2019
Casa Christmas!
Can you believe Christmas is right around the corner? To
celebrate, we asked the authors of our 2019 Christmas titles to answer some
fun, wintry and Christmas themed questions!
Fall in love this Christmas and be sure to read:
·
Longing for a Cowboy Christmas by Leigh
Greenwood, Rosanne Bittner, Linda Broday, Margaret Brownley, Anna Schmidt, and
Amy Sandas
·
Wish Upon a Cowboy by Jennie
Marts
·
Cowboy Christmas Kiss by Kim
Redofrd
·
Cowboy Christmas Homecoming by June
Faver
·
A Dash of Christmas by
Samantha Chase
·
Puppy Christmas by Lucy
Gilmore
·
Silver Town Wolf: Home for the Holidays by Terry
Spear
***
What’s the best part about
writing a Christmas book?
Rosanne Bittner: The
best part about writing a Christmas story is that it takes me into that
“miracle” mood that seems to be a part of the Christmas holiday. I always try
to include some kind of little miracle in my stories. In last year’s anthology,
Christmas In A Cowboy’s Arms, my story miracle was the healed awakening
of an unconscious little girl. This year, in Longing for A Cowboy Christmas,
my miracle surrounds the birth of a baby boy the mother wasn’t sure she could
love.
Anna Schmidt: For
me the holidays are a magical time of sharing and giving and FORgiving. To be
able to tell stories that convey those things is a gift in itself.
Jennie Marts: Capturing all the magic of the Christmas season and giving
it to both your characters and your readers as you create touches of that magic
in the story.
June Faver: The absolutely best part of writing a Christmas
book in Texas is that I’m wearing shorts, tank top and flip-flops while writing
about slogging through the snow. It helps with the endless summer heat when my
brain is hauling hay to cattle in the snow blanketed fields.
Kim Redford: Magic!
A larger-than-life theme that touches many lives always arises when I’m writing
a Christmas book. In Cowboy Firefighter
Christmas Kiss, Fernando, the stolen bull, escapes and heads for home where
an eight-year-old girl awaits him, hoping he’ll get there in time for
Christmas. In A Cowboy Firefighter for Christmas, troubleshooter Misty Reynolds
arrives in time to help Trey Duval stop a brushfire, investigate a Christmas
tree farm fire, and be dubbed his “Christmas Angel.”
Lucy Gilmore: One of the best (and sneakiest) things for an author to
do is put their own family traditions into the book. We all have our unique
ways of celebrating and enjoying the holidays, many of which are passed down
from generation to generation. By writing a Christmas book, I can share some of
those traditions with the world, and you don’t even know I’m doing it!
Margaret Brownley: I always seem to be
writing a Christmas book during the searing heat of summer. To get in the right mood, I try to imagine a
reader curled up in front of a blazing fire, hot chocolate in hand and smiling
as she reads my story. The image usually puts me in the Christmas spirit. On the few occasions it fails to work, I
stick my feet in a bucket of ice water.
Samantha Chase: There is something about writing a Christmas book that just
gives me joy from the first word to the last. I think it’s because everyone
always seems happier during the holidays and that gets to be portrayed in the
book. The plot doesn’t have to be quite so angsty – everything is lighter and
sweeter and always ends with a Merry Christmas!
Terry Spear: I always end up having to write them during the hot
Texas summers, so when I write a Christmas book, I look for Christmas recipes,
make up pictures of wolves and snow, and cool myself down.
What is something you
can’t live without during the holiday season?
Amy Sandas: Cozy socks. I'm not much for
slippers, but my feet are always cold so I love to warm them up with thick,
super-soft socks.
Anna Schmidt: Traditions
from my childhood—my family was very into giving to others especially those who
might not be blessed with family at that time of year so I love finding ways to
shop and wrap and give to others.
Jennie Marts: We have a tradition of our family
going to the Candlelight Service at church on Christmas Eve then coming back to
my house for homemade lasagna and my Christmas Butter Bundt cake. I wouldn’t
want to miss any of this special night.
Lucy Gilmore: My heated ice scraper for the car.
Seriously. It snows a ton where I live, and we don’t have a garage, so having a
quick, easy, and warm way to get the ice off the windows is like holiday magic.
Margaret
Brownley: I couldn’t live without knowing the true meaning of Christmas and
what we are celebrating. This keeps me
from becoming overwhelmed by the commercial part and focused on the things that
truly count.
Samantha Chase: My
decorations. We have a TON of Disney decorations we’ve collected over the years
and I always look forward to taking them out and putting them all over the
house.
Rosanne Bittner: Something I can’t live without in the
Christmas season is, of course, having my 3 grandsons over on Christmas Eve.
