Christmas - a Time for Giving

Christmas is not so much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. ~Janice Maeditere

It's December. Already. How does it get here so quickly? It didn't used to be that way. Do you remember when you were a kid and Christmas Eve seemed like it was three days long? We always had a Christmas dinner and presents at my aunt's house on Christmas Eve. My sisters and I would go over to her house and spend the day. Our aunt, who was like a grandmother to us, pretended we helped her get the meal ready. I did make the punch when I got old enough. Loved that job. Still make the same punch out of orange juice and pineapple juice every Christmas now. But anyway, we'd get everything ready. The presents would be piled under the tree with their enticing promise. Then we'd have to wait for our parents to show up. I don't know what they did on Christmas Eve but whatever it was always took them a loonng time, but it was wonderful when we finally saw them coming across the yard. We could finally eat dinner and get to those presents we were so eager to open.

Gifts of Love

Those wise men started something we all love with those gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We enjoy getting gifts, but we also love giving gifts. And with nine grandkids, I have plenty of chances to enjoy giving some Christmas gifts. I've already been out there shopping and while I was shopping for them, I also went shopping for prizes for a Christmas giveaway for my reading friends.  

Prizes for my Christmas Giveaway

The first prize is a lovely dogwood bloom pillow for the Shaker shop and the winner's choice of one of my books. Second place winner gets three Christmas novellas (pictured above), Melody Carlson's A Simple Christmas Wish, an autographed copy of Sarah's Christmas Miracle by Mary Ellis, and an autographed copy of my Christmas at Harmony Hill. Then for those of you who tell me you "never win" I'll have that extra drawing with the prize a snowman pin and the winner's choice of one of my books. 

How to Enter

You can enter by sending a message from my website, www.annhgabhart.com, or by leaving a comment on my blog here with a way to contact you.  For fun, you can tell me about a gift you gave someone else that was either the best or the worst gift ever. You don't have to share a story to enter, but you can if you want. Remember, you have to say you've never won to enter the extra drawing. The contest is open to USA and Canadian addresses only (sorry, international readers) and you must be eighteen to enter. One entry per person please. Deadline for entries is midnight EST December 30.  

Newsletter and E-Book Sale Prices

I sent out a newsletter today and so I'm already getting entries. I can't wait to start reading all your stories. I'll be sharing a few of them, with permission, here in the next few weeks. By the way if you'd like to get my newsletter and be one of the first to hear about giveaways or discount prices on e-books, just let me know you want to be on my e-mail list. Today I shared the news that the e-book of The Believer was at a reduced price of $2.99 or even lower at Christianbook.com. That may have been only for Sunday. Angels at the Crossroads, the only non-fiction book I've written, is also at a reduced price for the e-book on Amazon. You can read more about both stories on my website.

The Best Gifts

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis

Hope you have a wonderful first week of December. And I know the kids don't want this to happen, but I need to slow December down a little to get some of those presents wrapped. :)

Two Weeks Till Christmas!!!

Do you remember when you were a kid and you counted the days off until Christmas? You always knew exactly how many there were to go. Fourteen, thirteen, twelve and on. Well, this time in two weeks it will be Christmas Eve and many families will be gathering to enjoy the holiday with presents and glittering lights and delicious food. And the kids will all be ready to go to bed so Santa can come. Such a different perspective when you're Santa's helper instead of just wishing he'd show up and soon! Still fun, but instead of wishing the days gone, you're wishing for an extra day here and there to wrap those presents, to address those cards, to make that candy or those cookies. Being a Santa's elf is not for the faint-hearted.

Someone asked me about the Shakers celebrating Christmas. They did observe Christmas but not as we do today. They gathered in their Meeting House and sang and danced as they worshiped. And they definitely had a good meal. The Shakers' tables were always laden with the best foods. But in the "world," as the Shakers called everyone outside their villages, the celebrations were probably not much different. Certainly not much like our celebrations today for the average person, but then Christmas celebrations have changed for everyone.

