Christmas Scavenger Hunt Has Big Prizes!

A few author friends and I are throwing fun Christmas party for you this week, Dec. 6-12, 2021 — a  Christmas Scavenger Hunt with some amazing prizes! Merry Christmas! Welcome to the Christian Fiction Christmas Scavenger Hunt!

Here’s how it works: At each author’s blog post, you will find a question that can be answered by checking out the free Amazon preview of their book. Provide the answer at this form. But don’t stop reading just yet. There are some big prizes to win in this Christmas Scavenger Hunt. I mean BIG!

Note these rules to play: You must answer the questions for every author in the Christmas Scavenger Hunt to be considered to win the $350 first place, $250 second place or $150 third place Amazon gift cards. These prizes are USD values. If you are not a U.S. resident, you will get a gift card from the Amazon store for your country; however, it will be valued at these USD amounts.)

At the end of my post is a link to the next blog, who will provide a link to the next blog, etc., to the very end, creating a circle (a round-robin) visit through all of the authors’ blogs.

Christmas stories are heart-warming, fun, and enhance the experience of the season. Love, joy, and peace seep into us from the page. As an author, it’s really fun to write an old-fashioned Christmas story because I get to imagine living in in an era I’d love to travel back in time and visit. Even though I think it would be hard to wear those long gowns full of tiny buttons, corsets, and pinching boots daily, somehow I still wish I could dance around a ballroom in those gorgeous silks and velvets. I’d love to have a furry muff to keep my hands warm or snuggle under a heavy down-filled lap quilt in a sleigh.

The slower lifestyle appeals to me as well. Or at least what seems like a slower lifestyle than this harried technology-laden world. The quietness of the snow falling, a roaring fire, with entertainment provided by family and guests caroling after dinner is an astonishing comparison to blaring speakers in malls filled with people. 

My grandpa, born in 1883, lived in the Gilded Age. He grew up with Christmas around a piano singing carols. His talents included reciting poetry and playing the harmonica. Though he was 81 when I was born, we still sang together and he recited poetry and played his harmonica every Christmas (and holiday gatherings year-round).  We heard him play and sing Listen to the Mockingbird, recite his original piece You Tell Me I Am Growing Old, and then he’d ask me to sing, too. Well into my preteens, my grandma played a small pedal organ. We pressed ourselves into their small living room and elbow to elbow with all my cousins and had good old-fashioned Christmases. So normal. I didn’t know how special all that was until one day it wasn’t anymore. I count myself so blessed that family entertainment was a part of my life. I wish I could make it normal nowadays.

I count myself so blessed that my grandchildren like to show me what new thing they’ve learned, especially when they’ll play a song for me on the piano. My heart swells with the joy of the moment and the past joys tucked deep in my memories, though I never wore a long velvet winter gown. Maybe one day I’ll convince my family to have a good old fashioned-themed Christmas. Hey, it could happen. We’ve had a Scottish Christmas the year my daughter graduated from University of Glasgow. Lots of plaids, Scottish foods, and gifts from the Christmas villages in Scotland. This year will be a Hawaiian-themed Christmas complete with Hawaiian foods. For us, Christmas is first about Jesus and then about traditions and memories with our family just as I remember the generations already gone including the nearly dozen pies my grandparents always made. Regardless of the theme, I’m told Scotch Eggs must be on the table. It’s just not Christmas Tea without them, a successful tradition that’s about 22 years young, but one they seem to feel is crucial.

Queen of the Rockies is set in 1889, a long past Gilded Age for us, but it’s the most modern city of the time already decked out with electricity, running water, and an elegant resort meant to rival the spas and palaces of Europe. And it really existed! I spent hours scouring photos, history books, and interviewing people who remembered the grandeur or knew of it. I hope in writing this Christmas story that you feel transported back to 1889 with me to the Gilded Age of the American West.

Let’s get to the Christmas Scavenger Hunt! Click the link below to find the answer to this question in the “look inside feature” of the  first chapter of Queen of the Rockies:

Where can you soak in a hot spring?

When you have the answer, FILL OUT THIS FORM and head on to the next blog!

Thank you so much for visiting! The next author on the Christmas Scavenger Hunt is Lyn Cote, who is telling us all about her book Beneath Northern Lights! You can find Lyn Cote’s Christmas Scavenger Hunt post at this link.

Remember that you must answer every question from all the authors in this Christmas Scavenger Hunt to be eligible for the prizes and that entries into the event will end on December 12th at 11:59 PM EST!