The Early Bird Gets The Present! Caroline Clemmons. Blog Event.

We’re well into the first week of December and my ‘What Every Woman Wants Beneath Her Christmas Tree’ blog event is chock full of yuletide fun! New to this event? Well, it all about different authors and vendors visiting every two days and putting something under this blog’s Christmas tree for YOU to win. In addition, every commenter between now and December 25th is entered to win a $100 gift certificate from Amazon!

Today I have the pleasure of welcoming over Caroline Clemmons. Caroline is giving away an Ecopy of Home Sweet Texas Home.

Let's hear from Caroline...

Christmas is my favorite time of year! Hello from Mrs. Claus, otherwise known as Caroline Clemmons. At this time of year, I can’t help feeling as if I am chief giver of gifts and chair of Christmas decorations...at our house anyway. My taking care of all the shopping earns me praise from Mr. Claus.

What’s more fun than shopping for the perfect thing for our loved ones? Sure I like getting gifts, but nothing is better than finding a special surprise I know will especially delight someone I love. This takes strategy, fitness, speed and, sometimes, bravery.

For instance, two years ago my youngest daughter and I stood in a long line in cold weather outside an electronics store waiting for a five am opening so we could snag a sale-priced gift I couldn’t afford otherwise--a large sized monitor my husband wanted for his computer. If you realize that neither my daughter nor I is even close to being a morning person, this sounds more self-sacrificing. Hey, we had to get up way early to get there and get in line before five! I’d like a little sympathy here. Thank you.

We planned while we were in line. My daughter asked a store employee where the sale monitors were displayed. When the doors opened, I headed for a shopping cart while my daughter sped to the location. By the time I wove through shoppers to reach her, she clasped the desired monitor...and the stack was entirely depleted. Disappointed shoppers circled my daughter, shooting her the evil eye as they closed in nearer and nearer. I feared she would be mugged any minute, so we put the monitor in the shopping cart and got out of Dodge. Our tremendous sacrifice (remember--sympathy!) was rewarded on Christmas Eve when my surprised husband was delighted with the unexpected monitor.

Maybe that’s not the real spirit of Christmas, but we were pretty happy. Yes, we’re supposed to show love, offer reconciliation and understanding, and relieve hunger, strife, and all the other ills of the world. We can’t achieve all of these, but the same daughter and I love to shop for an angel from the mall tree. On good years, we each take an angel or two; in lean years we share one angel. Either way, what fun! We imagine the joy a child will have and we delight in providing as much as we can for that person(s).

For me, one of the joys is decorating our home. I go crazy! My husband, who I’ve always thought of as the sane member of our partnership, tries to temper my enthusiasm. Poor man, he thinks having a tree IS decorating for Christmas. He sets up our artificial tree and adds the strings of lights. He would be perfectly happy if that took care of the house. Not me. I add so many decorations that the tree is barely visible. I have saved decorations from all the way back to the first year we were married and I’ve added more each year. Honestly, it looks terrific when it’s decorated. Trust me. (Sure, you can.) My snow village and electric train under the tree add to the festive air. I’m in heaven and the cats, dog, and I sit and gaze lovingly at the joyful sight.

Then I start on the house. Wreaths on most every door, swags of fake evergreen, nativity sets everywhere (did I mention I collect them?), Santa and snowmen spread throughout the house. Then there’s the outside--the plywood cut out of Santa in his toy-filled train, the lighted reindeer, and the lights on the hedges. (I eliminated the lights along the eaves after that little falling-off-the-ladder incident that almost broke my husband’s leg.) Once all the decorations are in place, I take delight in our home’s Christmas clothes. My sweet, tolerant husband is just happy I’m happy and will leave him in peace until time to put all this stuff away. What a guy! No wonder I call him Hero on my blog, right?

I send lots of Christmas cards. I mean lots. Many people have quit sending cards due to the expense. Others only send to people out of town. Not me. I love sending cards and my Hero is with me here. We enjoy receiving greetings and I reread them several times. I love those long (okay, one or two are boring) letters that some people include. My favorite cards come with a photo or two. I can’t figure out how relatives’ kids grow up when I haven’t aged a day since last year. And why are some of my younger relatives sporting gray hair? It’s one of the season’s mysteries.

And thinking of happy occasions and giving gifts reminds me of my books. I love writing and love when readers tell me they’ve enjoyed one or more of my books. (I love to hear from readers at caroline@carolineclemmons.com ) So, I’ll let you in on a secret. I have seven of my backlist books and novellas in historical and contemporary romance and a mystery at only 99 cents each on Amazon Kindle and Smashwords.

I sat slaving in my desk chair for months to produce these books (remember--sympathy!) and here I’m offering them to you for the bargain price of 99 cents each. What a deal! In the next month or so, I’ll be adding a western historical, BRAZOS RIVER BRIDE, that’s the first of a Men of Stone Mountain trilogy to my 99 cent books. And I’m placing one of these books under Sky’s Christmas tree for her to give away, winner’s choice. I’m also placing one of my releases from The Wild Rose Press under the tree, HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME, a sweet contemporary romance that a modern day Cinderella story that has received rave reviews.

Purchase the .99 cent books at Amazon and Smashwords.

Purchase my The Wild Rose Press books HERE.

And while I have your attention, let me invite you to surf on over to my blog or catch me on Facebook. Follow me at Twitter.

Thanks to Sky for letting me share my love of Christmas, my books, and writing with you. Merry Christmas and I hope it precedes a healthy, prosperous and Happy New Year!

Sky here. What a lovely post, Caroline! I give you and your daughter ALOT of credit for standing out in the cold at 5 AM to scoop up a deal. I'm totally not a morning person so I beyond sympathize! Wishing your and yours a wonderful holiday season this year.

Don't forget to comment for a chance to win! Contest ends Friday, December 9th. 12 AM, EST.