CHEER AND HOPE FOR CHRISTMAS

Please welcome Reina Torres, who is lucky enough to life in Hawaii. Remember to comment to be eligible for Reina’s giveaway and mine. Reina’s giveaway is an e-book of HOME TO ROOST, part of the Bower, CO Series.  I will give away a Kindle Fire 7 on December 24 and an e-book on my day to post.

What is your favorite childhood Christmas memory?

Putting up the Christmas Tree – any year… every year… I was and likely will always be addicted to that smell and every time, the first night that it was up, I’d fall asleep under the tree, looking up at the twinkling lights. Doesn’t get any better than that.

What is your favorite adult Christmas memory?

It will always be my son’s first Christmas. Sitting in a chair beside the Christmas Tree, holding my son with his head on my shoulder, feeling his breath on my neck as I watched the lights…

Is there a Christmas song that’s your favorite?

A.   Secular – (modern) Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - sweet

(vintage) Wassail, Wassail – a fun round we sang in college that I still sing just for fun :D

B.   Religious – O Holy Night – Just something about melody and the message… I used to work in a building built in the late 1870s and the rotunda had the most amazing acoustics, if you stand about ten steps up either curving staircase you can make a soft note sound like a symphony. Put my minor in voice performance to good use and warmed the heart.

Tell us about your family’s Christmas traditions.

We actually don’t have many… or rather any. I was born to a family of Post Office employees, maybe why I really like the Pony Express :D  The Holidays was a time of long hours and grumpy parents who spent most of their energy trying to deal with customers and co-workers. Happiness was a quiet dinner table and watching movies on TV. And yes, I’m a sucker for Miracle on 34^th Street… because the Post Office saves Santa.

What about Christmas do you most enjoy?

Cheer and Hope. It may sound so simple, but I do enjoy it. An extra smile. A hopeful thought. An extra hug here and there. The joy of making other people happy, not just with gifts but time and care.

Is there something about this holiday that drives you crazy?

The HUGE importance of Santa as a Marketing cash cow… When my son was in Elementary School, he was bullied by a number of children because he had ADHD, and after they went back to school after the New Years my son came home in thoughtful silence (which was so unusual for him) thoughtful? Sure… Silent… no. When I asked him what he was thinking about… he told me about the children who were mean to him and all the amazing presents that they got from Santa. Weren’t the ‘bad’ kids not supposed to be rewarded?

How do you explain to him that even though he was a kind and loving child that his Santa’s elves didn’t have the money to give him gifts that were just as impressive as his heart? I wish parents would give the big stuff from them and bring Santa back to who he was when I was a child. They guy that stuffed my stocking with packs of cards and little puzzles, maybe some crayons if I was really good.  And then I think of all the children even less fortunate than our family… how do they feel when Christmas Morning comes and there’s not a single thing from Santa?

What do you hope for this Christmas?

Getting some time to spend with my son when neither of us are on electronic devices. Some time to ‘hang out’ with my favorite guy.

Do you have a treasured Christmas food? Would you share the recipe?

I don’t have the recipe, I wish I did, but my most treasured Christmas food memory was my father’s sister making Gingerbread cookies. We were visiting California from Hawaii and she made actual gingerbread men for the tree!! We were each to have two and I nibbled on my two for as long as I could. When it was gone it was soooo tempting to look at the others still hanging from the tree.

Do you have a book you’d like to share?

I’m currently writing the book coming out in April of 2018 – ALWAYS, ELLIS (Book 5 of 6 in the Three Rivers Express Series)

And we get to spend some quality time with the hero and heroine from ALWAYS, RANSOM – I really did miss visiting with Ransom and Delia

ALWAYS, RANSOM Summary:

The Express took men and rode them hard across the West. That adventuring spirit belonged to men full of life, ready for whatever met them on the trail, everything, except love.

Ransom McCain was the last man hired to ride for the Three Rivers station, but he was chosen to take the first ride west because he could think on his feet. Tensions are high because there are people determined to make the express fail, and little does Ransom know that he would fall for a woman caught in the crossfire.

Delia Burroughs is a young woman with plenty of heart and the strength of spirit to help her family survive in the West. But one by one they've left until it's just Delia and her father. His grief and struggles may make it impossible for her to leave and make a family of her own. When she met Ransom, she knew she'd found a man she could love, but forces are determined to take her new home from her and perhaps her chance at real love.

Ransom and Delia will have to decide if what's happening between them is something they want to fight for, or will they let themselves be pulled apart by the danger they're both facing.

Buy Link: https://www.amazon.com/Always-Ransom-Three-Rivers-Express-ebook/dp/B0ZZJYRTY/ref=sr_1_8?ie+UTF8&qid=1512916231&sr=8-8&keywords=Reina+Torres

QUESTION

I love the idea of a small town Old West Christmas - Small towns in general :D
What would you do if you were celebrating the season in a small town in the Old West?

GIVEAWAY

I’m giving away an e-book of HOME TO ROOST, part of the Bower, CO Series. 

 

Reina Torres, Author

Love - Romance - Books
Aren't they all the same thing?
Oh, I sure hope so! 

I've been reading romance books for what seems like forever. When I was a teen, the days that I wasn't in dance class after school I'd go to the mall to wait for my mom to finish work for the day and my haunt of choice... Waldenbooks. (I think I just showed my age there.)

Whether it was Scottish Lairds, Medieval Knights, Regency Gents, Rough and Tumble Cowboys, or handsome modern Heroes, I loved them all! There was always another hero and heroine to follow through page after page of breathless love!

I really hope that my readers will enjoy some of the same thrills as they discover characters to love between the pages of my books.