Romantic Moments in Everyday Life…

Can it be February already? It seems like just yesterday we were welcoming in a brand new year!

Hopefully, everyone is thawing out from the great polar vortex of 2019. If not, maybe we can help warm your hearts with some stories of love and romance.

With Valentine’s Day just one week away, my partner Cate Nolan and I thought it would be fun to poll some of our Facebook readers.

We asked them this question: What's the most romantic thing someone has done for you? It didn’t have to be just for Valentine's Day.

Today, we’re sharing some of their responses with you.

 Lisa Ann Phillips said, “My husband always ask me in the morning if I have taken my medicine for my blood pressure and diabetes. Because he wants me around for a long time. At night he makes sure my feet are rubbed and lotioned.”

Danica Favorite said, “For our anniversary one year, I was really stressed out and overwhelmed, so hubby sent me away for a night at a hot springs. By myself. He knew that introvert me needed time alone, so instead of doing some big couple thing, he gave me what I needed.”

Paula Shreckhise said, “For our 48th wedding anniversary he wrote me a poem and framed it.”

Tina Susedik said, “Last year my husband had the words to our song (Thank You by Led Zepplin) printed on a coffee mug. OMG I cried when I opened the box. We've been married almost 46 years.”

Shelia Hall said, “My daughter had got me roses for Mother's day and after they died she saved the petals and framed it with a special poem that she wrote for my 45th birthday.”

Karen Mcnicol said, “My husband always holds my coat for me to put on, at home and when we are out. He also has always held the door for me, opens and closes the car door, he is a pure gentleman! (since having 2 mild strokes) when he is home he always helps me put on my shoes and boots as well.”

Cate Nolan said, “My husband used to joke that he was the more romantic of the two of us. I'm not sure I'd grant him that, but I wanted to share the one of his romantic gestures that meant the most to me.  It has to do with how supportive he always was about my writing. Many years ago, when I was raising two babies and trying to fit in time to write, he was my biggest cheerleader. I wanted to enter the manuscript in the Golden Heart contest, but the baby was cranky and I was having a hard time finishing in time to get to the post office. (This was back in the day when you had to mail the partial.) He bundled the babies into the car and drove me into the huge post office in midtown Manhattan at 11:00 o'clock at night so that I could meet the midnight postmark deadline. When I finished writing the manuscript, he brought me a dozen roses. And when that manuscript was a finalist in the Golden Heart, he sent me to San Francisco to the national conference. That book never sold, but if it ever does, it's going to be dedicated to him!”

Mary Alford said, “My husband still holds the door for me, holds my hand wherever we go, and still holds my heart. He is the truth-life hero that I base all my hero’s on.

There were so many more beautiful stories of love and romance. Unfortunately, we couldn’t share them all with you, but if you’d like to read more of the comments, you can find them here: https://www.facebook.com/mary.alford.1272.  Just scroll down until you find the post with the pink-gloved hands holding some colorful hearts.

Well, those are our stories…What about you? We’d love to hear about the most romantic thing anyone has ever done for you?

It's That Time of Year

Actually, if you read Love Inspired or watch Hallmark, it's been that time of year... since October.

I actually caught myself looking for Peppermint Mocha before Halloween thanks to Hallmark's Countdown to Christmas.

But, as a sign outside a store reminded me today, we are in the final countdown now. 

We all know the common Christmas traditions - the decorated tree, lights! lights! and more lights!
Christmas carols, stockings hung by the fire, and so on.

Olaf says he's going door to door to find out different family traditions. 

Mary Alford and I thought it would be fun to talk about some of our own Love Inspired family-specific traditions so we asked a few of our author friends to share how their families celebrate.

Dana Mentink

Hands down, my fave tradition at Mentink Manor is the Christmas Eve pizza making! My two girls have the best time making their own individual pizzas from Dad’s homemade dough. The creations are left to rise when we are at church and then the baking begins! It’s been pizza and root beer and laughter on Christmas Eve here for twenty one years and I hope it never changes! Merry Christmas to all! 

Danica Favorite shared that her family members all wear matching PJs on Christmas Eve.

