Susan May Warren's Blog, page 31

Why It Had to be Eden

I’ve spent years standing on the sidelines, in bitter cold, rain, sleet, gloom of night . . . and that’s just football. Add in hours in the gym bleachers, and then miles and miles in the car driving to track meets. More hours in the rain and cold, then hot sun . . . cheering. 

I’ve been known to run down the bleachers, cheering my son on as he runs for the finish line. Sometimes, on a Friday night, you can hear my voice above the crowd when cheering for the team.

I love being a fan.

I have to admit, however, that when my football player son #1 (Thankfully I have two!) packed up and went to college, I felt left behind. All those years of commitment, and suddenly I wasn’t a blip in his radar. He went thirteen days into football camp without calling me, four months before coming home.

I felt forgotten . . .

. . . and so very equipped to step into the skin of my character, Eden.

Eden Christiansen is a woman trying her best to keep up with her amazing siblings. She’s the oldest girl, a journalist with the heart of a servant. But she’s not athletic, so in order to keep up, she’s assigned herself to the role of head cheerleader and babysitter to her brother, superstar hockey player, Owen.

With her job in Obits for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune heading nowhere (and her love life in deep freeze), she has nothing else. She appoints herself as Owen’s babysitter (whether he needs it or not) and excels at her job. Until . . .

One night Owen suffers a game-changing injury, and suddenly Eden has nothing.

Or does she? What Eden doesn’t know is that God has to take away what she’s clinging to in order to show her just how valuable she is. Only she possesses the power to save the day.

I love her best in this moment, talking with the hero:

He looked up at her. “Do you ever feel like you don’t really belong in the Kingdom of God? Like, you’re loved, but not liked? Saved, but not favored? ”

She sipped her coffee, stared out across the lake. “I guess sometimes I feel like I’m not necessarily God’s favorite. I look at my family and wonder what happened. Everyone else got the talent, and I got . . .”

Obits. She sighed. “I don’t know what happened with my life, exactly. I always thought I’d be a great writer, a reporter. But I didn’t land the job of my dreams out of college, and since then, I can’t seem to find footing. And yet, I don’t really have a reason to complain.”

“Yeah, that’s it. You feel like there should be something more waiting for you, but at the same time, you’re grateful for the life you do have.”

Do you ever feel like that? Saved, but not favored? Then this book is for you.

Do you feel saved, but not favored? @SusanMayWarren's #ItHadToBeYou is for you.
Click To Tweet

Join Eden on journey to discover just how much God delights over her in my new book, It Had to Be You. You can enter to win one of five copies from Goodreads! Enter below.

Thanks for reading!

Are you new here? You might want to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram. 

*Photo credit

.goodreadsGiveawayWidget { color: #555; font-family: georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; font-size: 14px;
font-style: normal; background: white; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidget img { padding: 0 !important; margin: 0 !important; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidget a { padding: 0 !important; margin: 0; color: #660; text-decoration: none; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidget a:visted { color: #660; text-decoration: none; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidget a:hover { color: #660; text-decoration: underline !important; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidget p { margin: 0 0 .5em !important; padding: 0; }
.goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink { display: block; width: 150px; margin: 10px auto 0 !important; padding: 0px 5px !important;
text-align: center; line-height: 1.8em; color: #222; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold;
border: 1px solid #6A6454; border-radius: 5px; font-family:arial,verdana,helvetica,sans-serif;
background-image:url(https://www.goodreads.com/images/layo... background-repeat: repeat-x; background-color:#BBB596;
outline: 0; white-space: nowrap;
}
.goodreadsGiveawayWidgetEnterLink:hover { background-image:url(https://www.goodreads.com/images/layo...
color: black; text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer;
}


Goodreads Book Giveaway







It Had to Be You



by Susan May Warren

Giveaway ends February 28, 2014.

See the giveaway details

at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Valentine’s day giveaway: kindle fire hdx & 12 novels!!

