A Christmas Weekend

    Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world - stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death - and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem two thousand years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love?  Then you can keep Christmas.     ...Augusta E. Rundel

There's nothing quite like Christmas. Excited kids. A flurry of gift wrap flying that takes thirty minutes to undo hours of shopping and wrapping. Kids always think the packages are going to reveal more fun than they do. I remember how there is just something magical about a wrapped gift with your name on it. When you're a kid, it can be anything. Anything at all before you tear off the wrapping paper and pull open the box. My daughter got a huge wrapped box and one of my grandsons was so excited to help her open it up. You could see his visible let-down when it held nothing more exciting than a sewing machine cover. To him, it was a total waste of gift anticipation. He was so sure the mere size of the package promised something wonderful. 

But the best part of most gifts we receive is the love that is behind whatever is in the box. Somebody loved us enough to want to give us something to make us happy. No matter how successful the actual physical gift may or may not turn out to be, the feelings behind the gift can warm our hearts and make us glad. Well, maybe you have to be older than my six-year-old grandson to get that feeling. :)

My other little grandson was not feeling well. He didn't have much fun and ended up having to take  medicine and sacking out on the bed with his big sister. She was ready to sit with him and nap with him to make sure he was okay. The boys are so blessed to have a loving big sister. 

I am blessed by those wonderful grandchildren and my kids too, but also by my extended family too. My sister-in-law allows us to gather at her house and enjoy an extra day of Christmas. It's a fill up your plate and find a seat wherever you can. Of course, if you eat standing up, you can usually manage that extra piece of lemon meringue pie or peanut butter fudge. We do one of those gift exchanges. That's always fun. I ended up with flashlights and my husband ended up with a teacup and teabags. Not exactly his kind of gift, but I like tea!

I missed having a get-together with my side of the family. This was our first year without Mom and Christmas Eve seemed to lack an important family event - seeing Mom. But think what the celebration must be like in heaven. We can only imagine, but Mom can know.

Did have have an extended family celebration this year?

"A Book Worth Reading"

"If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give." ~George MacDonald

Sometimes an encouraging word can be a special gift. I got one of those today from a reader who was reading my book, Scent of Lilacs. She said she was enjoying the story and then she thanked me for writing "a book worth reading." What a very nice thing to tell an author! 

Of course, I hope all my books are worth reading. I want to write them so that those of you who read them can get to know and love my characters the way I do while I'm writing their stories. With my Heart of Hollyhill books, I had fun going back to the Sixties and populating my fictional town of Hollyhill with characters who might walk down the streets of any small town in the USA. I stayed with those characters through three books and never got tired of them, Scent of Lilacs, Orchard of Hope, and now coming back to stores very soon in its bright new cover, Summer of Joy. 

But there are special gifts that are things too. Not long ago I received that kind of gift from my daughter-in-law. She got e-copies of all my covers even the old ones from years ago before there were e-copies of anything and made me the framed poster, pictured above, to hang in my office. Isn't it great? And such a thoughtful gift of her time and effort as she came up with a perfect gift for me. A writer has a special place in her heart for the cover art of her published books. Those covers are something bright and real with the promise of the story inside. The cover of Summer of Joy in the poster is not the new cover, but it's good to have that first cover remembered too. I'm so fortunate to have loving daughters-in-law who have blessed me with some beautiful grandchildren and who also encourage me in my writing career. 

One Week to Get Your Entries In

The deadline for my Summer of Joy Celebration Giveaway is Friday, February 28th at midnight EST. You can enter by sending me an e-mail from my website or here by leaving a comment. Comments on my posts here also enter you in a special additional drawing for a copy of your choice of one of my recent books. I don't have extra copies of those long ago books. The contest rules and description of prizes for the Celebration Giveaway are on my News & Events Website Page. Here's two of the prizes, a cute little ring dish and a charm bracelet with encouraging words all around. Plus those books that I do hope you will think are "worth reading." 

I also have that extra contest for people who say they "never win." I've gotten very few entries in that so maybe most of you are already winners. But one of you who tells me you never win is going to get a book and a box of chocolates. 

Remember, if you leave a comment here, you have to include a way for me to get in touch. A couple of you have commented without your contact information or even a name. If you don't want to leave that information in a comment here, feel free to e-mail me at annhgabhart(at)yahoo(dot)com or message me on my Facebook page. I know sometimes the comment feature on blogs can be a pain. Besides, you might enjoy joining in the conversation on my FB page. Some of my friends there enjoy my weekly features of Friday smiles, Throwback Thursdays, Shaker Wednesday, and Sunday Morning coming down.

