Christmas is coming, but not everyone is looking forward to it.
Rebecca has just been dumped and the prospect of spending the holiday period with her parents is less than appealing.
Eighty- two year old Stanley lost his beloved wife, Edie, to cancer. How will he cope with his first Christmas without her?
Jacob’s university degree hasn’t helped him get a job, and it looks like he’ll still be signing on come New Year.
Workaholic Meredith would rather spend December 25th at home alone with a ready meal and a DVD box set. Can anything make her embrace the spirit of the season?
The enigmatic Natalie Hope takes over the reins at the Sugar and Spice bakery and café in an attempt to spread some festive cheer and restore Christmas spirit, but will she succeed?
Guest post
I am very pleased to share a guest post written by the author about a subject we all like : gifts. Enjoy!
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What’s In A Gift?
I love giving people presents, but sometimes it’s hard, even with close friends and family. We don’t always know what to choose for each other, or indeed what we already have, and we end up buying each other vouchers. Last week I arranged a signed copy of a newly released book, which I knew my aunt would love, to be sent to her for her birthday by the author. That’s my idea of a great present, but those possibilities don’t present themselves too often.
I managed to buy my husband concert tickets last year for a band I am sure he didn’t even realise I knew he liked. He was delighted and very surprised!
And although I hate trailing round the shops, I am not patient enough to queue, I do love finding the perfect gift so I’ll spend hours searching, preferably on a laptop from the comfort of an armchair with a mug of hot chocolate or a glass of wine, depending on the time of day!
I do, however, love Christmas markets and finding individual, unusual gifts – the problem is I then want them too! Despite hating shopping, I love traipsing round Christmas markets. It’s a different pace altogether and really puts me in the Christmas spirit. Plus you can combine that with a nice lunch out and a glass of mulled wine or a hot chocolate – do you seem a common theme here?
And buying presents for the kids is so much fun! The problem is knowing where to stop – and of course buying what you know they want and not trying to convince them they want something as you secretly covet it! I am lucky that my kids are still young enough that I don’t have to panic if I can’t find a particular toy for Christmas as they will love their presents anyway. No re-enactments of the scene in Jingle All The Way with Arnold Schwarzenegger as one of the two dads trying to get Turbo-Man for his son.
Younger children’s presents are so big. For our daughter’s first Christmas, we wrapped absolutely everything, even the large items. We saw the flaw in that when we were still building at 8 p.m. on Christmas Day! Plus we didn’t see our living room for days. And yep, both kids when young just wanted to play with the wrapping paper – a cliché but true!
Wrapping presents is something else I love, but I am terrible at it. No matter how hard I try, it always look as if a four-year-old has done it. I even watched YouTube tutorials and still I stink at it! My family can always tell a present I’ve wrapped, and not for its beauty. I used to pay my brother to wrap presents for me!
What would my perfect present be? Actually, I’m really easy to buy for – books! That said, you’d have to consult my spreadsheet listing all the books I have and even that isn’t up to date!
And if anyone fancies buying me a writing retreat, in Italy if possible, feel free!
Merry Christmas! Hope Santa brings you what you want!
Thank you, Susan Buchanan and RachelsRandomResources.
About the author
Susan Buchanan lives in Scotland with her husband and their two children. She is the author of four novels: Return of the Christmas Spirit, The Christmas Spirit, The Dating Game, and Sign of the Times. She is currently working on books five and six: The Proposal and Just One Day.
Susan is also a proofreader, editor and translator, and when not working, writing, or caring for her two delightful cherubs, loves reading, the theatre, quiz shows and eating out – not necessarily in that order!
Social Media Links Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/susan.buchanan.author Twitter – susan_buchanan Blog – Sooz’s journal – http://www.susancbuchanan.blogspot.co.uk
B for Bookreview 