A Montana Christmas

Winter Solstice is tomorrow. I've had mention of it in a couple of books, but the most is in A Montana Christmas, 99¢ until January 1. 

The heroine of From Here to There has decided to bring her husband's family to Montana with the hope there can be healing and reconciliation. It won't be easy. This snippet is when she is talking to her cousin's wife, also her best friend, about her plans. 

The novella, A Montana Christmas, is 99¢ until January 1, 2017

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“How many are you expecting now?” Nancy asked as they popped the first cookies into the oven.

“Overnighters or Christmas Day dinner?” She sat at the table as she looked for the recipe for biscotti.

“Both.”

“Okay not so many for staying. Phillip’s mother, Linda. Derek, his brother and for sure Laurie but not sure right now about Rita. That was still iffy. So I need to put up three at Uncle Amos’s and his mother here. I think. Or do you think that works?”

“And you feed that crew for five days? Would you all like to come to our place one night?”

“That might help if it’s not too much for you. You have your hands full too.”

“My cooking will be easy since we go to his folks for Christmas Eve dinner. So I can bring whatever you’d like for Christmas.”

“I can figure it out. Will you guys come over for the Solstice celebration?”

Nancy giggled. “Solstice and Emile. Let me count the ways that could go wrong.”

“I absolutely promise, cross my heart, no naked dancing around a bonfire.”

“So how do you celebrate it?”

“To be honest I only have a vague idea as I’ve never done it in a group and my idea of what Phillip and I have done doesn’t translate.” She laughed. “My thinking is it should be with candles and a fire to bring back the light. It’s primitive and pagan. Does that make it evil?”

“Like a Christmas tree perhaps?” Nancy asked with a knowing smile.

“Exactly. What I think we do, since the naked reveling is out, is burn a log as the Yule log in the fireplace although I’m a little unsure how we get a Yule log. We play some board games, drink spiced cider, and I hide the hard liquor in the kitchen as we are trying to get Rafe off the booze. Linda had an alcohol problem at one time, so probably better not to tempt her either. Obviously I am not drinking anything but the milk of motherly kindness.” She made a saintly bow.

 

from Red Hawk Christmas

There are several holidays in Red Hawk Christmas. This is an excerpt from one of them. The RV lifestyle can definitely catch people unawares for calendars. It's disconnected in some ways from the rest of the world and yet very connected to nature and wherever the traveler stops for the night or week or longer.

Photos from our trip, some years back, to Devil's Tower when we did our camping in our Astro van with nice pads, sleeping bags, curtains I made, and traveling light. The campground is beyond the Native American encampment as Devil's Tower NM is one of their holy sites.

October 31, Belle Fourche River Campground, Wyoming

    Walking the trail around Devil’s Tower, Diana was impressed again by the prayer cloths and tobacco bundles. Even though cold weather had settled into this northern Wyoming site, there was still an encampment of tepees and campers outside the park boundaries. The campground into which she had pulled a day earlier would be closing in the morning. That was fine with her. She was ready to head for warmer weather.

    After walking her dogs on the trail through the campground, she fed them, ate a sandwich and opened her computer, signed into the hotspot she had purchased when in Yellowstone to enable her to get online when she was not at an RV park with wireless.

    Where to head next?  She had been zig-zagging around Wyoming and Montana, what now? The tap at her door surprised her. “Trick or Treat?” a small voice in the costume of a witch asked. She looked beyond the child to her father who was smiling.

    “She wanted to do it,” he said, “I told her people here might not remember it’s Halloween.”

    Diana smiled. “You’re right, I hadn’t, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have something. She reached into the bowl on her counter for a bowl that held oranges and apples. “Would one of these do?”

    The little girl nodded and took one of the red apples. “Thank you.”

    The next tap didn’t have her surprised. She had noticed children staying in the park and wondered but then realized with homeschooling, families had more options than she’d had when raising hers. By the time dark settled in, she’d given away half her fruit but found it rewarding that a little piece of her past had shown up in her present.

    The next tap at her door was the father of the first child. “I just wanted to thank you for your kindness. Jessica is my granddaughter.”

