All I Want For Christmas--Day 12

A very fitting conclusion to my Twelve Days Of Christmas tribute is my own story in the Soul Mate Christmas Anthology. This Old House a story near to my heart, since I've always wanted to take a grand old painted lady Victorian and restore her to her former glory. I haven't made it yet--my homes have been elderly, but not grand. In this story, Beth is a realtor who buys, restores, and flips old

homes one at a time. This time, the house hasn't garnered any interest, so she's decided to make it a stop on the town's Christmas homes tour. Here's the hook:

Two old friends find they have more in common than a Christmas birthday as they reunite after twenty years apart.

And my excerpt:

   “Tell me again why we’re participating in the Historic Homes Christmas tour?” Beth's assistant Hannah asked as she fastened pine boughs to the banister and draped the fireplace mantle. She added wide velvet ribbon, winding it in between the branches.
   “Six months without so much as a nibble of interest on this place is enough reason. So we’re putting on the lady’s party clothes and showing her off during the town’s Christmas tour,” Beth replied. “Such a lovely home. Brings back memories for me.”
   “You and this home had a connection even before you bought it and renovated?”
The snippet of history flashed through Beth’s mind and made her smile. “I know the family who owned this house. Which reminds me, where’s the mistletoe I bought?”
   “Quit being cryptic. What’s mistletoe got to do with anything?”
   Beth pointed to the small entry foyer. “The very first kiss of my life happened in that spot, under some mistletoe.”

And don't forget to click on the poster to the right and head over to The Romance Review's Year End Blog Hop and visit other participating blog sites. Lots of fun, games and prizes are up for grabs.

'Tis The Season

For the past few very long days, I've been involved with switching over the greeting cards in my grocery job from Halloween to Christmas. Thanksgiving cards get shoved aside to make way for cards for everyone anyone could possibly know. We've got cards for the relatives, from Mom and Dad to Grandmas and everyone in between. We've got religious cards, romantic cards, funny cards, across the miles cards(the only category that makes sense, in my book). It's all well and good, I guess, but I shake my head every year at how early Christmas merchandise comes out of the back room and onto the store floor.

Until this year. I am participating in my first-ever anthology! It's a Christmas anthology called All I Want For Christmas Is A Soul Mate. In addition to a pretty cover, there are twenty short stories included, in various genres and heat levels. Mine is called "This Old House" and I'm previewing an excerpt from it here today. We're planning a blog hop, where you can jump from one excerpt to the next, which will happen later in the month. But, the anthology goes on sale through Amazon this week!

Here's a hint of what you'll find in "This Old House."

"Tell me again why we're participating in the Historic Homes Christmas Tour?" Beth's assistant, 
Hannah, asked as she fastened pine boughs to the 
banister and draped the fireplace mantle. She added 
wide velvet ribbon, winding it in between the branches.

"Six months without so much as a nibble of interest 
on this place is enough reason. So we're putting on
the lady's party clothes and showing her off during the town's 
Christmas tour," Beth replied. "Such a lovely home. 
Brings back memories for me."
"You and this home had a connection even before you 
bought it and renovated?"
The snippet of history flashed through Beth's mind and 
made her smile. "I know the family 
who owned this house. Which reminds me, where's the 
mistletoe I bought?"
"Quit being cryptic. What's mistletoe got to do with 
anything?"
Beth pointed to the small entry foyer. "The very first kiss 
of my life happened in that spot, under some mistletoe."

So, kick back in front of a warm fire, have some hot chocolate, and read this lovely collection of stories as the holiday season officially gets underway. Oh, and find someone to kiss under the mistletoe!