Tomorrow is the last day for my special Days of Christmas Giveaway Celebration! I hope you have enjoyed reading about the wonderful Christmas memories of some very talented authors!
I think one of my favorite things about these postings is that the books being given away are so diverse. We’ve had historical romance, suspense, Bible studies, biographies, and more! Today is no exception, as the winner will take away a wonderful nonfiction book and an action-packed Christian suspense novel. While I haven’t read either book yet, they look fantastic!
So…be sure to leave a comment below. This time, let’s share about someone in our family – it could be a child, spouse, parent, grandparent, or other relative, who has made Christmas extra special. Or, if you prefer, feel free to instead leave an encouraging comment for one of my authors.
And don’t forget to go back and leave comments on the past seven days of giveaways. (The links can be found in the right-hand margin under “Recent posts you may have missed.” All winners will be chosen on December 18 and announced on December 19 and confirmed subscribers receive two entries.
And now…here are the two books up for grabs…
Both books are available at Amazon and the winner will receive an ebook copy of Burning Hearts.
Here is the blurb for Burning Hearts…
Can a young seamstress with an independent streak escape an arsonist/murderer while deciding if she trusts the dashing war hero some claim is the killer?
And now, let’s hear from our authors!
Grandmothers Make Christmas Magical by Nike Chillemi
I remember Christmases when we went to my maternal grandmother’s house in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. Sometimes my dad would have to drive through a snowstorm to get there or to get home. The chains on the car would clank as the wheels turned when we went up and down those steep and winding mountain roads. We’d gone through so many storms that we were old hands at it. It had to be a “big one” for us not to go.
My maternal grandmother was born in the Ukraine and we’d have Pierogies on Christmas Eve (cheese or potato filled dumplings swimming in butter) and rice stuffed cabbage because that meal is traditionally meatless in Eastern European countries. Then of course, on Christmas Day we’d have a feast with the table over flowing with Ukrainian and American delicacies. My maternal grandmother was a short plump lady, and I loved to hug her because she was so soft. She was gentle and kind but she wasn’t spineless, she was as strong as they come.
On Christmas, I missed my paternal grandmother who lived in Ohio with my aunt. This grandmother was born in Czechoslovakia and closely resembles the heroine’s mother in my debut novel BURNING HEARTS. One Christmas when I was about nine years old and opening presents at my Ukrainian grandmother’s house in the Catskills, one of my aunt’s called out with a devilish grin, “Who is that big box for?” Well it was for me and it was from my grandmother in Ohio. She’d made me two velvet dresses with lace sewn around the collars. One was in Christmas red and one in Christmas green. I’ll never forget that day. I tried them on and my mother took photographs of me in front of the tree. I have a scene in GOODBYE NOEL where the heroine’s mother sews lace around the collar of the hero’s young daughter’s Christmas red “Sunday-best” dress to make it even extra special. I guess I took that one from my own life too.
Nike loves to hear from her readers at http://nikechillemi.wordpress.com/
12 Days of Christmas: Epiphany by Ada Brownell
The twelfth night of Christmas for some ends in the Feast of Epiphany. In the United States it is known as Three Kings Day and falls on Jan. 6, 2012.
EPIPHANY IS A BEAUTIFUL WORD that even sounds like its meaning: Revelation, Shining Forth, Manifestation.
I WROTE ABOUT EPIPHANY OBSERVANCES in other churches as a newspaper reporter, but I’ve never celebrated epiphany with my congregation. Yet, as with every Christian, I experience epiphany often. I’ll be reading the Bible and suddenly a scripture will pop out, as with when we lost our daughter to cancer: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory ad honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone” (Hebrews 2:9)
THERE WAS THE DAY WHEN I WAS HAVING A PITY PARTY and telling God He even said in this world we would have tribulation. Then I recalled the rest of what Jesus said in John 15:33, “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
THEN AS I WORRIED ABOUT MY NEW BOOK, Swallowed by LIFE: Mysteries of Death, Resurrection and the Eternal, coming on Amazon in December, I worried about how well it would do. We had other mountains in our lives that needed conquering and I was studying the faith chapter in Hebrews 11. One day I backed up into the last words of the previous chapter: “Do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.
MATTHEW 4:16 IS A FLASH OF INSIGHT SHINING FORTH all year, but especially this season. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Matthew 4:16).
GOD WARNED THE FIRST COUPLE if they ate the forbidden fruit, they would die. There in God’s garden, they became mortals. Their flesh would be subject to illness and dying, and it would affect every person born thereafter.
YET, GOD IN HIS LOVE told them a Redeemer would come. Jesus is the Redeemer promised in Genesis 3:15 right after Adam and Eve sinned, and people walking in darkness have seen a great light.
Knowledge that the Redeemer has come is EPIPHANY.
Ada Brownell has written for Christian publications since age 15. She is a retired newspaper reporter (The Pueblo Chieftain in Colorado), and author of the book, Swallowed by LIFE , which is now available. Confessions of a Pentecostal will soon be available as an e-book.
http://www.ada@adabrownell.com
http://www.inkfromanearthenvessel.blogspot.com
©Ada Brownell 2011
Penny Zeller 