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The Great Christmas Tree Tour 2009

Calling all readers and writers!

It's that time of year! I'm calling for photos of your Christmas tree. Please send them to me as attachments in a .jpg file format. Include a little something about the ornaments or your theme or tell a Christmas story about your family. Or don't say anything at all, as long as you send me that photo of your tree.

Is your tree up yet? Will you be putting it up this coming week? Do you have any decorating traditions? The Great Christmas Tree Tour is always a big hit, so check back often to see whose tree is being featured.

And now here are a few tips on Christmas Tree Decorating:


To showcase your ornaments, start with the most important ones. Then hang the largest ornaments, spacing them evenly apart. If you have an abundance of the same or a few that are grazed with age, you can create depth by hanging those closer to the trunk. Shiny ones deep inside will reflect more light.

Fill in around the bigger ornaments with medium and small sizes, balancing the overall look. Finish with specialty shapes, such as bird clip-ons, flowers, vintage cards or bows. For an interesting variety, include all shapes, from icicles to teardrops and different finishes, like satin and glass.

Try to stick with a theme or color scheme each year. You might enjoy using one of your collections, such as teacups, wooden toys or small framed silhouettes. Just about anything is fair game when selecting a fun theme.

To see all the Christmas Tree Photos, type Christmas tree in the little search box in the upper lefthand corner of this page and click to search. It will pull all of them up for you.

How to get rid of that pesky double chin

Give Thanks With a Grateful Heart

It's of course the time of year when we reflect on our many blessings, and the things we are grateful for. I'd like to take a minute to thank each of you who visit my blog throughout the year as well as those who buy and read my books. A special thank you to everyone who writes to let me know how much you enjoy my stories. I'm thankful for your encouragement and your friendship. Writing is a solitary job, but with the support and fellowship of other writers and the friendship of readers and friends, it's a rewarding one.

Happy Thanksgiving and God bless you!

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
~ Melody Beattie

Give Thanks

Thanksgiving Blessings to each and every one of you!

Blogging at MamaWriters

Please come visit me at MamaWriters.com today!

Susan Boyle, a Refreshingly Real Singer

I don't watch morning television, so I rarely ever see performances on the morning shows, but occasionally I catch one while I'm clearing away the breakfast and morning mess. I think the last performance I saw was Mariah Carey. Today I'm so thankful I tuned in as Susan Boyle was about to perform.

I smiled through every song, and I can only think of one way to describe her singing: Honest.

True and pure talent and honest singing that can't really be called a performance, because she doesn't put on any airs or try to be anything she's not. Nor does she have to. No psychotic runs of notes that stretch a syllable into infinity. No spandex or cleavage or bling or sparkles or prancing around. No glam coaching. Just a real woman with an incredible gift, and the HONESTY to clear her throat before she goes for a high note. Breathtakingly beautiful.

People flew from California to hear Susan sing in Rockefeller Center.
Her I Dreamed A Dream album holds the record for the most amazon pre-orders ever.
I ordered one.
The album contains:

1. “Wild Horses” Mick Jagger, Keith Richards The Rolling Stones 4:55
2. “I Dreamed a Dream” Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, Herbert Kretzmer Patti LuPone, from Les Misérables 3:11
3. “Cry Me a River” Arthur Hamilton Julie London 2:43
4. “How Great Thou Art” Carl Boberg Christian Hymn 3:13
5. “You’ll See” Madonna, David Foster Madonna 4:43
6. “Daydream Believer” John Stewart The Monkees 3:20
7. “Up to the Mountain” Patty Griffin Patty Griffin 3:32
8. “Amazing Grace” John Newton Christian Hymn 3:35
9. “Who I Was Born to Be” Original composition 4:10
10. “Proud” Steve Mac,Wayne Hector, Andy Hill Matthew Thomas (Britannia High) 3:22
11. “The End of the World” Arthur Kent, Sylvia Dee Skeeter Davis 3:16
12. “Silent Night” Josef Mohr, Franz Xaver Gruber Christian Christmas Hymn 3:00

Order your copy:

Jacquie Kennedy: Let Them See What They've Done

ENTER THE CONTEST

If you haven't yet entered the COWBOY UNDER THE CHRISTMAS TREE contest over at Petticoats and Pistols, do so now! Great prizes, among them a pair of earrings made by ME!