They love my apple pie!
Terry
Spear: Decorating for the
holidays--a Christmas tree. I feel I'm in my own Christmas story, my home is
now a holiday scene. It's warm and the Christmas lights make it cheery and
special mementos handed down from our family or that I've picked up in special
places or from friends and family are brought out and cherished all over again.
What’s
your favorite holiday or winter tradition?
Jennie
Marts: My two sons and I
have a fun tradition of inviting the grandma’s over to our house on December
23rd to make all the Christmas cookies. We used to have the great grandmothers
participate and those were great memories, and even though my sons are grown,
we still do this tradition.
Linda
Broday: The candlelight
service on Christmas Eve puts joy and thankfulness in my heart and I look
forward to it each year. There’s something very moving about sitting in a
church lit only by candles, singing Christmas hymns. The service brings such a
sense of peace.
Lucy
Gilmore: I hate, hate, hate
being cold, so winter can be a tough time for me. I’d stay inside all day,
every day if I could. However, I also have two very large, very active Akitas
who adore everything about the snow, so that’s not really a choice. One of my
favorite traditions is taking the two of them to a nearby hiking spot as soon
as we get fresh snow (which, to be fair, is most days). The cold matters a lot
less the moment I see them prancing around and throwing the snow to each other.
They’d probably love it if we moved to the Arctic year-round. (Sorry, dogs.
That will never happen.)
Margaret
Brownley: A favorite family tradition began by accident. When the children were small, I habitually
bought Christmas presents throughout the year and hid them. The problem was,
some presents were invariably forgotten until after Christmas. One gloomy January, while organizing my
closet, I found a set of cars I’d intended Santa to leave under the tree. Not knowing how else to handle it, I entered
the room where the boys were playing and announced, “Look what Santa left on
the roof.” This was a big hit and every
year after that, Santa always left something on the roof. The funny thing is that no one ever thought
to ask what Mommy had been doing on the roof.
Terry
Spear: Seeing the Nutcracker
or some other play like that over the holidays.
What’s
your favorite holiday memory?
Anna Schmidt: Wrapping
presents with my Dad—he always had us shop for him and then gathered us kids
one night to wrap everything on his list for my Mom (usually 10-12 gifts). He
wrote these wonderful cards to attach to each gift and there always was one
small gift (usually jewelry) he hid in the tree.
Linda
Broday: What parent hasn’t
worked hard on Christmas Eve putting toys together? I remember one Christmas
when my husband and I tried for most of the night to assemble a bicycle for my
oldest. We hunted and hunted for one important part and finally found it in the
trunk of the car where it had fallen out of the box. Exhausted, we fell into
bed and I still remember the warmth of his arms around me. We fell asleep
whispering to each other. He passed away a few short years after that. But I
can’t look at a bicycle without remembering that night.
Terry
Spear: Having both kids
and their spouses here for the holidays. That's the best time ever.
What’s
your favorite Christmas movie?
Amy Sandas: It's gotta be a tie between Home
Alone because it's so nostalgic and fun for the whole family... or Die
Hard (Yes, it is a Christmas movie!) which has become an annual tradition
in our house.
Anna Schmidt: The
vintage version of A Christmas Carol w/ George C. Scott—he made the BEST
Scrooge!!!
Jennie
Marts: The Santa Clause
with Tim Allen. I love all three of them, and we watch at least one every year.
June
Faver: I love, love,
love Love, Actually. I can watch it over and over, and tear up every
time. But, on the other hand, I also have to watch Die Hard. Is this why
I write romantic suspense? Gotta have both.
Kim
Redford: It’s a Wonderful
Life (1946) stars James Stewart, Donna Reed, and Lionel Barrymore. Frank
Capra directed this film based on the short story, “The Greatest Gift” by
Philip Van Doren Stern. Over the years, this magical tale of a man whose
guardian angel shows him the true value of his life has become one of the most
beloved holiday films. George Bailey (James Stewart) gave up his dreams to help
his family and friends in his small home town and so always lived what he
considered a small, unimportant life. When a financial disaster strikes, he
turns suicidal until Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers) arrives as his guardian angel
to reveal all the lives George has touched in positive ways and how different
the town of Bedford Falls would have been if he had not been born.
Linda
Broday: This is a little
old-fashioned, but I always have to watch The Homecoming at least once.
It was the first Walton’s episode about Christmas on Walton’s Mountain during
the Depression. No matter how many times I watch it, I always get a lump in my
throat at how little they had, yet they were a happy family, taking joy in just
being alive and together. This has suspense when the father can’t get home and
they fear he’s been killed in a bus accident. Christmas wouldn’t be the same
without watching this.
