MERRY CHRISTMAS

I hope you all had a wonderful time in the last two days.

I managed to finish all my cooking, baking, cleaning, cards, gift-wrapping on time. I had my daughter and her husband and their two daughters, and my son, his wife, daughter and son, plus Mom, my son-in-law’s uncle and wife, and a couple of good friends. We celebrated Christmas Eve and then Christmas Day in my apartment. It was a lot of fun and a lot of noise with four little ones. I was exhausted but it was great. Today we continued at my daughter's. Nothing beats family reunion.

We had a lot of wrapped boxes under my little Christmas tree, and then an incredible mess once the gifts were opened. Small or big Christmas trees are beautiful. I often wondered where the Christmas tree originated. My friend Paisley Kirkpatrick blogged about Christmas trees on the Writers at Play blog. Here is what she wrote:

Most scholars point to Germany as being the origin of the Christmas tree. The story from Germany comes from Queen Victoria. She often visited relatives in Germany and while there, she fell in love with Prince Albert. After they married, they moved back to England to raise their family. Prince Albert decorated a tree and ever since that time, the English, because of their love for their Queen, copied her Christmas customs including the Christmas tree and ornaments. This story took place in the 19th century around 1830.Another story about the origin of the Christmas tree says that late in the Middle Ages, Germans and Scandinavians placed evergreen trees inside their homes or just outside their doors to show their hope that spring would soon come.

A legend that has not been proved, is that Martin Luther is responsible for the origin of the Christmas tree. This story says that one Christmas Eve, about the year 1500, he was walking through the snow-covered woods and was struck by the beauty of the snow-glistened trees. Their branches, dusted with snow, shimmered in the moonlight. When he got home, he set up

a small fir tree and shared the story with his children. He decorated the Christmas tree with small candles, which he lighted in honor of Christ’s birth.


While you are eating delicious left-over and enjoying your Christmas tree for another week,

let’s have some fun with a contest:


Bring in the New Year with:
the NIGHT OWL ROMANCE NEW YEARS WEB HUNT.


Enter the Hunt for the chance to win Ebooks, Advanced Reading Copies, Print Books and other author goodies. The hunt runs Jan.1st – Feb. 1st, 2009.
Make sure to get your entry in soon. There are well over 30 items to win.

Go to http://www.nightowlromance.com/nightowlromance/2009WebHunt.asp for contest details.