The Perfect Cup of Tea

Come chat with me at PETTICOATS AND PISTOLS today!

The Great Christmas Tree Tour 2009

I know - it isn't even Thanksgiving yet, but I'm giving you a heads up, so you'll remember to have your camera ready when you decorate your tree, and when you go visiting or sightseeing. My annual Christmas Tree Tour is always a big hit for readers and authors alike,. Since I'm crazy in love with Christmas trees, I love getting to see everyone's creations.

In the following weeks, I'll be offering tips and suggestions for tree decorating, so stay tuned and check back often. And make a mental note right now to take photographs and send them to me - your tree, your neighbor's tree, the tree at the museum or anywhere you go. This year I'm going to make a special trip to the Western Heritage Museum, the old Union Pacific railroad station to take a pic of the 40 foot tree. They decorate a donated tree every year, and I saw on the news last night that it was set up just yesterday.

So get excited - it's time for Christmas trees!

Single Titles .com

There’s a website that I visit every so often that I really like. It’s called SingleTitles.com and it’s a really reader friendly place. They review romance, mystery, thrillers, etc. About once a week they publish an author interview and there’s usually a book giveaway going on as well. Stop by http://www.singletitles.com when you get a chance.

RT REVIEW: Her Colorado Man

HER COLORADO MAN by Cheryl St. John

RT Rating: 4 STARS

Category: HISTORICAL

Setting: 1882 Colorado

Publisher: HARLEQUIN

Published: December 2009

St. John's strong yet sweet romance is peopled by characters readers will care about...the lesson St. John teaches in the subplot about abuse touches the heart.

Summary:

Mariah Burrows has everything she wants: a position in her family's brewery, a wonderful son and a large, loving family. True, she is living a lie; there is no Mr. Burrows off in the Alaskan gold fields, just an old friend who writes letters to her son. After an accident, miner Wes Burrows discovers he has a "son" and decides to come "home" for his wife and child. Wes simply wants the boy to have a father, but once he meets the headstrong, beautiful Mariah, he wants more then a pretend marriage. To her surprise, Mariah likes Wes. He fits in with her family and slowly makes his way into her heart. Though she is happy, her sister-in-law is suffering, and when things go from bad to worse, Mariah realizes the kind of wonderful man she has.

(HARLEQUIN, Dec., 300 pp., $5.99)—Kathe Robin

Look who came home with a proud smile

Here's Elijah proudly wearing his swing choir T-shirt.

He was invited to audition for a district choir, too.

Linda Lael Miller: A Creed Country Christmas

A Creed Country Christmas
Linda Lael Miller
November 2009
HQN Hardcover

READ AN EXCERPT

Celebrate the holidays with the Creed forefathers—Montana men who built the family homestead and established a legacy of love…

In the unforgiving Montana wilderness of 1910, widowed rancher Lincoln Creed is up against more than rustlers, wolves and the coming winter storms. His young daughter has needs beyond the beans and bacon he can barely cook. Lincoln must find little Gracie a governess, a lady who can teach and cook—yet won't set her sights on him.

Disowned for her refusal to marry, twenty-five-year-old Juliana Mitchell shares the love in her heart with her young students at the underfunded Indian school. When she meets Lincoln and Gracie, her response to the handsome rancher makes her realize she's not against marriage after all.

She longs to help, yet the two orphaned brothers in her care need her. But in the season for miracles, Providence just might find a way to bring Juliana, the boys and the Creed family together for Christmas Eve….

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My Writing Muse

The Wrangler by Pamela Britton

The Wrangler
Pamela Britton
December 2009
Harlequin American

Time's running out for Samantha Davies.

If it's the last thing she does before losing her sight completely, she has got to find out whether Montana's wild, Baer Mountain mustangs are real or simply the stuff of bedtime stories. And nothing—not even a bullheaded, devilishly handsome wrangler named Clint McAlister—is going to stop her.

How could Clint stop a firecracker like Samantha? So what if her eyes are as green as spring grass? Or that she sits a horse like a cowboy's sweetest dream. Clint almost got his heart broken by one high-toned city girl. All he has to do is keep his hands and his heart to himself until this one goes back where she came from and leaves him—and the mustangs—alone.

