Ho Ho Ho Harlequin Holiday Extravaganza - JoAnna Sims - High Country Christmas **Giveaway**

I hope you've been enjoying all the wonderful Christmas posts from these wonderful authors as much as I have. Today I have JoAnna Sims taking over the blog. She's sharing a very special childhood memory from when she was eight and she calls it A Wildflower Christmas. JoAnna is giving away one print copy of High Country Christmas US ONLY 

Enjoy!

A WILDFLOWER CHRISTMAS

            My mom really knew how to “do it up” for the holidays, so I have a lot of wonderful Christmas memories from which to choose.  However, the most memorable Christmas morning of my childhood, and the one that stands out from all the rest, happened when I was eight years old.  I was a tomboy and liked to tag along after my older brother.  And, if he had a cool Huffy BMX bike for boys, I wanted a cool Huffy BMX bike for girls.  The only problem was, at that time, they didn’t make BMX bikes for girls (oh, how times have changed).  I begged my mom for a boys’ Huffy BMX bike, but even as a liberal mom of a tomboy girl, she resisted the idea of me riding a bicycle made for boys.  Then, a Christmas miracle happened!  One day, while on a holiday shopping trip, I was walking through Sears with my mom and I saw it!  The most beautiful Huffy BMX bike made for girls!  The frame was white, as was the banana loaf seat, and it was decorated with colorful wildflowers; this awesome bicycle (obviously sent directly from heaven) was appropriately named “Wildflower”. 

            I can still remember, so clearly, climbing on the bicycle while my mother watched with a small, smile on her face.  I put my hands on the rubber grips of the handle bars, sat down on that cushy banana boat seat, and knew that this was my bicycle.  It was a perfect fit.  I could imagine myself zipping along the winding back roads behind my house, flying down the gentle hills as I tried to keep pace with my brother and his friends.  On the Wildflower, I was certain that I’d be the coolest girl ever.  Right at that moment, my long Christmas wish list was wiped clean and the only thing left on it was a Huffy BMX bike for girls – the Wildflower.   It pained me to climb off of that beautiful bicycle and roll it back into its spot.  I can’t remember exactly what I said to my mom on our shopping trip, but I have to imagine that I was making a very good case for getting that Wildflower bike for Christmas.  Christmas morning – I was awake before sunrise (of course) and had to wait, impatiently, until the soft morning light began to stream into my room through the dormer window.  I met my older brother and sister in the hallway at the top of the stairs, all of us still dressed in our P.J.’s; we raced down the stairs, one right after the other, our loud footsteps and excited voices a signal to my parents that Christmas morning had officially arrived and it was time to dig in to all of those presents stacked beneath the tree!

My mom always needed a cup of coffee before we started opening presents (I never understood that, but boy do I know how she feels now).  While my mother moved slowly through her routine of making coffee – getting the water, and the grounds, and the filter, yawning and sleepy-eyed in her silky blue robe, I rushed to the Christmas tree and that’s when I saw it…the most beautiful bike that ever was.  Wildflower.  My mom always enjoyed giving us what we wanted – she spoiled us – not just with things, but with love too.  She worked so hard to make our home a comfortable, safe, happy place for her family.  I have to admit – when I saw Wildflower parked in front of the Christmas tree, so shiny and white and pretty – I was torn between hugging my mom or hugging my new Huffy BMX Wildflower bike.  In the end, I did the right thing.  I hugged my mom.  I had years of joy riding my BMX Wildflower bike, peddling furiously to keep up with my older brother and his friends.  Riding Wildflower was everything I had imagined it would be – how often can we say that in life?  And, after all of these years, after decades of holidays, this is the moment that is forever seared in my memory.  I will never forget my Wildflower Christmas. 

Joanna Sims is proud to pen contemporary romance for Harlequin Special Edition. Joanna's series, The Brands of Montana, feature hard-working characters with hometown values. You are cordially invited to join The Brands of Montana as they wrangle their own happily-ever-afters!

www.joannasimsromance.com

JoAnna is giving one print copy of
High Country Christmas

US ONLY
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