Lucy
Gilmore: My go-to holiday
movie every year is While You Were Sleeping. Granted, it’s not the most
Christmas-y of Christmas movies, but I love everything about it. Never, in my
wildest dreams, would I picture Bill Pullman as a romantic lead, but he
absolutely sells it in this movie. Plus, the dinner scene with the family is SO
MUCH like my own that I start giggling just thinking about.
Rosanne
Bittner: My favorite Christmas
movie would have to be the original “Scrooge,” A Christmas Carol. But I
also absolutely love the original Miracle on 34th Street.
Samantha
Chase: Um…The Christmas Cottage
(based on my book!) of course!
Terry
Spear: A Christmas
Story. I loved how he wrote his Christmas wish list at school and he didn't
get the "A" he expected for such a brilliant piece of work.
"You'll shoot your eye out" comes to mind whenever I think of what he
wanted for Christmas.
What’s your favorite
holiday/winter song?
Anna Schmidt: “The
Christmas Song” or “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”
Jennie Marts: “O Come All Ye Faithful” and “Oh
Holy Night” are probably my favorite Christmas carols. I love belting them out
in church or when they come on the radio. When my second son was born, he had
colic and I used to sing to him in the middle of the night, and I would often
sing “O Come All Ye Faithful” because it was one of the few songs I knew all
the words to.
June Faver: I have two favorite Christmas
songs for totally different reasons. When I was in college I was a member of
the Acapella Choir <alto> and one song we sang was so gorgeous with all
the voices chiming in can still make me tear up: “Do You Hear What I Hear”
The other song is “I’ll Be Home for
Christmas”. I think of all the people who are separated from loved ones at the
holidays. That was why it was so important for me to write Cowboy Christmas
Homecoming, to chronicle the return of a soldier to his home town and how
he adjusts and settles in after the horrors of his deployment. It’s also a
sequel in the Garrett family saga, so there are old friends to celebrate with
him. And finally, it’s about an amazing heroine, based on a female firefighter
friend of mine, who in effect, rescues the big strong and emotionally isolated
hero. Love it.
Kim Redford: “Pretty Paper” recorded by Roy
Orbison and written by Willie Nelson. In downtown Fort Worth, Texas, a
handicapped (pre artificial limbs) street peddler always had a smile on his
face and a kind word on his lips when he sold pencils from a tin cup affixed to
his back. At Christmas, he peddled paper and ribbons, calling out “pretty
paper, pretty ribbons” to everyone who happened by. Willie Nelson lived in Fort
Worth at the time and wrote this heartfelt song that is a lasting tribute.
Lucy Gilmore: I love this question because my
answer is always, always “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron.” I also hate this question
because I can’t explain why I love it so much. I mean, it’s catchy and fun, but
it’s also about a cartoon dog who takes down an enemy WWI pilot on Christmas
Eve. What? I’ve decided there must be some deep childhood association with it
that I can’t recall, but that leaves me with a happy feeling all the same.
Margaret
Brownley: It’s not Christmas for me
without seeing at least one production of The Nutcracker Suite. I love
the music so much I wrote a story called The Nutcracker Bride. I also wrote a story titled after another
Christmas favorite: “Do You Hear What I Hear?”
One story I’ll never write is “Grandma
Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” This isn’t my favorite by any means, but it always
makes me laugh. That’s because the first time I heard it, I had four
grandchildren in the car, ages five to nine.
All at once they started singing it. It was the first time I’d heard the
song and I honestly thought they’d made it up. I was shocked and that only
added to the backseat giggles.
Samantha
Chase: “All I Want for Christmas is
You” by Mariah Carey
Rosanne
Bittner: My favorite Christmas song
is “White Christmas.”
Terry
Spear: “Carol of the Bells”
It's like listening to angels' music. It always makes me feel good.
What’s
the best bookish holiday gift that’s not a book?
Kim
Redford: Throw a Holiday
Book Exchange Party! You provide the comfy location in your home with tasty
treats, delicious drinks, and cute little gifts like bookmarks. Your friends
bring books they’ve read, loved, and want to exchange. What could be better for
the holidays than reading books, talking books, and sharing books?
Linda
Broday: I love buying those
collections of tea for all my author friends. Also, a variety of popcorn works
nicely as well as warm booties or throws.
Lucy
Gilmore: My family excels at
giving me bookish gifts that aren’t books, mostly because they know that books
are my life and they can’t possibly keep track of everything I’ve read. My
favorites are the alcohol-themed ones. I’ve gotten Writer’s Tears whiskey,
Harlequin Romance wine, the Tequila Mockingbird cocktail book, and various
literary wine stoppers. Books + booze = a win!