 

I’m so excited to announce a very special Valentine’s Day giveaway. I’ve joined with eleven best-selling author friends to bring it to our readers. In addition to a brand new Kindle Fire HDX, the winner will receive new or upcoming books as follows:

A Beauty So Rare by Tamera Alexander

Butterfly Palace by Colleen Coble

Dancing with Fireflies by Denise Hunter

Hallowed Halls by Hannah Alexander

It Had To Be You by Susan May Warren

A Match Made in Texas by Mary Connealy

Princess Ever After by Rachel Hauck

A Promise Kept by Robin Lee Hatcher

Shadowed by Grace by Cara C. Putman

Silver Bells by Deborah Raney

Somebody Like You by Beth K. Vogt

Wildwood Creek by Lisa Wingate

Valentine’s Day Giveaway

The giveaway runs from February 1st through February 13th. A winner’s name will be drawn on and announced on Valentine’s Day.
This giveaway is open to entrants with USA mailing addresses.
Entrants must be 18 years old and over. No purchase is required.
The winner will receive a Kindle Fire HDX and 12 novels.
Not all novels included in the prize package will be available at the time the winner is announced. Books will be sent to the winner as they become available. The prize is valued at over $400.
Entrants must complete ALL 12 MANDATORY entry options (the first 12 listed on the Rafflecopter form) to be eligible to win. Before the prize is awarded, completion of all 12 mandatory entry options will be confirmed.
Entrants can earn extra entries by completing any or all of the remaining twelve options.
Every attempt will be made to announce the winner within 48 hours of the end of the giveaway.
The winner of the Kindle Fire HDX and novels will be given 48 hours to reply to the email they are sent. If they do not respond to the announcement email within 48 hours, another winner will be chosen.
Sign up HERE:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Why It Had to Be You

Why It Had to be You? Where did the story come from?

Every story starts with a seed of an idea, something that triggers a what-if. That moment happened for me roughly five years ago at my son’s semi-final state track meet.

As I stood at the edge of the track, the final heat of the 4×100 runners lined up. The junior runner of a nearby competitor took the blocks in lane three, the fastest lane. He took his mark, set . . .

. . . and flinched.

The gun cracked twice, signaling a disqualification. It took a moment to put the pieces together as I watched this runner take his block and leave the track.

Around the track, I saw the other runners on his team take their blocks and also leave the race.

The runner crumbled into a ball in the middle of the field and began to sob.

Around me, mothers began to murmur. “What happened?” I asked my son.

“He scratched, so they disqualified him.”

“For flinching?”

“That’s high school rules.”

But the tragedy deepened. His cohorts came over and tried to comfort him, to no avail, some of them weeping as well.

“The thing is, this is the state champion-favored team,” my son said as the gun cracked for the beginning of the race. We hardly noticed it, eyes on the drama in centerfield. “And the entire team decided not to compete in any other events, reserving their strength for this race.”

I got it then—they were out of the state tournament. For this year . . .

“By the way, he’s the only junior. The rest are seniors.”

Oh. Forever then.

His flinch cost his entire team their state championship title. Hours upon hours, years upon years of work.

I wanted to drop to the grass and weep, too.

As a mother, that moment has haunted me. What happened to this boy? And his teammates?

What if his flinch cost them all their dreams? How terrible to carry that burden. Did the guilt crumble him? How would I, as his mother, help him through this? I think I would have a tendency to hover . . . maybe over-protect.

It was this idea that I carried into the story development of It Had To Be You—the idea that we are woven into the fabric of one another’s lives so much that we have the power to change them, for bad . . . or good. What if the smallest act could change a life—or many?

That thought morphed into a modern-day Good Samaritan story about a John Doe and the need to discover his family before he dies. One small act of kindness leads to another and another.

It Had to Be You is about all those people who stand at the sidelines and cheer for us, care about us, invest in us in large ways and small. And how we can change lives by small acts of great kindness.

I hope you’ll pick it up!

Are you new here? You might want to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram. 

On Sale: The Christiansen Family Series

Happy news, my friends! I don’t know about you, but one of the things I love most about winter is being able to curl up by the fire with a good book. I have just the books for you—and even better, they’re on sale!

Take a Chance on Me (available for $6.99): 

Darek Christiansen is almost a dream bachelor—oldest son in the large Christiansen clan, heir to their historic Evergreen Lake Resort, and doting father. But he’s also wounded and angry since the tragic death of his wife, Felicity. No woman in Deep Haven dares come near.

