Focus on Christmas with Regina Andrews

Please welcome Regina Andrews to my blog to today for focus on Christmas. I have gotten to know Regina after her book was featured on the ACFW book loop. Thanks Regina for taking the time to be with us today.

1. Firstly thanks for coming back to my blog as we are focus on christmas.

What do you most associate with Christmas where you live?

Christmas in New England is filled with tradition, snow, sentimentality, sending Christmas cards and religious services.  Many times families and friends will go door-to-door, singing Christmas carols.

2. Do you have any special family traditions you do at Christmas time?

Yes, we all get together for a buffet on Christmas Eve, and then attend Midnight Mass together.  On Christmas morning, we wake up and race downstairs to put the turkey in the oven and see the gifts Santa has left for us all. Then we have  a big breakfast and go for a walk to see our neighbors, particularly the ones who might not have a lot of family in the area. After that, it's back to my house! My family and I prepare a Christmas feast, and everyone starts arriving around 1pm. The visiting and feasting winds down around 9pm, and then we go next door to my sister's for dessert. She makes sugarplums and mince pie tarts, yum, and we toast with champagne. Then we go home and collapse!
3. Do you have a favourite christmas Carol and if so do you know why? 

I Love "O Holy Night." It is so reverent, and so moving I cry every time :-.  Tears of joy, though!
4. If you could spend Christmas anyway you could how would you celebrate?

Well, my first answer would be to have the power to give the world the gifts of peace in the world and no illness or loneliness. And I would send everyone a card, I love cards! Also, I would love to visit the Holy Land and go to Bethlehem and see where Jesus was born. But it's too filled with strife, which is very, very sad.
5. Do you have any special memories of Christmas?

I come from a very happy, loving family and our situation was very humble. I remember one year, when I was 4 or 5, we almost did not have Christmas at our house for some reason.  Looking back now, I'm sure the family was in dire financial straits.  But then,I had no clue. My parents, brother and sister and I all walked to church to say a prayer to God that we did not lose Christmas. I remember kneeling in the dimly-lit, candle-filled church, all of us together, praying. We were the only ones in the church. I felt the loving presence of God completely and I never forgot what that was like. The whole experience was magical. And yes, we did have Christmas.  (Jenny Here that is so cool and a wonderful memory to have)
6. What is a typical Christmas eve and or Christmas day for you. (see #2) :-)
 7. Do you have any Christmas movies or Christmas books you like to see or read each year?

Yes!  Every year we watch "It's a Wonderful Life", Miracle on 34th Street" and "The Sound of Music".

They still let me sit with them even though I cry too much, laugh to loud and sing along with every single song!
8. Do you have a Christmas message for my readers?

Happy Holidays to everyone, and I wish you all a healthy, peaceful, prosperous and joyous New Year!  Keep reading!  I love to hear from each and every one of you, you, so please visit me over and over again at : www.reginaandrews.com and www.rginaandrews.wordpress.com

And thank you, Jenny so much for having me here with you today. God bless you all.

Thank you and love,

Regina

Regina has a couple of books out which would make excellent christmas gifts.

From the chintz window treatments to the plush carpeting, Lisa Machon has carefully designed every detail of Innovations, her Newport, Rhode Island interior design firm. Control has been the objective in her personal life, too. Until she meets the dashing sailor Neil Lamont, a man who doesn't seem to have a care in the world. Little does she know that he is not as fancy-free as he appears. They are united only by their mutual affection for Countess Lamont, Neil’s mother, and destined to go to great lengths to bring her happiness. Through faith, will they see that Lord is really in control of our lives? And will faith open their hearts to their love for each other?

Haley Hawthorne is a successful Art Director at a high-powered greeting card company in Manhattan. Designer clothes and expensive material luxuries are what she uses to try and fill the emptiness inside -- but it wasn't always that way for her.
Orphaned at a young age, Haley was raised in rural Dunbar Falls by her Uncle Nelson amid pasture lands and a clear sense of the things that matter most in life, including her joyful relationship with God.
One day Aaron Carrier, her old friend from Dunbar Falls pays her a surprise visit to her office at Sterling Greeting Cards with devastating news about Uncle Nelson. When she returns home to Dunbar Falls, Haley is faced with a professional decision upon inheriting Uncle Nelson’s air-conditioning company. More than that, she faces a crossroads in her heart. It is a crisis of faith, of loyalty and of love.
What does God want her to do? Will she be able to return home to Dunbar Falls and all that it has meant for her? And will Aaron Carrier be more than a friend?