Missy Tippens Winner!

The winner of A FOREVER CHRISTMAS by Missy Tippens is

DOROTHY!

Congratulations!!

Please email your full name and address directly

to Missy at missytippensATaolDOTcom.

Be sure to include "The Romance Dish Winner"

in the subject line.

Enjoy!!

Happy House Warming by Missy Tippens

We are so excited to have inspirational romance and southern fiction writer Missy Tippens visiting with us today. Missy is a very busy woman! Not only is she a fabulous author, she is a wife, mother of three, owner of two dogs and a cat, owns a home-based business, and until recently an anatomy and physiology professor at a local college. How she does it all we have no idea! So without further ado, please give Missy a very warm welcome.

Congratulations on the launch of your wonderful new site! I’m excited to be part of the house warming celebration this week. And in honor of that, I thought it would be fun to talk about homey things—things that make a house a home. Especially for this holiday season.

Number one for me is familiar scents. I love the smell of home! And the smell of my parents’ home. And even though it’s been 20 years since she died, I remember the smell of my grandmother’s house. I love the familiar, but I also love to do special holiday fragrances. Pine, candied apple, gingerbread, vanilla, pumpkin… I enjoy setting out candles and essential oil burners. I love to put on a pot of spiced apple cider and have it warming when guests arrive. Yum!

Peace and security are another two biggies for me. I want to know that my home is a place where my children and their friends feel safe. Where we all feel comforted and loved. Sometimes that means turning off the TV (or music or video games or the computer or cell phones—which is not an easy feat with teenagers!) and making sure we all sit down for dinner. Or that we spend some time talking. It means dealing with conflict constructively and peacefully. It means leaving work…well, at work! It sometimes means letting the answering machine pick up during a meal or while doing something special together. It even means telling a teenager he/she can’t text for a while! The world can wear on us and tear us down. Home should be a place to be built up, recharged. A place to feel good being ourselves. I want our home to be a healthy, happy place!

Home is where we can express ourselves. I’m not big on decorating. It’s just not my thing, plus, it can get expensive. But my daughter is getting to the age where she wants to express herself more. And my oldest started doing it long ago with posters and his own art work on the walls. I like those simple things. My refrigerator is covered with the kids’ artwork from way back to pre-school. Family photos spanning several generations fill the shelves of our family room. I love comfortable, casual furniture. Others like beautiful antiques. No matter our style, it’s nice to have a place that fits us and is like sliding into comfy slippers when we come home.

When I think of home, I always think of food. I’m not sure if this is a totally good thing or not! :) But goodness, is there a time for food any bigger than Thanksgiving? My grandmother, and now my mother, always showed love in preparing a huge Thanksgiving feast. Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, broccoli casserole, asparagus casserole, homemade rolls, cranberry sauce, cranberry Jell-O salad, pecan pie, pumpkin pie… When I go home to Kentucky for a visit, my parents always want to feed us. My dad plans a menu ahead of time, then he buys all the groceries. Then he and my mom cook the meals we love best, all our favorites. It shows us love. And I hope I do the same for my children. Even someone who’s not a good cook can show love through creating memories, through starting family traditions.

I hope you’ve felt a sense of homeyness today! I tried to create that in my new release from Steeple Hill Love Inspired, A Forever Christmas. Check out Buffie's review here. I just love doing stories about returning home, about reunions with former loves. I’ll be giving away a copy of A Forever Christmas today in a drawing from among those who leave a comment!

Will you share some of the things that make a house a home for you?

REVIEW - A FOREVER CHRISTMAS

A Forever Christmas by Missy Tippens
Publisher: Steeple Hill Love Inspired

Release Date: November 1, 2009

Devastated by the loss of her favorite student to cancer, kindergarten teacher Sarah Radcliffe returns to her hometown of Magnolia, Georgia, to spend the holidays with her parents and try to ease the pain of this recent loss. When Sarah arrives in Magnolia, she finds her friend Donna Rae in the last stages of her pregnancy and directing the children’s Christmas play at church. After receiving doctor’s orders to stay on best rest for the duration of her pregnancy, Donna Rae pleads for Sarah to take over the director position. Even though Sarah does not want to be around children so soon after young Peter’s death, she reluctantly agrees. From the first time Sarah met the children in the play, one little boy stands out. Well, he stands in the back of the group and rarely says a word, but his quietness speaks to Sarah. His name is Hunter Jones, and he is the oldest son of Gregory Jones, Sarah’s high school sweetheart. The boy who broke her heart into a million pieces.

Gregory Jones is living a very hectic life. After his ex-wife walked out on him and their two small boys a few years ago, Gregory has been mother, father, provider, and so much more. Owning his own business, Gregory is putting in a lot of extra hours to buy the gifts his boys want most for Christmas and hoping that will make up for a mother they never see. As he rushes into the church building to pick up Hunter and Chase from the Christmas play practice, Gregory never expected to run smack dab into Sarah Radcliffe. It has been at least a decade since Gregory had been this close to Sarah, and she is more beautiful than he remembered.

Forced to spend a significant amount of time with Gregory’s boys because of the Christmas play, Sarah heart quickly belongs to these two little boys and she realizes Gregory is working himself to the bone to provide toys for Christmas when all that Hunter and Chase want is to spend time with their father. Sarah soon comes up with several fun activities for the Jones family to do together, such as decorate the Christmas tree and deliver cookies to several homebound individuals. When Gregory finds the boys’ letter to Santa, which reads “Dear Santa, For Hunter – a whole day playing outside with Dad by myself. For Chase – to sleep in Dad’s bed for a week. For both of us – Miss Sarah as our mom.”, he realizes his boys just want him for Christmas, and a new mom too! But Gregory is not sure that he and Sarah can forgive each other for the transgressions of the past.

This is such a sweet Christmas love story. Personally, I have always loved stories where former loves are reunited, and when Christmas is involves it makes it extra special. This is a wonderful story of young love remembered, forgiveness, and not only loving another person but loving an entire family. I really enjoyed seeing Sarah show Gregory that spending time with family is the most important thing. Like most other people, I live a very busy life, but the message of this book spoke loud and clear to me. Spend more time with the people you love! So my family and I have started back on family game night and movie marathon night. Thank you, Missy, for reminding me what is most important!!

~ Buffie