Please welcome USA Today and NYTimes bestselling author, Dr. Debra Holland. Remember to leave a comment to be eligible for the Kindle Fire 7 Giveaway on Christmas Eve!
What is your
favorite childhood Christmas memory?
It’s hard to pick just one because I’ve only had wonderful
holidays. But I’ll say that it’s a Christmas Eve at my grandparents when I was
five or six. My grandfather had made me a dollhouse, which I still have, and
Santa came to the door and handed out presents.
Another was the first year my cousin Mindy was a baby. We
had adopted her and had been waiting a long time for her arrival—at least so it
seemed to my eight-year-old self. She was four months old and wearing a green
velvet dress with a bow on her head. My grandfather was holding her and looking
so happy. It was his last Christmas.
What is your
favorite adult Christmas memory?
I have the same “problem” with picking one because they’re
all good. I’m very blessed to have a wonderful family.
There was one Christmas when I’d been doing a lot of work as
a grief counselor with people who were dealing with the loss of a loved one
during the holidays. So that Christmas, I took a few minutes in the midst of
all the chaos and just sat and felt
the presence of all my loved ones. I thought about how the family would change
in the future as we lost people and gained them, and how someday, I’d be an old
lady missing many of my family who’d passed on. I never wanted to be the person
who said I didn’t appreciate what I had when I had it. So I deeply felt and
appreciated my loved ones and my blessings for a few minutes. I’ve tried to do
that little ritual at every holiday ever since.
I’m so glad I have taken those moments of gratitude. Three
people have died since that time—my grandmother, father, and a young cousin,
and a cousin-in-law is gone from divorce. But my nieces and several cousins
have been born and my older cousins have married. Another baby is on the way.
The love continues, and my memories are good.
“Oh,
Holy Night”—especially the version by Josh Groban, “Mary, Did You Know”—Clay
Aikin’s version, and
“Hallelujah”,
Pentatonix’s version
Do you have a
Christmas book to share?
I have three, which are available with all my other books at my Amazon Author Page:
Tell us about your
latest release.
SINGING MONTANA SKY is book 7 of a 10-book series. SINGING
MONTANA SKY Summary:
Beautiful, wealthy, and sophisticated, opera star Sophia Maxwell is living the life of her dreams. As the Songbird of Chicago, she's lauded for her pure, rich voice and has a constant circle of admirers vying for her jaded attention. Then, she loses her voice during a performance. Her doctor warns her to rest her larynx or she'll never sing again. Devastated, Sophia retreats to the frontier town of Sweetwater Springs to stay with her sister. She's determined to recover and once again take the stage by storm.
An injury to logger Kael Kelley forces him to return to his parents' home outside of Sweetwater Springs until he can heal enough to return to the logging camp he manages. He's impatient to recover and concerned about his men, who've been left to work under the incompetent overseer who was responsible for his accident.
When Sophia and Kael meet, they have an immediate attraction. The handsome logger is as different from Sophia's sophisticated suitors as can be. She decides a summer flirtation is the perfect way to enliven her boring convalescence.
Then, the unthinkable happens, and the Songbird of Chicago falls in love.
What are your current projects?
BRIGHT MONTANA SKY will be released March 1, 2018. MONTANA SKY JUSTICE will be released August 16, 2018. You can pre-order each of those now.
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| Debra Holland, PhD, Author |
5 comments:
I'm blessed with wonderful memories too. Both during my childhood and as an adult.
Debra, thank you for sharing with readers today.
Debra, your childhood memories description was beautiful. I love that you take time to appreciate everyone every year that's a great way to remember what the holidays are really about.
When I was a child on the farm, we lived in the same yard as my grandparents. On Christmas Eve my fathers side of the family all came to our house and Santa Claus would show up and we always got a present. Found out years later it was my father.
You are one of my very most favorite authors in the whole wide world! Merry Christmas!
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