Samantha
Chase: Oh, there are so many, but
something that I’ve seen that I love, are Christmas ornaments that are made
from pages of a favorite book or even miniatures of a beloved book cover!
Terry
Spear: A friend sent me a
waterproof writing pad I could use when I have those miraculous scene ideas in
the shower. lol
Do you have a go-to
stocking stuffer?
Amy Sandas: I always put gift cards to
Barnes & Noble in my kids' stockings. Then we go to the store together to
pick out new books.
Rosanne Bittner: This isn’t my favorite stocking-stuffer, but rather,
it’s my GRANDSONS’ favorite stocking stuffer – MONEY! They are all in their
teens, so no more toys and candy canes! They want that green stuff so they can
buy gasoline. All 3 of them are now driving!
Terry Spear: Candy. Unfortunately, I don't
have a fireplace, the only thing I regretted about not having in the house I
bought. I worried that Santa would be able to come when I don't have one. I
love decorating a mantle. It's part of Christmas. Plus, they're great if your
electricity goes out in winter. But the advantage is that I can stuff all kinds
of chocolate treats in stockings. No heat to melt them!
If you could travel
anywhere this winter, where would you go?
Anna Schmidt: Denmark…mostly
because my next book is set there.
Jennie Marts: My dream trip would be to go
somewhere warm to a gorgeous beach and stay in one of those luxury bungalows
out over the water and spend the days swimming, snorkeling, and reading.
June Faver: I’ve spent a lot of time at the Texas coast, so I
am quite familiar with the term “Snow Birds.” These are people who live up
north and become “Winter Texans.” Anyplace from Corpus Christi to South Padre
Island, where there is a beautiful beach and gentle waves. I also love Mexican
coastal areas. My freckles need sunshine and I need waves frizzling out over my
bare feet as I walk along, looking for sand dollars.
Rosanne Bittner: Hubby and I have been going to Nevada every winter for
about 20 years now. We stay 2-3 months. We always stayed in our condo in Vegas,
but we’ve sold that and this year we will go to Laughlin, NV, which is right on
the beautiful Colorado River across from Arizona. My vacations are ALWAYS
somewhere in America’s Great West. It’s what I love and almost the only thing I
write about!
Terry Spear: Scotland. I love Scotland. I've
traveled there in September and October, but I wouldn't mind going there any
time of the year. But I'd love to just stay there for a month and soak up the
Scottish beauty and write.
What’s your go-to treat to
take to the pot-luck holiday party?
Amy Sandas: Sugared pecans! Such a simple
snack but so, so yummy...especially when warm from the oven. We're lucky if we
make it to the party with half a batch left.
Anna Schmidt: I
make a dynamite chili, but if something less ‘entrée’ is called for, then how
about a chocolate cheesecake???
Jennie Marts: I
like to take a crock-pot full of meatballs. The recipe is so easy: Mix an 18 oz
jar of grape jelly with an 18 oz jar of BBQ sauce in the bottom of your crock
pot (Sweet Baby Rays is my favorite). Then dump in a big bag of frozen
meatballs and stir it up. Let cook on high for 2 or 3 hours and enjoy! So good
and so easy!
Kim Redford: Cowboy
Cookies! Now these fun cookies are real, downhome Texas with a twist—that’s
Texas whiskey. Quick and easy, too. Grab a Texas Tea Cake recipe (sugar
cookie), throw all the ingredients into a bowl, mix well, add whiskey to taste,
spoon the batter onto a cookie sheet, and bake just right. They’re sure to be a
hit at any holiday party. If you want my personal recipe for Cowboy Cookies,
it’s in my new release Cowboy Firefighter Christmas Kiss.
Margaret Brownley: I don’t know that you can call this a treat,
but I always volunteer to bring the paper goods. Hey, someone has to do it,
right?
Rosanne Bittner: My “go-to” treat for holiday parties is my special
home-made apple pie that I make from real peeled apples.
June
Faver: There are usually
plenty of desserts, so I take my broccoli casserole. Not the usual broccoli
casserole where rice is the main ingredient. Blah! This is a recipe my kids
loved and demanded growing up. Now they make it for people they love. Sharing
recipe because we’re such close friends. Easy to double.
Broccoli Casserole
1 large bunch (4 cups) cooked, fresh broccoli spears, cut
into 1 inch pieces
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 2-oz. jar sliced pimentos
1 4-oz. can sliced mushrooms
1 can cream of mushroom soup
8 ounce carton sour cream
8 ounces Cheddar cheese, grated
Butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix mushroom
soup and sour cream well. Add broccoli, celery and pimentos. Mix well. Turn
into a 1-1/2 quart casserole, sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle with cheese
and dot with butter. Bake for 25-30 minutes until heated through and cheese is
bubbly. Serves 4.
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