Think about your picture of an old-fashioned Christmas and compare it to the Christmas you and yours expect to have this year. My mom can remember getting an orange and candy in her stocking. She ate the orange one section at a time over several days to make it last. Back when I was a kid, oranges were still a treat, but we might have a whole box of fruit under the tree. Now a lot of children have oranges whenever they want one and have no conception of how an orange at Christmas could be a special treat while most of us older folks could never have imagined the sorts of things they find in their stockings these days - phones you stick in your ear so you're never out of touch, music players that are smaller than your hand and don't require tapes, CDs, records or anything to be inserted in order to play songs, and computers where one person can sit woolgathering and somebody half a world away can read the words and send a comment back immediately. Wonder what Christmas will be like in 2050. One thing I hope - that it will always be full of old-fashioned love and joy.

Here are some quotes on an old-fashioned Christmas and what makes the best presents to give and get at Christmas. At least I think so. I love getting books and I wish I had time to read all the books I'm giving my kids before I have to wrap them. Everybody always gets a book. It's a long standing tradition in our house. And of course, love and your gift of time is always the very best and most valuable gift you can give.

• "Do give books - religious or otherwise - for Christmas. They're never fattening, seldom sinful, and permanently personal." -- Lenore Hershey
• "They err who think Santa Claus comes down through the chimney; he really enters through the heart." -- Mrs. Paul M. Ell
• "Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love." -- Hamilton Wright Mabi
• "Christmas--that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance--a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved." -- Augusta E. Rundel

Hope you can take time to enjoy the special time of Christmas. And that you know a child with Christmas stars in his or her eyes.

Christmas Tree Memories

Here it is Wednesday night again and I'm getting the pleasure of sending a few words out to my friends. Hi, everybody.

By the way, I'm still tripping over that box of tree ornaments, but I'll drag that tree up from the basement this weekend for sure. I admire people who put up multiple trees. One of my daughters-in-law puts up a tree in every room and the trees all look great. But me, I guess I take after my grandmother. Mom said Mama Rose never wanted to bother with a tree in the house so they used to just hang their stockings on the rocking chair. They didn't have a Christmas tree until her youngest sister talked their dad into bringing in a cedar when Mom was a teenager.

I'm not that bad. I want a tree and so far I've always gotten the tree decorated before Christmas day. So far. I used to go out with my kids and cut down a cedar tree. We always picked one that was way too big. Those trees just look smaller out there in the field. And greener and not so lopsided. As you can probably tell, I wasn't the best tree picker, so most of the time Darrell took care of that chore. Thank goodness. He was definitely better at it.

Cedars smell good sitting in your living room, but they are sticky. Not so bad when you decorate them, but very prickly when you take the ornaments off after Christmas. Especially those foil icicles. Any of you remember those? Plus cedars dry out fast even if you set them in a bucket of water and that makes you have to worry about them being fire hazards. I've gotten modern now with an artificial tree, but I sometimes think how my dad would frown if he knew I paid good money for a fake tree when the fields were full of cedars that need to be cut down.

Dad didn't overflow with Christmas spirit, but sometimes he'd go to Louisville and buy us something at a warehouse or secondhand shop that we weren't expecting. One Christmas he brought in a turntable record player. It didn't have a case, but since it played LPs and 45's and had a stack 'em on spindle, we were happy. So he wasn't exactly a Scrooge. He just left most of the merry preparations up to Mom and his sister. They made Christmas fun.

Hope you have many great Christmas memories. Share your favorite with me if you want. That would be fun. And here are some Christmas quotes to make your day brighter.

• There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child. - Erma Bombeck
• Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it 'white'. - Bing Crosby
• My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that? -Bob Hope
• When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things -- not the great occasions -- give off the greatest glow of happiness. -Bob Hope

Wishing you much happiness and joy. Always joy.