Keeping up with the PJ theme, Belle Calhoune shared this:
We have the Christmas tradition of buying the girls Christmas pajamas and giving them to them to wear on Christmas Eve. They really love it and get so excited about it. Even my oldest who is 22. It's really sweet seeing them wearing the Christmas PJs the next morning as they open their gifts.

For Katy Lee's family, Christmas is always a time of fun and games. For the past few years, the Lee family have been enjoying the Big Ball of Gifts game. Tons of goodies and even a few funny gag gifts are layers in strips of plastic wrap until a huge ball is formed. The family sits in a circle and passes the ball around. Each person gets 30 seconds to find the next strip and start unraveling it. Sometimes there is a gift and sometimes not. How many strips can they remove in their thirty seconds? Or do they use up their 3o seconds looking for the start of the next strip? It can be frustrating, but it's always loud and fun.

Dana Lynn:
There is a pregnancy center in my town to allow women a safe place to go during their pregnancies. Since my children were very young, we have taken them shopping and allowed them to pick out gifts for the babies. Clothing, diapers, toys, etc.

Michelle Karl shares:
Our family watches A Christmas Carol starring Alastair Sim every Christmas Eve (along with a specific selection of other Christmas movies/show episodes, watched in the same order, no exceptions!).

Mary Alford

My favorite Christmas tradition is not all that old, but it is very precious to my family just the same. In December 2012, my father-in-law passed away a little before Christmas. He wasn't much on decorating for the holiday, but that particular year he had a little Christmas tree sitting on his dining room table. Since that time, I've made it a point of putting up his Christmas tree in my dining room. This is this year's photo of the tree decorated with photo ornaments of his great-grandchildren. I think he would be proud.   

Cate Nolan

My family has had a variety of traditions over the years. Like Michelle, my girls have a queue of old favorite movies and TV episodes that they watch every year. We also have this Avon Advent calendar that was given to us by a neighbor the year my oldest was born (1987). The girls named the mouse Albert after a character in one of those movies. Albert has been hanging in our house every Christmas season for the past 31 years.

My girls and I started a new tradition this year. My husband always loved the look of single white candles in each window (his New England heritage), but we were never able to find ones that worked in our windows. Well, as most of you know, my husband passed away last May. I considered it symbolic that this year I found candles that had a base specifically designed for windows like ours. The girls and I decided we would each put those candles in the windows in our homes as a tribute to their father. I have to admit, it's a comforting glow.

It's hard to take a good picture of a candle!

So what special traditions does your family have? We'd love to hear from you.

What We're Reading

Mary Alford What  I just finished:  
Gathering Shadows by Nancy Mehl.

What I'm currently reading: 
Buried Memories by Carol J. Post and Mountain Ambush by Hope White. 

What I'm planning to read next:
 Moving Target by Lynette Eason (Can't wait for this one.) 
_________

Barbara Phinney
What I just finished: 
Nothing

What I'm currently reading: 
The Collected Stories of Isaac Besher Singer.  Very interesting.

What I plan to read next: 
The Final Crumpet by Ron and Janet Benrey
__________

Louise M. Gouge

What I just finished:The Price of Privilege by Jessica Dotta, third in a suspense series about a young woman whose identity is shrouded in deadly secrets. A gripping saga!

What I'm currently reading:
My Enemy, My Heart by Laurie Alice Eakes, a Regency/War of 1812 set partly on the sea and partly on English soil. Very romantic and reminiscent of the wonderful old high seas adventure movies of the past.

What I plan to read next:
Wed on the Wagon Train by Tracy Blalock, December LIH release. This is Tracy's first LIH, and I'm sure I'll become a fan. 
__________

Deb Kastler
What I just finished: 
Made to Crave by Lysa Terkeurst  (Audio) This is not a diet book, but a devotional way of life eating book. While I didn't agree with everything she said, she has a lot of great points on making sure our whole focus is on God. Oh--and she's hysterically funny.

What I'm currently reading:
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick.  This is WAY different than the books I usually pick up, but I absolutely love it. I'm enthralled by the strength of character development and the clever plot. 