READ AN EXCERPT

Woman Finds Frog in Bag of Lettuce

Fox News

It's hard enough as it is to get the kids to eat their salad. But Tracy Grimes will have an even tougher time getting her 4- and 8-year-old kids to nibble their greens after she says she found a tree frog in a bag of romaine lettuce she bought from a Kroger supermarket in Sterling Heights, Mich., last Friday.

Grimes, of Troy, Mich., told Slashfood she noticed something moving inside the package as she was getting ready to make a salad for dinner.

"I didn't know what I was seeing but sure enough, I looked a little closer and there was a small light green tree frog, happy as can be, crawling around, living life in the bag of lettuce," she said Tuesday. "I just sort of gasped a bit, and then I stared and just remember thinking 'That's not right.'"

Grimes decided to keep the frog -- still in the bag of lettuce -- for three days in the garage, stored in a paper bag. "I didn't really want it in my house," she said.

A FOX 2 camera crew came on Monday to document Grimes opening the bag. The video clip shows the frog leaping out of the lettuce and onto the kitchen counter.

While the Grimes children wanted to keep the frog as a pet, the family released it into their backyard.

Kroger spokesman Dale Hollandsworth said that the grocery chain has never before had reports of frogs found in bags of the chain's lettuce.

"We're obviously very surprised that that little thing survived harvesting. It survived trimming. It survived washing. It survived cooling the product to 40 degrees and then being in the package," he told Slashfood. "I hope that's a tribute to how gently we handle our lettuce when we're harvesting and cleaning it."

Hollandsworth offered the Grimes family an apology and said the store would replace the romaine lettuce. He offered his backyard pond as a potential home for the frog.

Grimes, however, doesn't foresee Kroger lettuce in her future. "I certainly won't be buying this grocery store's lettuce ever again."

And her son has also grown leery of salad. "Literally as the reporter and the camera were leaving, my son said 'I'm never eating lettuce again,'" she said. "I thought 'Oh boy.'"

NEW RELEASE! Marry Me...Again - Reissue

Silhouette Special Releases
Dec 2009
Montana Mavericks
Contemporary Romance
ISBN:9780373310692 (#47)
Available only from eHarlequin
While you're there, check out all the Montana Mavericks now available!


Marrying footloose cowboy Devlin "Devil" Holmes after their heart-stopping one-night stand was the most reckless thing Dr. Brynna Holmes had ever done. With one rough-and-tumble smile he'd lassoed her heart and promised forever. But Brynna was responsible—for her patients and her family—and trusting her fun-loving husband to take care of her didn't come easily…even after eight months of wedded bliss. Now, with their happily-ever-after jeopardized by painful mistakes and misgivings, could she vow to honor, cherish and love…again?



READ CHAPTER ONE

Chapter One
Eight months ago

"He's still looking this way," Emma Carlisle said from behind her third rum and Coke. The animated woman was married and had three teenaged children, but hearing her talk about the tall sandy-haired cowboy at the bar, anyone would think she was a teen herself. In fact, they'd have thought the entire group of nurses were high school sophomores at the mall.

Rae Ann Benton elbowed Brynna. "He's heading this way. Act like you didn't see him coming."

"I didn't see him coming," Brynna replied, but her heart had leapt into her throat at the news that the six-foot-something hunk in the slim-fitting jeans, worn cowboy boots and faded chambray shirt was walking toward them. He'd been the subject of their lively discussion and avid appreciation for the last half hour.

When he strolled up to their table and gave a disarming grin, Brynna already knew that his name was Devlin Holmes, that he was better known as Devil and that he worked as foreman at his cousin's ranch outside town. What she didn't know—and couldn't have predicted—was that his flirtatious green eyes would take her breath away when he acknowledged the gathering of women with a polite hello and then singled her out with a confident nod.

"Care to dance?" he asked, his voice a stirring deep baritone that reached her toes.

The jukebox had started a lively Dixie Chicks' number that did make a person want to get up and move. Brynna never usually drank. Tonight she'd had two drinks and would probably trip and embarrass herself, but what the heck. She couldn't recall the last time she'd danced. She wanted to dance with him. Her heart-pounding reaction to the guy was crazy.

Rae Ann's elbow dug into her side so sharply, Brynna practically leaped up out of her seat. If she fell and broke something, she was with the best nurses in the state of Montana, she thought giddily, catching her balance. The handsome fellow gestured toward the dance floor and she led the way across the wooden floor littered with peanut shells, conspicuously aware of his presence close behind her.