A Book Worth Reading

That's what we all want when we're reading, don't we? A story that keeps us turning pages to find out what happens next. A story that we can be glad we read when we do turn that last page. A book that doesn't disappoint. Not every reader who picks up my books agree that my stories are worth reading, but I'm glad for those of you who do. And I will keep looking for the right words to fill the pages to make the stories you can enjoy. 

Thanks for reading!  

A Christmas Treasure Box Wrapped in Love

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

I've been having a great time sharing forward some of the stories you've shared with me about the best and at times, the worst gifts you've given or received when you entered my Christmas Giveaway. (Check out my website News and Events page for details if you haven't entered and would like to. It's easy.) 

Our Christmas celebration with our kids and grandkids was Saturday. We celebrate early because some of my kids had to work Monday and so need to make the travel home on a weekend. Also they all need to have the special time as families around their own Christmas trees on Christmas morning. 

Forever Friends
 
We had a fun family day of food and gifts and connecting. Because my children live in different states they don't get to see each other as often as they would like. When I grew up I saw some of my cousins nearly every week and we had so much fun together. Other cousins lived away and we only saw them a couple of times a year. That's the way it is with my grandkids. They only see each other a few times a year so it's fun for me to watch them connecting at Christmas. I suppose all mothers want their children and grandchildren to be forever friends, to know that wonderful bond of family. For grandparents, that might be the best part of Christmas. We're no longer eager for gifts, however nice they are and we did get some nice ones. But the best gift is seeing our family together. 

It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.  ~W.T. Ellis

Some Best Gifts

Still we do fill those boxes and wrap them up in pretty paper and hope the people tearing into them will find some joy in the contents. So here are some of the presents you've told me were the best you gave or received.

Alla says she treasures the nativity set she got when she was a newlywed. 

Dawn says books and the gift of reading is a present hard to beat and I agree. I give all my grandkids and kids a book every year and hope I've found stories that will spark that reading joy.

Carolyn says, "One of my best Christmases was when I was eight years old (I am now 70 years old). I badly wanted a blue parakeet for Christmas. You can imagine my joy when I received one. I named him Chippy and he lived until I was 18 years old. He was the best bird I ever had and a true friend."

And Tish says it's hard to beat a puppy as the best gift. This is my little granddaughter checking out puppies at her aunt's house. The puppy is much too little for gift giving right now, but it's easy to see it would be a pleasing present for her.    

Here's a story from Susan about a special family gift to her parents.

"One year for Christmas my sisters and I gave our parents sweatshirts with all the grandkids' handprints on them.  One of the best things about that was that Mother and Daddy carried them all over Texas and didn't know what they were. I put my kids' handprints on them, then boxed them up. My parents were going to see my sister, so I asked them to take the box to her.  She put her kids' handprints on them and boxed them back up. When my parents left her house to go see my other sister, she asked them to take the box and give it to her. After she did the same thing, she asked them to take it back to me. They were very confused as to why they were carrying this box to everybody and they didn't know what was in it. That was one of the best gifts.  Not only for the gift, but because of how it got to them."

Don't you know Susan's parents loved that gift and laughed about how they carried that treasure all over the country.

A Treasure Box of Love and Healing

 

Then last, we have a loving gift from one friend to another. I'll let Bobbe tell you about her gift. "I recently gave a Christmas and healing gift to a dear friend who unexpectedly and recently lost her 37 year old son to cancer. I call my gifts my treasure boxes of love and happiness. Since we grew up in the 50’s I enclosed lots of fun and funny things from that time period. I also added a set of Jacks and Balls so she could sit on the floor with her grandchildren and teach them some of our favorite Jacks games. Putting together lots of cute things from our childhood days as well as some practical things from today.

My goal was to take her mind off the pain and hurt by making her a Treasure box of Love and Healing. She was thrilled and can’t wait to have her grandchildren  join her in making and playing with all the fun things her box contains. So I think this is one of the best gifts I have given to a dear friend."

A gift wrapped in love is the best ever, and that's what Bobbe wrapped around her gift.

 

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  
 
Merry Christmas to all of you!  And thanks for reading. I love hearing from you all.

Family - the Perfect Gift

Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas. ~Peg Bracken

What makes Christmas such a special time of the year? What stirs up the Christmas spirit in our hearts and makes us want everybody to be happy on Christmas Day? Love is the main reason. God's love for us that resulted in the first Christmas, and our love for the Lord and for our families and friends.