What I will be reading next: 
The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory. (Audio) I've been making my way through Ms. Gregory's books. Not sure her historical research is completely accurate, but she is a great storyteller. 
__________

Pamela Tracy:

I just finished reading: Body & Soul.  It's a paranormal YA by Stacey Kade.  I gave it 5 stars on Goodreads.  It's third in a series and did not disappoint.

I'm currently reading: 

(book) Never Say No to a Rock Star by Glenn Berger.  It's a memoir of working in the music industry circa 1970s&80s.  I'm only 20 pages in and so far I'm liking it.  Right now, I'm with Paul Simon on a bench and he's struggling started his lone career without Garfunkel (I always missed Garfunkel.  Felt the same way when Brooks and Dunn decided to go solo).

(Audio) The Collector by Nora Roberts.  I'm on the road over an hour a day driving back and forth to work.  About two months ago, I'd had it with audio books that were not keeping my interest, so I grabbed a tried and true.  Nora.  Now I'm listening one every two weeks and she's not disappointing.  What I like best about the collector is the clues she's handing out, that I'm catching (color of shirts, shoes).

Next on my list: 
Not really sure.  I just bought the River of Time series by Lisa Bergen.

_________

Jean C. Gordon

What I just finished: 
Once A Wife (A Mother's Heart Book 2) by Patricia Keelyn. This author and series is new to me. I'll probably read more.

What I'm currently reading: 
Mistletoe and Sage by Lyn Cote. Still whittling down my holiday TBR list. As usual, Lyn doesn't disappoint.

What I plan to read next: 
The Cowboy's Holiday Blessing by Brenda Minton, the next to last holiday book I have left.
__________

Merrillee Whren

What I just finished: 

A Love Like Ours by Becky Wade

What I'm currently reading: 

Until I Found You by Victoria Bylin

Next on my list: 

Hamilton by Ron Chernow  

__________

Danica Favorite

What I just finished: 

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (on audio!)

What I am reading now: 

Historical newspapers to research my current book.

What I am reading next: Mending the Doctor’s Heart by Sophia Sasson

Debby Giusti

I just finished ROOM by Emma Gallagher, which was a riveting story. 

I'm currently reading a memoir by a self-published person in my church, NEVER ALONE, by J.D. Towle.

Next on my reading list is THOSE WHO SAVE US, by Jenna Blum, my book club's selection for September.

Pamela Tracy

What I Just Finished:  To Catch a Wife by Lee McKenzie.  This is a Harlequin Heartwarming that I picked up for free at RWA.

What I'm Reading Now:  Rocky Mountain Reunion by Tina Radcliffe.  I went to the pool last Sunday and grabbed the first book I saw from my TBA pile.  This was supposed to be my purse book, but it's so good that it's now the book in residence.

What I'm Reading Next:  The 7th book in the Lexi Carmichael series by Julie Moffat.  I cannot remember the name, but I bought the first one at RT, and I've been reading them one after the other.  Yeah!  I love it when I find a series that draws me in.  Number 6 was the best one ever - picture female bond age who bumbles just a little but never with a TSTL reason.

Deb Kastner:

I just finished reading: The Beast's Garden by Kate Forsyth, a WWII novel.

I'm currently reading: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. 

I'm not watching the movies until I've finished up the books.

Next on my list: Beast by Chawna Shroeder This is a Gilead Publishing novel from their Enclave imprint and it looks fascinating. I read the first couple of chapters and was hooked.

Mary Alford

I’m reading Her Deadly Inheritance, by Beth Ann Ziarnik. 

I just started the book this week an already its hard to put down. The characters really suck you into the story. I love gritty stories like this suspense. 

Barbara Phinney

I’m reading Ice Cold by Tess Gerritson, a Rizzoles and Isles book. It’s my first book by this author in a long time and I really enjoy her riveting style. I love RS books with real characters.

Jill Kemerer

I recently finished The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin. This fictional account of historical figures--Babe Paley, Slim Keith, and Truman Capote--brought a slice of 60s New York high society to life. A fun read!  

I'm currently reading the Christian living book, Audacious by Beth Moore.