She'd showered at the hospital after her shift, changed into jeans and a sleeveless cotton top, and her shoulder-length hair had only begun to dry. She wasn't wearing a lick of makeup except lip gloss and a little blush she'd found on the top shelf of her locker. She couldn't imagine why the man of nurse dreams would look twice, let alone ask her to dance.

Dev thought the slender, fresh-faced beauty was the prettiest thing he'd seen in a long time, and she moved with a beguilingly natural sensuality that appealed to him on a purely masculine level. The single young women who normally came into Joe's Bar were made up for a manhunt—makeup, perfume, tiny T-shirts that bared their midriffs, low-slung jeans that usually revealed tattoos. There were also the older manhunters with more skin covered, but with smiles every bit as predatory.

This young woman's smile was a little nervous, a lot embarrassed, and even if he hadn't been coming here and knew she wasn't a regular, he'd have known just by observing her discomfort. "Name's Devlin Holmes," he said, leading her to the small dance floor, where several couples parted to make some space. "Call me Dev."

"Brynna Shaw," she said over the blare of the music.

He took her soft yet sturdy hand and led her through the dance steps, and, after a few minutes, she loosened up and seemed to enjoy herself. Her golden-blond hair bounced on her shoulders under the dim lighting. Her expressive brown eyes did something strange to his insides. She smelled like soap and shampoo, mingled with the faintest hint of almond. The alluring smell enticed his senses. The sight and scent of her hair had him wanting to touch it. It had been a long time since a woman had attracted him the way this one did.

Somehow, as soon as he'd seen her, he'd known she was special. Maybe it was the fact that she seemed out of place here or that she was obviously embarrassed and yet pleased by the fact that he'd singled her out that made him want to know her.

Being this close made him want a lot more.

After a line dance and another fast number, a slow Garth Brooks song played. Tentatively, Dev took her hand and drew her close, pleased that she didn't resist. She rested her other hand on his shoulder and glanced up. Looking into her eyes, his heart increased its speed. He suddenly felt like the luckiest man in Montana. How could he have missed her until now? "You live in town?" he asked.

She nodded. "I have an apartment down the street."

"I haven't seen you here before."

"I usually go straight home after work."

"Where's work?"

"The hospital in Whitehorn. I'm also on staff at the clinic here in Rumor."

"Nurse?"

"Third-year resident."

His eyebrows rose. "No wonder you're tired after work. I've seen ER, it looks exhausting."

The warmth of her genuine laugh wound its way around his heart. He definitely liked making her laugh.

"It's not quite that exciting," she denied. "We're a small town, you know."

"Just the same, you see all the interesting cases."

"Well, some." She shrugged. "I'm an OB/ GYN."

Dev laughed aloud. "I'm not going to comment."

"Thank you. I've heard them all."

Her body relaxed even more after their introductions, and within moments, she was leaning into him, her soft curves pressed against the planes of his chest and hips; she fitted there as if she was made for him. He couldn't believe his good fortune. What had he ever done to deserve this?

After another slow dance, he asked, "Would you like to get a fresh drink and talk for a while?"

To his delight, she agreed. Her friends smiled and waved with waggling eyebrows when he led her to a booth along the back, where the music wasn't so loud and the lighting was more intimate.

Ignoring them, Brynna tasted the drink the waitress sat on a napkin before her. She'd worked up a thirst. If someone had told her this morning that she'd be dancing with a handsome cowboy, let alone letting him buy her drinks, she'd have ordered them a psych exam. She was the most sensible, least impulsive person on the planet. She never did anything like this.

But it had been a harrowing day at the hospital. She'd lost a mother with leukemia she'd been trying desperately to save. In order to protect her unborn child, the young woman had refused the chemotherapy she needed, so there had been little Brynna could do, except turn her over to the oncology team once the baby was safely delivered.

Even now, thinking about Heidi Price, regret washed over her. The sound of pool balls clacking together and muted cheers came from a side room, and she couldn't help thinking how odd it always seemed that lives went on unaffected when others were experiencing tragedies.

As though sensing the shift in her mood, Dev asked softly, "Something wrong?"

She drew a circle in the condensation her glass had left on the table and spoke the difficult words. "I lost a patient today."

"That must be tough."