New assistant county attorney Ivy Madison simply doesn’t know any better when she bids on Darek at the charity auction. Nor does she know that when she crafted a plea bargain three years ago to keep Jensen Atwood out of jail and in Deep Haven fulfilling community service, she was releasing the man responsible for Felicity’s death. All Ivy knows is that the Christiansens feel like the family she’s always longed for. And once she gets past Darek’s tough exterior, she finds a man she could spend the rest of her life with. Which scares her almost as much as Darek learning of her involvement in his wife’s case.

Caught between new love and old grudges, Darek must decide if he can set aside the past for a future with Ivy—a future more and more at risk as an approaching wildfire threatens to wipe out the Christiansen resort and Deep Haven itself.

It Had to Be You (available for $9.99):

Eden Christiansen never imagined her role as her younger brother Owen’s cheerleader would keep her on the sidelines of her own life. Sure, it feels good to be needed, but looking after the reckless NHL rookie leaves little time for Eden to focus on her own career. She dreamed of making a name for herself as a reporter, but is stuck writing obits—and starting to fear she doesn’t have the chops to land a major story. If only someone would step up to mentor Owen . . . but she knows better than to expect help from team veteran and bad-boy enforcer Jace Jacobsen.

Jace has built his career on the infamous reputation of his aggressive behavior—on and off the ice. Now at a crossroads about his future in hockey, that reputation has him trapped. And the guilt-trip he’s getting from Eden Christiansen isn’t making things any easier. But when Owen’s carelessness leads to a career-threatening injury and Eden stumbles upon a story that could be her big break, she and Jace are thrown together . . . and begin to wonder if they belong on the same team after all.

Did you hear the good news? Two of @SusanMayWarren's books are on #sale!
Click To Tweet

Are you new here? You might want to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram. 

‘It Had to Be You’ + Bonus Content!

It’s book-release time, and I couldn’t be more excited about the release of It Had to be You! Check out the video below for all the details, including information about bonus content that’s available!

Are you new here? You might want to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram. 

From Kid Writer to Published Author

I never had any childhood reading or writing champions, but you know how it is as a writer—it’s in you and you can’t escape it. I loved to go to the library and pile up my backpack with books. They represented new friends, new adventures, and I spent most Saturdays plunked down in the middle of the library, turning pages. I started writing when I was fourteen—wrote my first novel on a summer vacation with my family, about a girl and her horse.

Were you bitten by the #writing bug when you were a kid? @SusanMayWarren
Click To Tweet

It wasn’t until I married and began writing newsletters for our ministry that people began to really encourage me to write, but by then, I had the bug and was already penning novels I never thought would be published. However, it was our supporters who pushed me to send the novels in to publishers. They believed in my books on the shelves long before I did. I wrote four novels before I got the first one published. I’m still amazed at the fact I am published—what? Whoa!

Are you new here? You might want to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram. 

When You’ve Taken a Chance on Someone (Plus a Winner Announced)

Thanks to everyone who shared a time when they’ve taken a chance on someone (from this post)! Reading through your posts was so encouraging, and I wanted to share a few with you, including the winner’s post!

Speaking of which, the winner of a copy of Take a Chance on Me and a $50 gift card to Amazon, BN, or CBD (your choice!) is . . .  Ashley Mays! Please email your mailing address to amy@susanmaywarren.com to claim your prize. And keep reading for Ashley’s Take a Chance on Someone post and others I think you’ll love!

Ashley: “I used to be a summer camp counselor at a Christian overnight camp. One Sunday a seven-year-old boy with a round tummy, large, dramatic eyes, and a voice as loud as a locomotive horn showed up to be a camper for the week. Within hours, I could tell his counselor was already exhausted and frustrated with ‘Jacob.’

“It’s not that I had any extra energy myself, but I felt like Jacob needed a buddy. So that evening during game time, I snuck to his side and said hi. He spent the next hour telling me about his brand new baby sister named April and how she was going to be a rain cloud for Halloween so she could be “April Showers” and did I know if I wanted to dress up for Halloween (which was still four months away) and hey, would it be hard for me to buy him a Kit Kat bar in the Snak Shak because he really wanted one, but he wasn’t really allowed to have sugar so his mom didn’t give him any money to buy candy. An hour later, I still hadn’t said a word, but he felt like he had a friend.

