Did you guess?
Here they are, along with a little get-to-know you interview with the authors.
Clare Revell, author of Season for Miracles, and Lynette Sowell, author of a Riverwalk Christmas, reveal their true feelings about Christmas traditions and shopping.
Come back tomorrow for the poll results and the drawing winners.
Here they are, along with a little get-to-know you interview with the authors.
Clare Revell, author of Season for Miracles, and Lynette Sowell, author of a Riverwalk Christmas, reveal their true feelings about Christmas traditions and shopping.
All I'll say about the vote is that it's another close one, folks. Come back tomorrow for the final word. The drawing is still open, so you can enter that.
And now we ask the authors:
1. What are the things you like about Christmas? Can you share a
favorite Christmas memory?
favorite Christmas memory?
Lynette: I love the joy and expectancy of Christmas, of realizing the hope we have because of Christmas. The first Christmas was full of miracles and God's timing. I think it reminds us to look for the same in our lives. One of my favorite Christmas memories happened in Christmas of 1993. It was my first Christmas that I ever spent away from my family, and I'd driven with a friend to Illinois to visit her family for Christmas. Her parents pulled me right in and included me in their traditions as if I were another daughter. Then when we left church that evening, it had started to snow. On Christmas morning when I woke up and looked out the window, it was truly a White Christmas. I felt the little "gasp" of a child when I saw snow covering the trees, everything. I felt like it was a special gift, just for me from God that year.
Clare: I love Christmas, I always have. I love the way the lights twinkle on the tree and the smell of the turkey cooking in the oven. Hanging the ceiling decorations --actually the pins stay up all year around so that I can do this on my own. (I'm only 5ft 1 so even standing on a chair I struggle to reach the ceiling). Going out in the dark and cold to the carol service and then turning out first thing Christmas morning for the Christmas Day service.
My favorite Christmas memory is the four of us sitting on my parents bed at 3am opening our pillowcases and getting paper everywhere. One year Mum said we could only open our presents when we took them in a cup of tea. So 3am and a cup of tea. After that we were told 6am and a cup of tea. Didn't work (wink).
2. Do you have a holiday tradition in your family? If so, what?
Clare: Watching the Queen's speech at 3pm. We have stockings before breakfast, then after breakfast is church. After church is the huge Christmas dinner and we just finish the dishes in time for the Queen at 3pm. Then we have the rest of the presents.
2. Do you have a holiday tradition in your family? If so, what?
Clare: Watching the Queen's speech at 3pm. We have stockings before breakfast, then after breakfast is church. After church is the huge Christmas dinner and we just finish the dishes in time for the Queen at 3pm. Then we have the rest of the presents.
Lynette: We have an "open house" on Christmas Eve, immediately after the service is over. We love to cook and bake lots of goodies, sweet and savory, but one family really doesn't need to eat that much food. So it was natural to invite our friends to stop by for a few minutes, say hello and celebrate, and then go on their merry way. This is our 15th year.
3. Are you a shop-ahead or a last-minute gift giver? What are your favorite
kinds of gifts to give and receive?
Lynette: I love to shop ahead and usually keep an eye out during the year for gifts, especially for the kids. I love to receive homemade gifts as well as give them. It shows that a lot of thought and care went into the gift. I'm also partial to bookstore gift cards, myself.
3. Are you a shop-ahead or a last-minute gift giver? What are your favorite
kinds of gifts to give and receive?
Lynette: I love to shop ahead and usually keep an eye out during the year for gifts, especially for the kids. I love to receive homemade gifts as well as give them. It shows that a lot of thought and care went into the gift. I'm also partial to bookstore gift cards, myself.
Clare: Normally I finish shopping by mid-November, but this year I've barely started. I like giving people something they want, not something that will never be used. As for me - I love socks and tins or biscuits. Never get given either, as apparently it doesn't cost enough. But it's what I want. You can never have enough socks. Chocolate is also something I love to receive.
Thank you, ladies. How about you, readers? What are some of your favorites about the holiday?
Some of the comments they received from the survey include:
Awww, I want more!!!
Both SO good. Would love to read each one. Just couldn't resist a Christmas play with a live baby playing Jesus!
Both stories were great. E. B was very touching.
E.A gave me a desire to want to know what happened next.
E.A gave me a desire to want to know what happened next.
Such a great story to tell. So many children remain unadopted when there are families willing to adopt but don't always meet the criteria. I loved this excerpt and would love to read the entire story.
