That Winning Feeling - A Shaker Christmas is Here

When the delivery guys bring me a carton and I open it to see a new book spill out, I feel like a winner. So I'm giving away a copy of the just arrived Christmas at Harmony Hill to share that winning feeling. Keep reading to see how to enter your name in a drawing.

As a fiction writer, I spend day after day with my fingers on a keyboard and my mind in a world that doesn't even exist, putting words into the mouths of imaginary people. Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever get the story told.
But then that great day comes when the new book lands on my doorstep, all dressed up in its beautiful "meet the world" clothes. 

Yesterday I got to experience that fun day with my Shaker Christmas book, Christmas at Harmony Hill. The official release date is September 15, a birthday present for me, but it could be the book is going to sneak into stores a few days or weeks early. I personally am not going to admit to being a year older until the actual day, so the birthday is not coming early. Just the book. LOL. 

I've never written a Christmas novella before. I've had Christmas scenes in my books. One in Orchard of Hope, the second book in the Heart of Hollyhill series. That reissue will be out in another month. I love having books come out, but this year it's kept me hopping. I also wrote a Christmas scene in the Rosey Corner book I just finished. All kinds of interesting things can happen around a Christmas tree or in the case of the Shakers, in a Shaker village.  

The Shakers didn't do elaborate Christmas celebrating back in the 1800's. They generally had a worship service where they received imaginary gifts - thing like robes of love or baskets of blessings. But before Christmas they had a day sometimes called Sacrifice Day and other times called a Day of Atonement. On this day they were to seek out and ask forgiveness from any person they had wronged in the past year. They were also obligated to forgive and forget the wrongs done to them. I used that in my story as both of my characters, Sister Sophrena and Heather, had people in their lives they needed to forgive. 

I do hope readers will enjoy going back to Civil War times for my Christmas story. One of you can get an early copy to read since to celebrate these books showing up on my doorstep, I'm giving a copy to one of you who comments on this blog. I'll draw for a winner on Sunday. That will make two Sundays in a row I'm giving something away. Last week my mystery picture winner was Ann M. who said she wanted either Words Spoken True or Small Town Girl. I'm having trouble deciding which one to send her. Decisions. Decisions. Anyway, this week maybe you'll be the lucky winner. I won't have to decide which one to send you. You'll get Christmas at Harmony Hill. :) 

Just leave a comment. You can tell me if you've ever read a Christmas book. I'll be guessing that you haven't read a Christmas Shaker book - yet!

I'll also be giving away a book to someone who comes over to my guest post on Seekerville on Friday, August 23, and leaves a comment there. I'll be giving away Small Town Girl. That's a lively site with lots of comments, so I'm looking forward to talking to the readers there.

I always look forward to talking to you here. Thanks for reading.  

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.