And because we love we want to give gifts that show that love. Mandy was able to do that with a gift to her brother. Here's her best gift given story.

"My brother is a country music singer and he is always traveling from home to Nashville, TN. I just thought he needed something to take with him from home while he is away. So, I made him a quilt. I worked so hard on it...I'm not a great quilter. I embroidered a square in the middle with a guitar, a guitar pick, and a microphone on it. My brother doesn't show emotion very much, but he did when I gave him his quilt. He hugged me and cried and then said very quickly that he need to go outside for a minute. I loved that he loved it. Now he always takes it with him wherever he goes so he can have a little bit of home wrapped around him."

Aww, Mandy, that's such a sweet story. But Robin has those best family gifts figured out. Here's what she said, "Best gift given or received! Hmmmm........I have to say that is a really hard question. Yes, our family exchanges gifts, but it isn't about the presents for me. I only remember being together as a family. Going to my grandparents as a child and now going to my parents' house with my children. It's family! Only family. That is the perfect gift. The gift of being together."

Beautiful thoughts, Robin. Thanks for sharing. May we always remember those blessed times with our families.

Last week we shared a story of a cat as the best gift ever. So far nobody has mentioned a puppy or a dog as best gifts. They don't have to be under a Christmas tree the way my daughter's dog is here. They can be the best gift any time of the year. I've certainly had some of those best gifts. Oscar is my most recent one. But I may get a dog Christmas story yet. Remember, if you haven't already entered my Christmas giveaway, you still have time. I'm not drawing for the winner until New Year's Eve. Just leave a comment here with a way to contact you or send me an e-mail from my website.You can check out about the prizes on the Events Page.

By this time next week, we will have had our family Christmas. Saturday is our big day with the kids. Next week is getting ready time. Gotta bake cookies, wrap those last stray gifts, go to the Candlelight Service at church, buy groceries, clean the house, and who knows what else. If I could teach Oscar to wipe his feet when he comes inside it would be easier to keep the floors clean. 

What do you have to do to get ready for Christmas? 

Every Book Can be a Gift

Each day provides its own gifts. ~Marcus Aurelius



One of the daily or weekly gifts I receive are the comments you leave here and on my Facebook author's page. It's fun getting to know you and I really enjoy when you share stories from your lives. Take Joye's comment on my blizzard post Sunday about her dad having to crawl out the attic window to shovel out their door after a blizzard. She can tell us about snow. Others have also left bits about their lives and many of you leave encouraging words for me. You might be surprised to know how often writers need encouraging words. But then I suppose that's true for everybody no matter what work they do. We can all use a kind word and a smile.  I want everything I write whether it's a short Facebook comment, an e-mail, or a 100,000 word story to somehow be an encouragement to whoever reads them.

Cathy left me one of those kind and encouraging comments this week. In case you don't read the comments on posts, here is the part that had me smiling. "Just found a true treasure...one of your older books called "The Gifting". I absolutely LOVE this book. I think you should re-release it. Page 71..."Don't ruin a gifting by measuring it. Just enjoy."

So I am enjoying and remembering too. I don't remember writing those words on page 71, but I'm glad I did. It sounds like very good advice. I wrote that little book for young readers over twenty years ago, but the book lived up to its title for me. A gift. So I'm taking the liberty to change that quote at the beginning of my post a bit to say "Every book provides its own gift."   

You see when I wrote that book my father was dying with pancreatic cancer. During his illness, he became agitated and not himself and it was a very hard time for him and for all of us. The Gifting is about a young girl, Ginny and her recluse neighbor, Miss Nellie. I have to admit I'd forgotten my characters' names until I read the blurb on the cover. A lot of characters through the keyboard since then. But while I might not remember the names, I do remember the story and how thinking about those characters and what they might be going to do next helped me stop obsessively worrying about my dad and about Mom who was taking care of him. Worrying didn't help Dad or Mom either. So when the night pushed in on me and I couldn't sleep, I'd think about Ginny and Miss Nellie. The story was a gift to me.

