As you may have realized, it’s the day after Thanksgiving. You know what that means, right?
Yep.
Christmas music.
For the next month…
Without reprieve.
Oh…wait! I have a way for you to take a break from the music! Shut off the radio and read a good book instead. A Christmas book, of course!
Okay, okay. Just promise you’ll hear me out once you’re done sticking your tongue out at the screen.
Personally, I love the Christmas season. I enjoy seeing people’s decorations and lights. I love getting the tree put up with lots of lights. (My husband may or may not have banned me from buying anymore tree lights, and my son may or may not have warned that I was going to topple the tree if I put on even one more light. Every year.) I absolutely adore watching the ornaments slowly fill out the tree, and I insist that they go on in order. I own a special ornament for each year starting with the year I was married. The ornaments represent the most significant event that happened to us that year.
I have ornaments for the births of my two children, for the years they accepted Christ, and for the year one of them went home to be with Jesus. I have ornaments for the year God moved us 2500 miles across the country into the unknown and the year he took me on an even scarier journey – the publication of my first novel. Decorating the tree is a special time for me as I go through and recall our family’s story for anyone who will slow down enough to listen. I love retelling that history – the the happy and the sad – for it’s made us who we are.
Nowhere for Christmas is the story of a single mom, her teenage son, an unlikely pseudo-stranger, and the worst rental car in the history of mankind. Together they embark on a journey that could be considered epic if epic meant disastrous at every turn, and along the way the characters learn about each other, life, and grace. They even have time to read the Christmas story from the Bible…while sitting in the dirt parking lot of a closed-for-the-holiday store in a vacated-for-the-holiday town while wearing the most tenaciously foul odor known to man. It’s definitely an ornament-worthy road trip.
Here’s an excerpt from that time of peace and tranquility before the journey began… (If you hear any unladylike snorting, that might be me trying not to laugh. Peace and tranquility…ha!)
♥♥♥♥♥
“I’m going to have to go get the other suitcase out of the attic,” she said with a sigh, hoping her son would volunteer to climb up in there and retrieve it for her.
Instead, he nodded and asked, “You want me to pull the ladder down for you?” She grinned to herself as she nodded. They had a regular battle about the attic. Neither of them liked going up there. Since he’d gone up to retrieve all the Christmas decorations earlier in the month, she’d let him have the victory this time.
After Avery scaled the creaky ladder up into the attic, she scanned the web-dusted contents, quickly locating the suitcase she needed. It was older and more faded than the green one, and it had a rust-and-mustard-colored seventies floral pattern on it. At least no one will try to steal it.
As she dragged the suitcase with its one broken wheel across the attic floor, a cloud of who-knew-what gently puffed up into the air around her. Then she got a mouthful of it and started coughing, which led to more grime and dust billowing into the air. That, of course, led to more coughing.
Avery lost her balance and started to fall out of the attic opening, but the suitcase blocked her way enough to pause her descent, giving her time to reach out and grab the back of an old chair that had been in the attic longer than they’d lived in the house. The suitcase wasn’t so lucky. It fell zipper-over-wheel down the attic ladder and landed with a loud thud on the carpeted floor below.
By the time Avery pulled herself back to her feet and made her way down the ladder, she expected to find Eli standing there wondering where his dinner was. Alas, her teen was blissfully unaware of her near-death-by-attic experience. He was in his room listening to his MP3 player. It’s for the best. I wouldn’t want him to pull a muscle laughing at me.
♥♥♥♥♥
If you’re interested in getting to know Avery and Eli better or meeting the other characters from their zany adventure – including the mysterious pseudo-stranger who joins them – you can travel with the whole crew on this unforgettable journey. To purchase through Amazon, click here. For other buy links, click here.
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you have a good book to which you can turn when you need a break from the Christmas music!
Heather Gray loves coffee, God, her family, and laughter – not necessarily in that order! She writes approachable characters who, through the highs and lows of life, find a way to love God, embrace each day, and laugh out loud right along with her. And, yeah, her books almost always have someone who's a coffee addict. Some things just can't be helped. Despite their different lives and situations, Heather’s characters have something in common. They're all flawed...but loved anyway.
Great excerpt! And you can never have enough lights on a tree :)
I don’t have a special ornament for everything, but I do have ones for some things, like my kids’ first Christmas, new home, etc. I liked the near death by attic clip :)