All right, I’m ready for snow. And turkey. Speaking of, I found these guys in my yard this week. 😀
So, I’m heading to my daughter’s house this week to help her decorate the baby’s room (Grandchild arriving in Jan!) but on the way, I’m going to dive into a Christmas novella. I have a small pile of my favorites— (one of my absolute favorites is by Dave Barry: The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog) and among my favorites are actually two that I wrote. I mean, why not? Is that too weird?
Which stories, you ask?
The first one, originally titled the Great Christmas Bowl, was penned during a Christmas when my entire family was sick. And yes, instead of serving them soup like a concerned mother, I left them to their Kleenexes and wrote a Christmas novella. It’s about a woman whose children are leaving the nest and how she discovers anew the meaning of Christmas. The best part was that this was one of the few books that my entire family read. Why? Because they were trapped on the sofa, and I would read them chapters as I wrote them and they didn’t have the strength to crawl from the room.
Yeah, that’s me. Compassionate. But they did laugh and eventually the book won a couple awards and hit the best seller list. It went out of print a few years back and last year I gave it a facelift and republished it as All I Want for Christmas.
“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is another story deeply rooted in my heart. A historical tale set post WW2, it’s the story of five strangers, each carrying their own burdens, trapped together during a Christmas blizzard with a woman who can’t bear to celebrate Christmas again. I based this story off a Ukrainian Christmas tale called The Mitten. What I love about this story was that I spent a lot of time on the phone with my mom (who passed away in December of 2015) talking about her childhood Christmases and gleaning from her a number of rich details that I put into the story. It has one of the best Christmas miracles I’ve ever written and every time I read it, I weep. (A good crying!)
This Christmas, I’ve put them together in an exclusive ebook collection. Right now and through Thanksgiving you can get both these books for the price of one! Available at your favorite retailers (or might I suggest you order it from my store?)
I cherish these stories because they embody the spirit of Christmas that I hold dear. I am delighted to share them with you this holiday season. So, here’s my invitation to you: grab your favorite blanket, a mug of hot cocoa, and let’s journey together through the heartwarming chaos and cozy corners of a Minnesota Christmas.
I have something really special I’m cooking up for you for Thanksgiving and Black Friday. So stay tuned! Until then here’s hoping we have a little bit of snow for Thanksgiving, or as my daughter likes to call it Christmas kickoff. Talk to you then!
Warmly,
P.S. If you have a discount coupon, you can apply it to this book! And by the way every time you purchase something in the Susan May Warren store you get a discount coupon to use on your next purchase. Whoot!