“Jacob proved to be a very difficult camper who became belligerent when asked to follow directions and melted down when discipline became necessary. But through it all, he always came back to my side, ready to tell me another story or wrap his arms around my neck in a hug.

“In the middle of the week, I found out that Jacob was being sent home. His counselor was frustrated because he wouldn’t listen, and he was distracting the other campers with destructive behavior. When I went to see Jacob right before he left, he motioned for me to kneel down to his level. As I did, he pushed his face in mine, and whispered with Kool-aid breath, ‘Thank you for being my friend.’

And that’s when I knew the chance I took at listening to a seven-year-old was worth it.”

Ramona: “I took a chance . . . and adopted my sister’s three children from social services. Each was considered a special-needs adoption, with the oldest having mental retardation and global developmental delays. All three have Reactive Attachment Disorder (a condition not well-known or understood by most people). When they became our children, they were five years old, three years old, and eighteen months old. Today, the oldest (with the most disabilities) is twenty and is learning work skills, the middle son is nineteen and is attending community college while working and living on his own, and the youngest, our daughter, is seventeen and is finishing high school. I also have two stepdaughters (one is thirty-three years old, and the other has passed away and her daughter is now living with us). My birth sons are nineteen and eleven years old. All of these precious children and yet I had told everyone I would never have children! Hah! God certainly had different plans for my life than I did!”

Karen: “God seems to work in mysterious ways. Back in August of this year I got permanently laid off from my job, which I had for three years. I just learned today that my husband is on temporary lay off that we think will become a permanent lay off because the government has shut down. Well the chance I am about to take is going back to school. I have been to college and probably have enough credits to have a Master’s degree, but I just never have had the motivation to finish or the money for that matter; however, I am trusting God to provide. That is a tremendous leap of faith. My husband’s schooling is quite out of date, and even he is thinking about taking courses at the nearest community college to help him find the job of his dreams. I am confident God will see us through this season in our lives. One of my wisest friends told me today to get a chalkboard and write the words ‘Just trust’ on the board and any time my husband or I am in despair that I’m just to point at that chalk board.”

Kelly: “I took a chance and attended the ACFW conference this past September. To most, this might not seem like a big deal, but attending a public, secular university, no one ever gave me good feedback on my writing. I allowed Satan to feed my doubts saying I can’t write. This conference was a huge financial risk for a stay-at-home mother of three boys. Thankfully, I had Ronie Kendig as my mentor, and she read the first three pages of my almost-finished manuscript. She said, ‘You have the voice of a suspense writer with clear, concise writing.’ Ever since, I felt God overriding Satan by telling me to write ‘His’ story.

A Happy New Year message from Susie May

I spoke to a women’s group a couple weeks ago, and the theme was “Whiter than Snow.” We have an abundance of snow here in Northern Minnesota, but I struggled to really get my head around this topic, and this verse, and how it relates to Christmas.

The truth was, I was feeling overwhelmed and blocked.

I was driving in my car, praying about this when suddenly, the Lord said to me – have you considered the Leper?

Huh. What leper?

The verse I was grappling with came from Isaiah 1:18:

“Come now, let us settle the matter,”

says the LORD.

“Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow;

though they are red as crimson,

they shall be like wool.”

The crimson Isaiah is talking about here is from a Hebrew word that describes a red dye made from a worm. The worm would cling to the tree and when it died, it would saturate itself, and the tree in permanent red. Like blood.

I thought about that red, that crimson, that stain and I realized to be stained is to feel ugly.

In fact, I think ugliness permeates our world and Christmas is often our attempt to cover it up. To “brush snow over it.” But the reality is, we can’t do it.

Christmas passes, and snow melts and despite our January efforts at reconstruction, long about March we’re left with the “stains” of our humanity.

Consider the Leper.

What Leper?

And then it came to mind. The Leper in Matthew 8:1-4

It’s kind of an obscure story, for a Christmas story….however…

Jesus has just delivered the Sermon on the Mount – and in this, he’s outlined for people exactly what the kingdom of Heaven is all about. See, he’s just starting his ministry and he’s introducing them to a new life, a new world.