Since then, I've been "gifted" with many other stories. Some of them have come at other hard times in my life. Right now is a hard time for me with my mother's struggle with dementia. Sometimes I wonder if I'll be able to get the next book written, but then the gift of a story will come. My last Shaker book, The Gifted, has a thread throughout about the blessing of gifts from the Lord and how we use those gifts. Like Jessamine in The Gifted, I think the Lord gave me a gift for words and intended for me to use that gift to tell stories. But at the same time that my books might turn out to be a gift to you, they can also be a gift to me while I'm writing them. But I do think I've probably used all the titles with gift in them that I can. But then you never know? I might be given another "gift" book. The Gift. His Gift. Her Gift. A Thousand Gifts. :)


Thanks for reading. And remember you can leave a comment here or on Jocie's Hollyhill blog to throw your name in the hat for the drawing for an autographed copy of Scent of Lilacs. Each comment on a new post gets you a new entry. I'll draw three winners on March 3 and let Jocie announce the winners on March 4. This drawing is open only to those of you who give me the gift of your comments here on my journals.

Love at First Sight, Gifts, and Other Blogging Trails

Nine more days to take part in my Celebration giveaways. Either on my website at the The Gifted Contest Page (prizes shown there) or at Fresh Fiction and have a chance to win a lovely journal and pen. The picture of the basket and my book The Believer is the second prize in my website contest. The basket is a one-of-a-kind made locally. Not exactly like the Shakers would have made it since it is decorated with buttons, but the Shakers did make lots of baskets for use in their villages and for sale. 


It fun to give things away to celebrate a new book and another way I celebrate (and give away books) is by guesting on other blogs. I did a lot of that when Words Spoken True was published last February and some of you reading friends followed me around to leave comments and try to win a copy of the book. Well, now you can do it again. I was a guest on Rose McCauley's Blog Friday, and you still have time to comment there to have a chance to win a copy of The Gifted. Since Jessamine has to figure out which gifts are true and worthy in this new Shaker book, that's what I decided to write about with Rose. "What is Your Gift?" It was interesting to me that our pastor preached on how we all have gifts this morning. And no, I don't think he read my post over on Rose's blog. 


"Life is a gift, and it offers us the privilege, opportunity, and responsibility to give something back by becoming more.” ~Anthony Robbins


Then I have a guest blog on Romance at Random all about love at first sight. Do you believe that's possible? Maybe you've experienced it. Or at least attraction at first sight. I was certainly attracted to my husband at first sight and we're still together all these years later. No free book on that site, but you can join in the conversation about whether you think love at first sight is possible. Of course, you can join in the conversation here for that too. And I threw out the question on Facebook a while ago and was already hearing love stories and then one story where the love at first sight feeling didn't lead to enduring love. 


But don't you just love to hear other people's love stories? How they met. How long they've been together. A couple at our church just celebrated their 64th anniversary. We had another couple who made it to 75 years together before the husband passed on at age 95. True testimonies of love and faithfulness. So you can find out how I met my husband if you go check out what I have to say about love at first sight. 


More guest blog posts to come with some of them offering chances to win a free book. A lot of reviews out there too. Ann Shorey, a fellow Revell writer, did one on The Gifted last week. If you want to know her thoughts about the book, go to Ann Shorey's website and you can check out Ann's books too while you're there.


I've got to come up with another guest post for a site called The Romance Dish. What romantic topic would you suggest?


Thanks for reading.  

The Best Gift

My daughter and her dog, Sumo

"Time is free, but it's priceless.  You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it, you can never get it back." (Harvey MacKay)

Time - sometimes it seems there's never enough time to get everything we need to do done. That's certainly been true for me this summer as I struggled to get a new Shaker story out of my head and typed into my computer. Part of the reason for my struggle was that for about a year now my mom has needed someone with her around the clock due to heart problems and worsening dementia. It hasn't always been easy, but I did find out a few things about myself and writing.

First I discovered I'm not as fast a writer as I'd like to be. Second, I need a lot of alone time with just me and my computer to get a story out of my head. Third, I am an expert delayer if the words are not coming easy. And last but certainly not least, I can't do it all anymore. Maybe I never could, but for sure, I can't now.

Then again, maybe the best thing I learned is that I am loved. Of course I already knew that, but sometimes actions prove it all over again. My daughter gave me a week of her time. She used some of her vacation time and came home to sit with Mom in my place to allow me that alone time to finish my stubborn work in progress. That was not only very touching, but also very motivating.

I could hardly twiddle my fingers and find delaying trails to follow when she was here expressly to give me time to write. I had to write. And I did. I got to the end of the story. Not exactly finished completely, but the story is out of my head and down there on the screen paper where I can cut and polish. That doesn't take as much alone time. That I can do in the midst of distractions.

Time. These last few months the refrain in my head has been "How much time do I have?" That was how many hours before I needed to go to Mom's or cook dinner or turn in for the night. Or how many months, weeks, days before my deadline for the story. Not happy questions.