Brynna agreed. "She was twenty-four. Had leukemia, but refused treatment because of her baby."

"I guess there wasn't much you could do."

"It was frustrating."

"What about the baby?"

Gauging his sincerity, she gazed into his eyes. His earnest tone and concerned expression showed he really cared. "She's four weeks early, but doing just fine."

"That's good."

His compassion touched her, and Brynna nodded. "I had to tell her husband that his wife didn't make it."

He studied her for a moment. "How do you do that?"

"Well…I've never had to do it before. I was taught to explain the facts. Answer the questions. But then you see the pain…the grief…and…." Brynna's throat tightened with the words and the remembrance. She had felt like crying all afternoon, but she hadn't allowed herself to let go. She was a professional.

"And what?" Dev asked, urging her to go on.

This man not only had her examining her inner feelings, but sharing them. She found herself saying things she didn't share with anyone else. "I don't know how to detach and be merely the doctor and not a caring person," she admitted.

"You are a caring person, or you probably wouldn't be a doctor. The two aren't separate, are they?"

With a lump in her throat, she shook her head.

His hand covered hers then, warm tactile comfort that sent an enticing shiver up her arm. Without conscious thought, Brynna turned over her hand and laced her fingers through his, their palms touching. His tanned hand was large, with long fingers and calluses she felt against her palm—so different from her own—so entirely masculine. It was an intimate touch. A sexy, familiar touch that set off a battery of butterflies in her chest and made her wonder how his hand would feel on other parts of her body.

She should have been ashamed of her thoughts, but the sensual contact released a deeply buried longing—a longing for something more than years of school and work and self-denial. His touch brought her single status sharply into focus.

Face warming uncomfortably, she glanced up to notice his thick blond hair with a ridge where his hat had been and his crescent-shaped eyebrows. Both hair and brows were bleached from the sun. He was strikingly handsome, but there was something even more attractive about him than those intriguing eyes and sexy mouth. The way he looked at her made her think of wet lingering kisses and the slide of bare skin.

The words to a song about slow hands registered in the background. A burning warmth that had begun in her chest flowed through her abdomen and pooled at the center of her femininity. This man's touch melted her insides. The way he gazed at her had her hot enough to combust. She swallowed and met his sparkling green gaze. Could he tell the effect he had on her?

He smiled, one side of his full lips drawn up in a secret grin that created a sexy dimple in his cheek. Surprising herself, she studied his mouth and wondered what it would feel like to kiss him. Would he be an aggressive kisser? Would his lips taste like the beer in the glass on the table? Would his tongue?

If she didn't know it was physically impossible, Brynna would have sworn her heart turned completely over in her chest at the thought. The temperature in the room seemed to double. She found it difficult to breathe and inhaled quickly through parted lips.

Dev obviously noted her sharp intake of breath, the parting of her lips, the rise of her chest, and his gaze, glittering with masculine interest, dropped to her breasts before he dragged it back to her mouth. The smile had disappeared from his lips, and his perusal was now surprisingly serious. Had he been imagining kissing her, too?

She didn't want to let go of his hand, and he didn't seem inclined to break the contact either. She felt like clinging to him, and it was a good thing the table was between them or she'd have embarrassed herself by pressing against his body and melding into him. Remembering the solid strength of his arms and chest as they'd danced that last dance made her head a little dizzy.

The waitress set down a full glass and a fresh pitcher of beer. Reluctantly, they broke the contact of their entwined fingers, and Dev placed money on the tray. The girl thanked him and picked up Brynna's empty glass.

Brynna glanced at the gimlet, a lime twist perched on the rim. No wonder she was feeling light-headed. She'd had too many drinks. Obviously the liquor had gone straight to her head for her to be having the dangerous and uncharacteristically erotic thoughts she'd been having about the man sitting across from her.

"I think I've had enough," she said.

When she looked up again, Dev's brows were drawn together in a question—or was that disappointment?

"Drinks," she clarified.

His expression smoothed into a lazy smile. "We could order coffee," he suggested. When she didn't readily agree, he added, "Or go outside for air."

As if only just noticing where they were, she glanced around.

One of my favorite fall photos of all time

This is Erin

What Keeps a Woman Looking Young?

Amazing photos of several sets of twin sisters with different lifestyles and habits! We already knew the conclusion: Stay out of the sun and don't smoke! but see for yourself by clicking here.