Christmas Focus with Therese M. Stenzel

Our last Christmas focus on A Bride by Christmas, Next week will have 3 different Authors.

Today Therese M. Stenzel is here to share some insites and Congrats to Therese on her first book.

I hope you will all come and support her.

Thanks Therese for sharing with my readers. I was so excited to have you visit and knowing this is your first novel is so exciting.

1. For you what do you most associate with Christmas where you live?
Cold weather (which I love) and Christmas lights

2. Do you have any special family traditions you do at Christmas time?
We drive around and look at Christmas lights and each child (I have three) gets to sit on my husband’s lap and “steer” while we go through the neighborhood. (Jenny here we do that minus the child on a lap! but its part of Christmas here too)

3. Do you have a favorite Christmas Carol and if so do you know why?
God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman because I am obsessed with all things English and it sounds very British.

4. If you could spend Christmas anyway you could how would you celebrate?
I’d go, with my family, to an old hotel in the English countryside and see how they celebrate—with grog and wassail and Father Christmas.

5. Now a few questions about A bride by Christmas. I really loved the concept
of this book was it hard to co-ordinate with the other authors?
No, they were wonderful. I was the “newbie” author and Vickie McDonough and Linda Goodnight are award winning authors, so they were very helpful. The only theme our stories shared was someone in Kansas, who was from a foreign country, had to get married by Christmas

6. What was the best part about writing the Novella?
Learning from the other authors and selling my first book. (Oops, that’s two LOL) (Jenny again, Congrats on your first book it was really good)

7. I enjoyed the whole story you created, did you have a theme when you were writing An English Bride goes West?
Theme? Oh dear was I suppose to have one of those? I like to sit and write the story as it comes to me, then I tweak, tweak, tweak. Ultimately, it is a story of redemption. No matter the past, the Lord can handle today. (Jenny again no you didn't need a theme)

8. Do you have a Christmas message for my readers?
Don’t send Christmas cards. Don’t shop til you drop. Don’t decorate your house from stem to stern. Relax. Sip hot cocoa with your kids. Bring muffins to your neighbor—don’t try to do everything. You can’t do it all. Just do what God gives you the grace to do. He wants you to enjoy Christmas!

Christmas Focus with Vickie McDonough

Todays Christmas Focus is on Vickie McDonough and more about A Bride By Christmas.

Firstly thanks for sharing with us. This time we are focusing on Christmas.
So I thought I would have a few fun questions first.

1. What do you most associate with Christmas where you live?

We always have a Christmas tree with decorations and lots of presents, but Christmas is really about Jesus. It’s a time for us to focus on God’s love—that He loved us so much that He sent His beloved son to earth, and my family celebrates Christmas to remember that. I told my kids when they were little, that just like the Wise Men brought gifts to baby Jesus, we give gifts to each other.

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

We usually decorate for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving and leave the decorations up until after New Years. We hang stockings on the fireplace and have decorations all over the house. Christmas at our house is a time to spend with family. My kids are usually all here, and now we have the fun of a two-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter joining the celebration. We usually have a turkey or ham for dinner with lots of trimmings and pie. This is a silly tradition but for years we’ve used laundry baskets to take our presents from one house to another.

3. Do you have a favorite Christmas Carol and if so do you know why?

I really like Joy to the World since it’s a joyful telling of Christ’s coming to earth. This song isn’t a carol but I love Mary, Did You Know. (Jenny here it counts as a carol. I love it also)

4. If you could spend Christmas anyway you could how would you celebrate?

Pretty much just like we do with all four of our boys home, our daughter-in-law and granddaughter there. I think it would be fun to take a Christmas trip one year, but don’t see that happening. I would love to have my dad back with us so that he could see his great-granddaughter once.

5. Now a few questions about A Bride by Christmas. I really loved the concept
of this book was it hard to co-ordinate with the other authors?

Not too much. This collection is tied together by the concept of people needing to marry by Christmas to prevent something bad from happening rather than by related characters, so that made it easier to coordinate, because one story didn’t affect another one. Each story has a heroine from another country who brings some of her Christmas traditions into the story. The other three authors in this collection were great to work with. Linda Goodnight and Kelly Eileen Hake are both award-winning authors, and it was fun working with Therese Stenzel because this was her first published work. We did all our collaborating online for the most part.

6. What was the best part about writing the Novella?

It’s quick to write. J (this is a smiling face but I lost it.)

7. I enjoyed the whole story you created, did you have a theme when
you were writing An Irish Bride for Christmas?

Yes, I wanted readers to know that no matter how dark things seem, God is always there helping us and loving us, even if we can’t see Him.

8. Do you have a Christmas message for my readers?

I’m on a one-woman campaign to change the abbreviation of Christmas from X-mas to T-mas. There are always times we have to abbreviate, but I refuse to replace Christ with an X, as if I X-ed Him out of my life. The T is similar to the cross, which is why I chose it. Have a wonderful Christmas! And don’t forget that Jesus is the reason for the season.

Christmas Focus with Linda Goodnight

Today I am starting my Christmas Focus one A Bride by Christmas and Linda Goodnight. Thanks again for being on my blog. I hope all my readers enjoy these interviews.

Firstly thanks for agreeing to be on my blog. This time we are focusing on christmas.
So I thought I would have a few fun questions first.

1. For you what do you most associate with Christmas where you live?
Oklahoma is still a very tradional state so we still have navitity scenes and living nativities, school Christmas programs, and lots and lots of parades. All the stores are decorated and my mailibox is filled with sales brochures. But most of all, Christmas here means family get togethers.

2. Do you have any special family traditions you do at Christmas time?
Oh yes! So many. This will be our first year without children in the house so things will likely change, but we've always loaded the kids and the dog in the pick-up truck to go in search of the 'perfect' Christmas tree. We have a lot of land and there are evergreens everywhere, so we drive through the fields singing Christmas carols to the top of our lungs. Gene (my husband) honks the horn in accompaniment. It's a zany, merry time that I really enjoy.

Another tradition is food! I bake lots of candies and other goodies and on Christmas Eve we get together with the enormous Goodnight clan. Back home, we hang stockings and go to sleep, knowing Santa will come by morning. On Christmas Day we open gifts and have a huge family dinner. (Jenny here we bake cookies to give out also)

We have recently begun a new tradition of trying to put more emphasis on Christ and less on material goods. To that end, we've been involved in ministering to orphans and those less fortunate during the holidays. For the past three years, we've hosted a Ukrainian orphan in our home. That has been a wonderful blessing to us.

3. Do you have a favourite christmas Carol and if so do you know why?
I love Christmas music and drive my family crazy playing it during the holiday season. Except for the Nutcracker Suite, which I adore, all my favorites are about Jesus' birth. If I had to name one it would probably be either Silent Night or Mary Did you Know? Silent Night is just so beautiful. Both songs transport my mind to that special, holy night so long ago. I have an CD called "Harry Simeone Chorale that is my absolute favorite CD. I'm had it for years, first in cassette and now in CD. They do a version of The Little Drummer Boy that is almost all voices--the men's bass voices providing the drum beats--and it's fabulous. Fabulous!

4. If you could spend Christmas anyway you could how would you celebrate?
I have this fantasy of a perfect old-fashioned Christmas. All my family would be with me in a cozy, little cabin in the snowy mountains. A fireplace would be burning, of course, and snow would fall outside a big plate glass window. We would go to a simple church service by horses drawn sleigh where little kids would re-enact the nativity. We'd all sing Christmas carols and give thanks for the Greatest gift of all. Once back at the cabin, we'd snuggle by the fireplace and drink hot chocolate with tons of marshmallows, of course, munch popcorn, and just enjoy being together. (Jenny again, This sounds wonderful can I come too?)

5. Now a few questions about A bride by Christmas. I really loved the concept
of this book. was it hard to co-ordinate with the other authors?
No, not at all. The internet has made it possible for authors from all over the world to work together. The other authors in this collection are just super ladies and we really had a good time putting it together.

6. What was the best part about writing the Novella?
I was so thrilled to be part of a collection that introduced a wonderful new writer to the world-Therese Stenzel. It is such a treat to someone new break into this difficult business--especially a peson as nice as Therese.

7. I enjoyed the whole story you created, did you have a theme when
you were writing "The Cossack Bride" for Christmas?
No, I really didn't, Jenny. I seldom have a theme. I just write the story in my head. Because I am involved with Ukrainian orphans, I wanted to write something that celebrated their heritage. Most people think of the Cossacks as Russian but they were actually Ukrainian warriors who fought for and with Russia.

8. Do you have a Christmas message for my readers?
Yes! You've heard it before but it bears repeating. In all the hustle and bustle it can be so easy to forget the real reason for the season. So intentioinally plan a bit of time, even fifteen minutes one evening during the week of Christmas, and read the Christmas story in Luke with your family. I promise it will bless you!!

Thank you Jenny, for inviting me to your blog. God bless!

Christmas Focus A Bride by Christmas review

This week we are focusing on A Bride by Christmas. I have 3 Authors interviews to post this week. We dont have a giveaway this week but I hope that doesn't stop you from supporting the Authors who give up there time for us.

Product Description
Get caught up in four historical romances in which unusual circumstances cause four young people to seek marriage before another prairie Christmas comes around. When marriage is given a deadline, the results are anything but conventional. Jackson needs a mother for his niece. Jerome needs money that can only come by taking a wife. Katherine needs to fulfill a promise. Anastasia needs to escape an evil plot. Can each find a spouse by Christmas?

My Review.
As I have mentioned I love Christmas and Christmas novels and novella's. This is another wonderful book. Its a historical Fiction which I love best. Each novella there is a need in each story for a wedding to take place by Christmas. Its interesting seeing how it unfolds. While the book is set in America there are brides from 4 different countries and we get to see a few ideas from different places. I enjoyed each of the stories and the way they played out. I would recomend this book and give it 4.5 our of 5.