Time is such a gift. Both the time the Lord gives us each day and the time we share with one another. Thank you for spending a few moments of your time with me.

Hometown Book Celebration with my Reading Friends

My celebration of The Blessed was a fun time of friends and book talking with a little chocolate thrown in to sweeten the hour. I was lucky enough to have my daughter and husband (in the photo with me) there to help me carry everything in. Books can be heavy. 

I do so appreciate all my hometown reading friends who came out on a very hot Sunday afternoon to help me celebrate my fourth Shaker book, The Blessed. Each time a new person came in I felt as if I was getting a gift. And I was - the gift of their time and presence. I know others of you wished you could be there too and that's a gift and blessing to me too. 

I like talking about books and writing and always enjoy the question and answer part of any speech the most. Of course sometimes people don't have any questions or maybe they're just ready to get to the door prizes so they can go home. It's fun to give away stuff. And it's fun to win stuff. 

Today it seemed as if the prizes went to the perfect people in the group. A lady who likes to send notes and card to be an encourager got a card organizer and strawberry notecards. A young person interested in writing won the notebook and pens I had for somebody to start writing her own book. My neighbor who loves all things Shaker was there got the Shaker hot pad that said, "Hands to work and hearts to God." Another lady, a first time attendee to one of my celebrations, won The Blessed. Another friend who sews a lot got the audio tape of The Outsider. She's already read the book, but sometimes I think it's more fun to listen to a book after you've read it. She plans to listen while she was sewing. 

Then I gave away a cup that had a sisters are always your best friends type of saying on it to a beautiful woman, a retired teacher. All three of my children were blessed to have her in elementary school and she got them off to a great start in school. Of course she probably has dozens of mugs from her days of getting Christmas gifts from her students. I was a room mother for her class when my youngest son was in third grade. I'll never forget what a gift she gave those children that Christmas and no doubt every year she taught. She let them gather around her and then she opened their gifts one by one and expressed gratitude and sincere pleasure over each and every one. Those little gift givers glowed. 

It truly is more blessed to give than to receive at times. And Mrs. Simpson was a blessing to her students that Christmas as she taught them that truth in a simple, loving way. I enjoyed giving away my little door prizes today too. And talking to my friends - those I knew before today and those I know now because we became friends today.

Are you a good gift receiver who sees the spirit of love behind your best gifts? I have a little box decorated with sparkles by my grandson especially for me when he was in second grade. It is one of my most treasured gifts. What treasures have you been given? 


Thanks for reading.

Loving our Gifts

"What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God." (Eleanor Powell)

~~

Are you a good gift getter? This little granddaughter of mine is. She was happy over every gift - even a toothbrush and a stocking stuffer box of character inspired band-aids. Here she's happy about some princess pjs. And how about you? Do you pull the pretty paper off your gifts and then smile weakly as you pull whatever it is out of the box? Do you mumble thanks when what you really want to say is "What in the world is this?" Or "What am I going to do with this?" Or "Did you really think I was THAT size?" Or "Gee, I hope you have the receipt."

~~

I'm not the greatest gift getter. Even when it's something I like, my thanks are never the jumping up and down enthusiastic thanks that really rewards the gift giver. I'm the quieter, more reserved "thank you, that's so nice" type gift getter. And when it's something I have doubts about, I'm not a good pretender. My husband gave me a snuggy or whatever they were called last year. You know those blankets with sleeves. He thought I'd like it. I thought he should know me better. The bright pink thing is stuck away somewhere in the back of a closet. I wasn't good at pretending to be excited about the gift in spite of his good intentions. My bad. But..., he should have known me better.

~~

Sometimes we're that way with the gifts the Lord gives us. We all have special talents and abilities, but we don't always appreciate them. We open up our talent gifts and wonder why we couldn't have gotten something else. Something we might be readier to use. Something easier to use. Something more exciting than the gifts we've grown so used to we've forgotten their value. And yet it would be better to pull up our gifts and open them with excitement and joy and thankfulness. To say, yes, this is my gift. I'm going to use it to bless others whether it's a gift of song or story or encouraging words or a servant's heart or the ability to work or pray or to cook or to drive or to do whatever the Lord has enabled you to do to help yourself and others. I hope you can embrace your talents and gifts with joy as you use them to bless those around you. That's all any of us are asked to do. Oh, and smile when we count the blessings of those gifts. Maybe even jump up and down with excitment. That might be nice too.

~~

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with many perfect gifts of love and joy.