    “It was nothing.” She hadn’t noticed before but although he looked younger than her, he was a handsome man with smooth features, nice eyes.

    “No, it was not. Jess only came to live with me this summer. I bought the coach for her and me, am trying to home school, and take her places she will enjoy. Halloween slipped up on me.”

     She smiled. “Me too.”

Sonoran Christmas

Writing two Christmas novellas, of women living over 100 years apart but each facing major changes, was one of those bonuses that sometimes come along in writing. One thing leads to another, and the next thing the writer knows, something brand new has arisen as a project.

Sonoran Christmas differs from Red Hawk Christmas in that Frederica doesn't intend to start over. It's 1905, and she has taken the train to Tucson to find her daughter who left Boston without telling her. Her quest most definitely does not involve meeting a most unlikely man and falling in love.

Of all the adventures I can think of in life, falling in love is one of the greatest for the potential risks and rewards. Falling in love reveals elements of ourselves that we often had no idea existed until something new reveals them.


So check out the blurb and sample from the book. It'll be 99¢ only until January 1st; so if you think it looks good but no time for reading right now, get it and set it aside. I've had a very busy November and December but have been regularly picking up Christmas stories for when I have time to read for pleasure. With one more book to finish, I won't have it for awhile, but the spirit of Christmas is good year round.

One more feature about Sonoran Christmas is it shares characters with many of the earlier Arizona historical romances. It's always fun to bring up to date those I have loved writing about, when I have a chance to catch up with their lives. In this novella (29,000 words), one of my favorite characters is back as a secondary character-- Sam Ryker. He's been in quite a few of the Arizona Historicals and always fun to write. 

Sonoran Christmas

from Sonoran Christmas

This excerpt is from Sonoran Christmas, Book 8 in the Arizona historical romance series. Jeremiah Taggert has come to his son's home and is talking with Cole and Willy (whose love story is in Bound for the Hills):

   

   “Bet you could do that. By the way, I met a fan of your books.”

   “Another retired gunman?” she teased.

   “A lady from Boston.” He told her how he’d met Mrs. Windsor and why he’d come to ask Cole’s help for her.

   “My, that is something of a coincidence,” she said.

   “What’s that mean?”

   “Nothing.”

   Cole came back into the parlor and poured himself a shot. “The name didn’t register with Jace. If he came to Tucson, he didn’t check in with the sheriff’s office or so far as he knew not the marshal’s either. Jace has a friend though in the Boston police department. He will know about detectives working there at least, but it might take a while.”

   “Hopefully this is not a problem needing to be taken care of right away.” The trouble was, he was getting that itch that told him something about this wasn’t how Frederica Windsor thought it was.

   “Will she be here through Christmas?” Willy asked.

   “Until her daughter comes back with Grace, I guess.”

   “Then she is spending it with us.” She smiled. “I must meet a woman, who is actually a fan of my books.” She gave a little laugh when Cole gave her one of his looks, the ones Jeremiah had seen all too often from his son.

   “She’s gonna write a new one,” Jeremiah said.

   “Happiness is. Who does Taggert kill this time?”

   Jeremiah chuckled. “Gotta give them a happily ever after, don’tcha?”

   Cole let out a sigh. “When’s dinner going to be ready?”

   “Soon. Don’t look so glum I haven’t actually started writing anything. Your father was pulling your leg.” She giggled.

   “Should that phrase mean something to me?” Cole asked with a crooked grin.

   “Came across it in research. It relates to criminals in England.”

   “And it means?”

   “Well, basically fooling me. The criminals in England would string a wire and it would trip their prey. When he fell, they’d grab his valuables.”

   “No guns for the victims, I take it,” Jeremiah said with a chuckle.

   She took a sanctimonious pose, which on such a beautiful woman made him want to smile. “Of course, not. England was civilized.”

   “Other than the criminals.”

   “Other than.”

   “Maybe you should base your next book there,” Cole suggested.

   “I think not. I like Western outlaws better.” She rose and headed for the kitchen.