It’s the most wonderful time of the year…except when stores are full of cranky shoppers. Have a holly, jolly Christmas…until your oven goes on the fritz at 8:32am Christmas morning. Silent night, holy night, all is calm…for brief moments between the last-minute school play costume emergency fixes, late-night teacher gifts assembly lines, and slipping out […]
Falling for You by Merrillee Whren
If you live in the northern hemisphere, you are right in the middle of fall. Fall here means pumpkins, apple picking, Thanksgiving celebrations, and the lead up to Christmas and New Year’s Day. A few years ago we spent October in Australia and New Zealand, during their spring. I was surprised to see pumpkins on […]
What are Your Favorite National Holidays?
Tomorrow is the USA Independence Day commemoration, also known as Fourth of July. There are fireworks and barbecues, and if you’re in the southern USA, they’re usually accompanied by a hot and humid summer’s day. This national holiday had me thinking about other national holidays around the world. Of course, each country has its own […]
Sharing local holiday traditions in fiction + giveaway
Culture is fascinating, isn’t it? I think a big part of what I love about reading is how we can travel anywhere in the world just by picking up a book. And at each stop in our travels, we learn something new and interesting about the culture, the people, or traditions of a place. I […]
Pentecost Monday by Merrillee Whren
There are two things I like to talk about when blogging. I like to share my travels, and I like interesting holidays. I’m combining those two topics in today’s post. Yesterday was Pentecost, and today is Pentecost Monday. Pentecost is celebrated fifty days after Easter. Pentecost comes from the Greek word pentếkosta, which means fiftieth […]
A Christmas to Remember Releases
I am so excited to see an idea I birthed way back in January come to fruition. What makes this collection even more special to me is that all the authors are bloggers on the inspy romance blog. Today I’m going to tell you about my contribution to the collection, Until I met You. This […]
Fun, Family, and a Lot of Turkey
I hope your Thanksgiving was great! And Christmas is just around the corner. I’m one of those people who eats too much during holidays, but I feel fully justified to do it. Thanksgiving meal was awesome, especially home-made cherry cheesecake. And I think it’s going to be tamales and menudo for Christmas this year (I live […]
I’ll Be Home for Christmas
In the early 1990s, we moved from California to a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where my husband, Jim, served as an associate pastor for youth/music/worship. This was during the six-year period when I was a stay-at-home mom with three small children. When I wasn’t with the kids, or writing, or working with Jim and the […]