His words are pretty overwhelming. He’s said things like: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And Be Salt and Light, and Do not Worry about tomorrow, and Ask and it will be given to you…

And his wisdom has blown everyone away. Chapter 7:28, says, “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one with the authority and not as their teachers of the law.”

So, they’re just starting to think… Who is this man? And…hmm…could he be more than just a rabbi?

Enter the Leper. Jesus comes down from the mountain, and this man somehow gets in front of Jesus and says, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

Do you know much about Leprosy? It’s a terrible disease. A Leper suffers physically. Leprosy takes its name from the Latin word Lepra, which means “scaly.” With leprosy, your skin breaks out into lesions. Eventually, your body parts can grow numb, and thus, you can cause damage to your extremities. You’re prone to infection and often disfigured.

This poor leper’s body may have started to go numb, so when he stepped into a fire, he couldn’t feel it. When he closed his hand in a door, he couldn’t feel his fingers being mangled. In short, he sees his body decaying, and he is helpless to stop it.

People with leprosy were feared to be infectious, and were cast out of society to live in leper colonies. They weren’t allowed to fellowship with others, had to keep themselves covered, and were despised by society.

Because of his ailment, this leper is also suffering spiritually. Because of his condition, he isn’t allowed to enter a synagogue unless he is approved clean by the priest.

Thus, Lepers were cut off from God, growing uglier inside and out until they died…alone.

Do you ever feel alone?

Our stains, our sins, our own feelings of ugliness can cut us off from family, and even worse, God.

Unless we are willing to take a chance, and throw ourselves before Jesus.

“Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

The crowd, in this moment, stops, and watches. See, if Jesus is who he appears to be, then…well, he might be the Messiah. And if he’s the Messiah, then everything is about to change. There is hope and rescue and the fulfillment of everything they’ve waited for.

So, they wait – and watch. And Jesus does something amazing. He reaches out and touches this gross, ugly man. And he says, “I am wiling. Be Clean.”

Immediately the man is cured from his leprosy.

Cured. Cleaned.

But then Jesus does more than restore his body – he restores his relationship to God. “See that you don’t tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest – get approved – and offer the gift Moses commanded as a testimony to them.”

In other words, Go, you are restored to fellowship with God.

I love that when we reach out to Jesus, he’s not interested in just healing our physical needs – but to get to the heart of the matter. He wants to heal our heart, our souls and give us a relationship with the Almighty God.

Jesus wants to take away the ugly, the despair. He wants to take away the crimson inside.

But here’s the part that struck me as I was driving, and by now, crying with that truth.

Jesus said, “I am willing.”

I am willing!

This is the embodiment of Christmas. God – willing to look at our sin, our sorrow, our suffering and do something about it. To send us a Savior to buy us back from death. To give us hope in this world that feels, so often, hopeless.

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.”

He is still willing. That is the best Christmas hallelujah I can share with you this season. And the thought I have for you as we walk into 2014.

He is willing to be with you this year. To do something incredible with your life. Wait for it.

Expect it, in 2014.

******

Thank you for being my reader friends, and for sharing my stories with others.

I have a new story coming out in February about what happens when two people find a John Doe, and care about the “ugly” people…the Lepers in this world. It changes their lives…and the lives of others. I hope you’ll pick it up. (Check out the preview here: It Had to Be You).

You may feel like a Leper this season. But hear the truth, from Jesus: “I am willing. Be Clean.”

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

My Favorite Book I’ve Written

Asking what my favorite book I’ve written is like asking which child is my favorite. I love them all! Historical is definitely more difficult to write because of the research involved, but I love historicals because they bring me into a different world and I learn so much. But I’m a contemporary romance girl, too, and probably the most fun for me to write. By far, my “mom” novel (The Great Christmas Bowl) was my favorite to write. I admit that I laughed at my own humor the entire way through the story. My children rolled their eyes.

Are you new here? You might want to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram. 

10 Things I Love about Warren Christmas

Christmas is less than two weeks away.

Whoa!

With Thanksgiving falling so late, I’m feeling a little as if I’m on a toboggan, whooshing down a hill, headed for a jump—and I’m still trying to get my feet in the sled.

I’ll be honest. I probably won’t get any Christmas cards written. Or that pithy letter. Or even find the time to make homemade gifts for the kids’ teachers.

