he needed to listen to Grace with his heart rather than his brain too. She’d been trying to tell him, and he could kick himself for not understanding. All the clues had been there. The reason she had no boyfriend, no husband. The reason she lived alone in a tiny apartment.

Suddenly it was all clear. And he knew exactly where to go.

  

Snow was falling in earnest as he negotiated the narrow mountain pass. Nerve-wracking in even the best weather, it was a positively terrifying trip in snow and ice.

He was coming up on the outcropping now, the narrowest part of the road where the rocks created an overhang. As conditions deteriorated, he wasn’t sure whether to hope Grace was here or that he had been mistaken.

Wind gusted, buffeting his car as he pulled into the shelter of the overhang. The memorial had been carved into the rock, the bench where Grace huddled looked out over the sheer drop. The drop that had claimed her family.

Grabbing the blankets Mary Noel had sent along, Jericho climbed from the car and eased his way along the icy path.

Grace sat shivering, and he was struck by fear. If he hadn’t found her…

No. He had found her. His heart had found her.

“Gracie, talk to me.” He wrapped the blanket around her, holding her close against his body’s warmth.

“Do you remember what I told you?” she murmured.

He leaned down so he wouldn’t miss a word. “You told me lots of things.” Including that you loved me.

She looked incredibly sad in that moment.

“It’s okay,” she reassured him.

“What is?”

“I know you left because I told you I caused the accident.”

Jericho felt like he was playing some game for which he didn’t know any of the rules. “I left because you told me to go.”

She was silent. Snow continued to fall and he pulled the blanket more securely around them.

“I didn't want you to go, you know. I wanted you to convince me it would all be fine. That it was okay for me to be happy.”

Suddenly Jericho understood his mistake.

He loved her. He knew her secrets, but until this moment he hadn’t understood the darkest one. He hadn’t realized how much the accident had driven her life. How it had paralyzed her emotions.

It didn’t matter if it wasn’t her fault, not if she believed it was.

He could feel her slipping away from him. He had to get her away from this place and its memories before her misplaced guilt ate her alive.

Staring at the hopeless look on her beloved face, Jericho felt more alone and frightened than he'd felt in even the fiercest battle.

If they hadn't been at the edge of a snowy cliff, he would have fallen to his knees. He turned his face heavenward instead and prayed with all his heart.

Help me, Lord. Please help me save her.