Peering Through Life's Window

WISHING YOU AND YOURS A HAPPY, BLESSED 2019!

photo courtesy Google Some say Christ wasn’t born on December 25th. They claim Christians took the date from a Roman holiday honoring the sun or a sun god. While modern historians disagree about this theory many agree that the Romans revered the sun. Some claim Christians took the date to rival the pagan feasts that took place during the Winter Solstice, which honored a new age brought by the sun. Depending on location, the Winter Solstice occurs on or around December 25th. Every year in late October, festive decorations acknowledging the birth of Christ begin to appear in overwhelming numbers across the American landscape. By early December, a majority of homes have wreaths on their doors, candles in their windows, lights in the yards and red bows on their mailboxes. And jolly old Santa Claus sits in the middle of the mall to greet youngsters. Nativity scenes abound on people’s lawns, and this country’s biggest celebration continues until after December 25th, so when is Chri...

Hats... Horns... Congratulations, Anita!

A Warm Welcome To Julie Cosgrove Julie shares an easy, yummy Christmas recipe her mom used to make for gifts and quotes one of her favorite Bible verses. Julie will give away an eBook of One Leaf Too Many to one, randomly chosen person who comments. To enter to win leave the comment and an email address below. Julie and her brother gathered under the Christmas tree, taken by her mother in 1955 Stuffed Holiday Dates This recipe graced every family Thanksgiving and Christmas table. We even had a special platter for them. I think it was handed down from my great-grandmother. We used to gather in the kitchen with Mom to make them for our teachers, the postman, the neighborhood patrolman, and as holiday hostess gifts. Several boxes of these, wrapped in white tissue paper with a red bow, waited on the hall table in case anyone dropped by unexpectedly with a gift. Dates and pecan were cheaper back then. One box or bag of pitted whole dates. A small bag of whole pec...

A Warm Welcome to Linda Weaver Clarke Hi Linda, first, tell us a little about yourself. I was raised among the Rocky Mountains of southern Idaho and now live in southern Utah. I am the author of 24 books—which includes Historical Romance, Mystery Suspense, Cozy Mysteries, and historical/Adventure Romance. I am also a missionary at the Family Search Center where I help people find their ancestors and learn about their heritage. Tell us about your latest book. One Last Dance is a Historical Romance with a mystery to solve. It’s set in 1835. Felicity Brooks is a talented artist but her career is cut short when her father passes away. Realizing the importance of family, she travels home to care for her mother. When Felicity meets their new neighbor, a fine-looking bachelor, she soon discovers that he is hiding his true identity. Nicholas Adams is on a quest. But that is not all. When she finds out that someone is after a valuable heirloom…a precious treasure that her...

The Winner Is... Hats... Horns... Congratulations, Janet!

A Warm Welcome to Lisa Lickel Lisa will give away an eBook of Love Is...Everything About You . Read about the lighthearted romance below. To enter to win leave a comment and an email address below. Hi Lisa, tell us about your new Christmas book. Meow Mistletoe was an accidental story my editor suggested when we learned that a different holiday story I had begun would end up out of order in the series due to the publication schedule. It’s the first time I ever wrote a book based on the title. I’m glad it was always supposed to be novella size, meaning about a quarter the length of a full-size novel, so the amount of time researching and writing was doable in the timeline I had. The story takes place in one evening and introduces the characters who become the amateur sleuths of the Fancy Cat series . Ivy Preston is a jilted fiancé who, after a lengthy relationship, decides to start over and moves herself and her business, personal tech services, to a new community at the...

More in-depth descriptions of these books can be found on the ACFW Fiction Finder website . Amish Romance: The Amish Sweet Shop by Laura Bradford, Mary Ellis , and Emma Miller -- It's almost Valentine's Day at Beechy's Sweets, where the Amish gifts of love and faith are even sweeter than the home-made candy. In The Sweetest Courtship by Emma Miller, bachelor Jacob Beechy is a master candy maker whose mother longs for grandchildren, so she sets out to find him an assistant confectioner during the Valentine’s holiday—and a wife. In The Sweetest Truth by Laura Bradford, Sadie Fischer can’t see beyond her scars from a barn fire, but there’s a young man who sees only sweetness when he looks at her, and he’s sending her Beechy’s chocolate and mysterious gifts leading up to Valentine’s Day. In Nothing Tastes So Sweet by Mary Ellis, Pregnant widow Hannah wants to buy her English employer’s hardware store, but ends up following a clue from Beechy’s to clear a man’s ...