I’m just being honest here.

But, I have identified the ten top things I love about a Warren Christmas that I refuse to miss.

Not in order of importance, mind you.

Epic Christmas shopping. Every year, our family picks names and heads to the mall for one giant shopping event. We break into two teams (and then switch about an hour later), and it’s supposed to be clandestine. It usually ends up being a sort of military operation where we all find ourselves in Barnes and Noble, ducking behind shelves, hiding our loot, and trying to figure out how to sneak out of the store without being seen by the other party.

“We shall cut down the mightiest tree in the forest . . . with a herring.” We cut down our tree every year from our property. We have five lush acres of pine, so it’s not tough . . . the biggest challenge, after the great debate on which tree to get, is how to get it home. It’s always too big, and our men tromp through the forest, as if the tree has legs.

We named the bow saw . . . A Herring. Ten points if you can tell me what movie that is from.

By the way, inevitably it will be so tall, it will bow at the top (usually it’s about eighteen feet).

The Great Light Untangle.  And Light Out hunt. I do not understand why we have to get NEW lights every year. Or why, when we have all the lights strung on the tree, the one at the very top decides to go out.

I’m just saying, I think it’s a diabolical KGB plot. (Thank you, all those years in Russia!)

The Great Puzzle Debate – how big should the puzzle be?  We gather around the tree to ponder this question every year. One year, we got too big for our britches and aimed for 5,000. We still aren’t ready to talk about that. But the pain lingers in Warren history, and we skirt the edges of the conversation with words like, ”I think 3,000 is big enough,” and, “Fifteen-hundred is a nice size.” We do our puzzle on a sheet of plywood in the family room. This may or may not have been taken from our 5,000 to 50 failure year. (Did I say that out loud?)

Forced Puzzling Fun. The Great Puzzle Debate is followed by a sustaining echo of, “What are you doing watching television, gaming, eating, reading . . . [you fill in in the blank]?” We have a puzzle to do!  In other words, “You will have fun whether you like it or not.” Listen, if you think I’m kidding, I’ll send you Peter the Puzzle Enforcer for a day. 

NO CHRISTMAS WISH LISTS. Yes. Because, In fact, Peter has issues. Starting in early September the entire family is issued the “Don’t tell me what you want for Christmas, or you won’t get it!” threat. There are no such things as Christmas wish lists around here. If you breathe even a hint of a wish for something, you’ll get coal. I wish I were kidding.

My husband’s wretched, terrible Christmas song playlist. We plug in Andrew’s iPod at the beginning of the season and loop his list of assembled Christmas songs continuously every year. I’m not sure how this happened, but on that list is “Mele Kalikimaka” by Bing Crosby (Hawaiian Christmas Song), a couple Russian songs that have nothing to do with Christmas (Devushka Iz Visshego Obshestva by Valerie Meladze is a family favorite . . . seriously). And then there’s the song we all hate: “I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus.” My children have informed me that if they ever saw me kissing Santa, they’d be traumatized for life, and they’d take Santa out.

The Christmas Cookie Decorating contest. Started as a way to bring our extended family into the Christmas Eve celebration, we began decorating Christmas cookies every year and sending the pictures (and essays) to our family spread around the US for their votes. The winner is announced and videotaped the next morning and awarded the Warren family traveling trophy.

Not that it’s a big deal or anything.

The annual Burned Bun Throw. This is a new event. OK, not so new—in fact, I’ve been burning and throwing buns for years. Just not on purpose. But invariably, in all the baking that goes on for two days and the craziness, there will be a batch of burned buns. And instead of crying and throwing something (other than the bun)—not like that would happen, mind you—we have instituted INTENTIONAL bun burning. And throwing. Just to get it out of our system. We’re judged (informally—no trophies as yet) on distance and throwing style. Yes, everything is a competition. That’s just how we, um, bun.

Okay, the fact is, these people are really the only tradition I care about.  Hanging out with them, hearing their laughter.  Realizing how amazingly blessed I am to have them in my life.

What are your favorite family traditions?

(P.S. Go throw a burned bun. You’ll love it, I promise!)

Merry Christmas!

Are you new here? You might want to follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram.