Friday, December 9, 2016

Ho Ho Ho Giveaway - Guest Post - Michelle Major - Christmas on Crimson Mountain


Welcome back to my holiday tribute to Harlequin, today I have Michelle Major visiting and sharing with us a very special Christmas tradition. Michelle is sponsoring a Very Special Christmas package giveaway US ONLY! Details below.
Enjoy

Overview:


LOVE ON THE MOUNTAIN 
Peace and quiet—that’s all Connor Pierce wanted from the rented cabin on Crimson Mountain. Yet the caretaker turned out to be lovely April Sanders—a total distraction. As were the two little girls she was caring for. Connor’s plan to forget his painful past soon detoured into giving the ladies a Christmas to remember. 
Being named guardian of two motherless girls has upended April’s world. Add to the mix a mysterious, brooding writer claiming he wanted to be left alone while going out of his way to bring a little joy to the girls, and she has quite the quandary. April had counted herself out of a happy ending. But maybe Santa still had a few surprises up his merry old sleeve… 

Michelle's Website



Michelle's Giveaway is for a $10 Amazon Gift Card
One print copy of her Christmas on Crimson Mountain novel &
a Basket of Christmas Goodies!!
Please Use the Rafflecopter form to enter
Thanks Michelle!
Good Luck!



O, Christmas Tree….My Favorite Holiday Tradition
By Michelle Major

To me, the Christmas season can’t officially begin until the tree is up and decorated so it’s one of the first things I do as I’m getting ready for the holidays. We always drag ours out the weekend after Thanksgiving. And although I love the smell of a real tree, mine is artificial. As much as I like putting up ornaments, I do not enjoy stringing lights or cleaning up shedding pine needles (I have too many pets to deal with any more seasonal shedding!)

Of course, the reason I’m sentimental about the tree is because of the memories wrapped up in so many of our ornaments. My favorites (I’m guessing most moms can relate) remain the ones the kids made over the years—dozens of school ornaments and those craft-store stained glass ones, too. One year when he was very young, my son drew toddler Christmas trees and attached bits of string to hang them on the tree. Now at fourteen, he’s mortified that I give them a front and center spot. But they remind me of my big boy as a tiny kid and I love it.

We also have a tradition of buying an ornament on every vacation we take that started with our honeymoon. Again, unwrapping ornaments from each trip takes us down memory lane to fun times we spent together. I also have ornaments that my grandmother made years ago and a couple that were my dad’s when he was a boy. I love the tradition of using ornaments I remember as a kid and sharing how we did things back in the old days—we have plenty of stories of the live trees knocked over by pets and the very hip ‘70s’ tree my grandma had that was covered in fake white snow with only bright blue lights.

Another of our family favorites is the ornament of Mr. Hanky, the Christmas Poo from the show South Park. It tells you a lot about my family’s sense of humor that we all enjoy watching a guest admire the tree and then seeing their reaction when they spot the Santa hat covered plastic poo with a big smile on his face. Priceless every time!

We have a new kitten this year, so every breakable ornament has been wired to the tree within an inch of its life. What is it about cats and climbing the Christmas tree?!

What’s your favorite family holiday tradition? However you celebrate, I hope your holiday season is filled with love and laughter!


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22 comments:

  1. Yes, I have special ornaments that my children have made in school. I also have framed picture ornaments of our cats. LOL!! Thanks for the wonderful giveaway :)

    Renee
    fattybumpkins at yahoo dot com

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    1. Hi Renee, you know as I was putting up my tree last Saturday I decided this year to only put up the ornaments that are handmade or mean something very special to me.

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  2. I love the idea of an ornament to remind you of everywhere you have been, what a fun tradition!

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  3. Yes! My kids get a new ornament each year for 'their' tree and we get a new one for our main tree, too!

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  4. I have special ornaments which are very meaningful and we cherish them.

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  5. I do have special Hallmark ornaments that have to do with the kids growing up and dogs and things that are special to me. I get new ones every year besides giving all the grandkids their special ornament that says granddaughter or grandson or daughter or son. We give them to them till they are married and have kids of their own then we start with those kids so they should have a lot of them by the time they have their own tree. So not only my tree but their tree they would have special memories. ptclayton2@aol.com would love to read and post reviews on a few sites

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    1. Just a few years ago I gave my daughter all the ones I collected for her through the years

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  6. Thanks for the chance, I hope I win!

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  7. The story sounds sweet. Love the premise.

    Putting up the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving has been our thing, too. We have our assortment of treasured ornaments that mean something. But your poopy Santa hat beats anything we've got. haha!

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    1. We have some funny stories in our family too Sophia Rose. My comedic team of my hubby and his nephew and them each hiding penis ornaments on each other's tree. LOL

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  8. Yes, I even have a set of stringed blown beads from my grandmother's very first Christmas tree. Thank you, the book sounds delightful.

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    1. Oh that sounds wonderful Kim. The one thing I remember from my Grandmother's tree was her bubble lights. I found a set a few years ago and they finally went kaput last year I guess its time to find some more.

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  9. Just being with my family is the only tradition I need. I love the feeling of togetherness during the holidays.

    Strgth4yu@hotmail.com

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  10. Aw that's very neat about the ornaments and vacations. Love that! I went artificial tree last year, too. It was easier than a real one and lol on the shedding. True. So true.

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  11. I almost have our tree up! Our oldest and favorite ornaments are some glass icicles that belonged to my grandmother.

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