Special Guest Denise Patrick + Giveaway!

Hi everyone, and welcome to Thursday's installment of the Christmas Blog Party. For the most recent list of posts and giveaways, please visit here.

Today I'm thrilled to have special guest Denise Patrick, sharing about the best gift she's ever had. :) She's also generously offering a $15 Amazon GC to one lucky commenter!! Please follow her directions for the giveaway, and good luck!

 

Love for Christmas

The Christmas season is my favorite time of the year. Not because of the music, or the festive atmosphere, the spirituality, or the gifts. I love each of those aspects, but for me the Christmas season brings hope. It brings hope that good things can and will happen, hope for the approaching New Year to be better than the last, and the optimism that life has a purpose and this might just be the year to discover what mine is.

Over the years, I have received and given many gifts. Some were fun. Some were pretty. Some were practical. Some were whimsical. But the best gift I ever received came 27 years ago today. Of course, I had to work for it, but having my daughter in December has added an extra helping of love and magic to the Christmas season for me. Unfortunately, the magic also comes with a downside.

Growing up with a birthday two weeks after Christmas, I was not fond of having my birthday mixed up in Christmas. As a child, I always felt as if I was somehow cheated by the proximity. And, while I no longer think that way, I didn't want my daughter to possibly feel that way either. For that reason, I always insisted that we not decorate the house until after her birthday - a difficult prospect for my husband, who always wants to put the tree up on or about December 1.

My daughter unwittingly solved the problem without ever knowing there was one. Each year since she was about five, when asked what she wanted to do for her birthday, she invariably wanted to put up the Christmas tree as a family.

Last year, she got married on December 6. Needless to say, with everything else going on, the tree didn't go up until close to her birthday - even though she wasn't here. This year, she and her husband will be here for Christmas, but definitely not by today. My husband and I have just returned from ten days in Austria and Germany, so maybe this weekend we will get the tree up.

Regardless of when we get around to decorating for the season, we will have a blast and remember the Christmas we had a 12-day-old who had no idea, but was fascinated by the lights.

Love for Christmas is also the name of my short story available from Samhain Publishing.

’Tis the season—for love.

Falling in love at first sight—with another man’s wife—was hell for Phillip Houghton. Never mind that he knew Julianna’s husband to be a thoroughly unsavory man, the ring on her finger meant she was off limits. 

Even after the man’s untimely death, Phillip put even more distance between them, leaving the country to give her time to heal. Three years later he is back, and determined that nothing will let her slip through his fingers. Not even his status as a second son. 

To all outward appearances, Julianna is content with her life as a widow with two small children. On the inside, the scars of her husband’s abuse feed her general distrust of men. Phillip makes her painfully aware of how lonely her life truly is, but why marry again when she has all the family, and security, she needs? 

Yet as Phillip wins over her parents and children, she finds herself drawn to him. Dare she trust her mind—and her heart—for a second chance with forever written all over him?

Warning: Never underestimate a man who is willing to deal with a two-year-old in tantrum mode.

I will be giving away a $15 gift card to Amazon. Leave a comment to be entered. The winner will be drawn tomorrow at noon EST and their name will be posted shortly after.

Denise Patrick

http://www.denisepatrickauthor.com

http://denisesden.blogspot.com