IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY FOR CHRISTMAS - MEET MELISSA MCCLONE & KATHERINE GARBERA + GIVEAWAY

Best selling authors Melissa McClone and Katherine Garbera have written and just released two lovely Christmas novellas. They are my guests today and have both answered my questions about the upcoming festivities. It's never to early to talk Christmas! Don't you think so? Read their answers and get your chances to win their books in the rafflecopter form below.  The giveaway is open internationally, there will be two winners ( 1 e-book each),  deadline November 12th. Good luck, everyone! 

My questions for both are: Christmas is coming soon! What are your favorite decorations? How do you decorate?

Melissa McClone: 

I love Nativity scenes. They are my favorite decoration. One that's pretty much dog and cat proof goes under the tree. A snow globe nativity goes on the shelf. We also have a nativity fountain. Small ornament sized ones hang in the tree. Medium and larger ones can be found all over the house. I'm always on the lookout for Nativities. I usually have at least one in each room.

I go all out decorating. Decking the halls, so to speak, usually takes me a day or two, not counting the tree. First, I take down pictures from the wall and pack away everything that's on our built-in shelves and windowsills. Then I pull out our Christmas decorations, books and DVDs. We have boxes and boxes of them. I start with the Advent wreath then hang garland on the banister and fireplace mantle and swags on all the windows. Dept. 56 villages used to go on the windowsills until we got a kitten that thought they were her play toys. Now she must content herself with the tree, which we leave up for a least a week with no garland (wood cranberry beads) or ornaments so she can climb and nap in the branches to her hearts content before we decorate it. Advent calendars are hung upstairs and downstairs. Besides a tree upstairs, the kids each have a small one in their bedrooms.  We have lots of shelf sitters, stuffed animals, snowmen, snow globes and other knickknacks. My kids also know if something isn't where it was the year before!  

Home for Christmas 

Ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon: Rachel Murphy loves the scent of gingerbread baking almost as much as she enjoys creating custom edible houses at Christmastime. But she needs a bigger kitchen if she wants to make the most of her impromptu holiday business. Enter Nate Vaughn, handsome venture capitalist turned dude ranch owner and her brother's boss. Nate's commercial workspace is perfect for baking. He thinks she might be perfect for him…as a business partner.

But, after being burned by a celebrity cook who stole her secret recipes, Rachel's wary of Nate's interest in her gingerbread houses.  Then there are his tempting mistletoe kisses: he’s good enough to eat but mixing business with anything else could be a recipe for disaster. Should she leave the Bar V5 ranch and return to the deserts of Arizona? Or can Nate convince her that, here with him in the mountains of Montana, she's already home?

The Author

Melissa McClone has published over twenty-five novels with Harlequin and been nominated for Romance Writers of America's RITA award. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, three school-aged children, two spoiled Norwegian Elkhounds and cats who think they rule the house

Katherine Garbera: 

This is actually my favorite part of the holidays.  The decoration I love the best is my nativity by Fontanini.  We set it up the day after Thanksgiving and keep baby Jesus hidden away until Christmas morning. When my kids were little we’d rotate years as to who would get to place Jesus in his crib on Christmas day.  The Three Wisemen make their journey around our house as well and each night when the kids go to bed I move them somewhere else. I also have an advent calendar that is a box with little doors in it.  Each day I put a clue in the box and the kids have to go off and find their treat for the day.  

I put up a tree in every room.  My upstairs trees are less formal then the one in the living room.  The ones in the kids’ rooms are themed to their likes and each year as we get out the ornaments they loved as little kids we chat about when we got the ornament.  I have garland down the stairs that I wrap with some twinkle lights and bows.  I change my hall runners to holiday ones and put out some embroidered table runners that my grandmother and I made when I first got married.

My kitchen is the heart of the holiday for me because we have so many dishes we only eat at this time of year.  I change the mugs next to my coffee maker to my Santa ones and the plates over my kitchen window to my holiday themed ones and then I put out my teapot and salt shakers and change my seat covers on the kitchen chairs.  

A Cowboy for Christmas

Annie Prudhomme never expected to be back in Marietta, MT and her family is fond of reminding her that she left them and the town behind in search of better things.  A humiliating divorce that cost her everything she’d gained has driven her back home and her family isn’t about to welcome her back into the fold.  She’s in town to rebuild the old home that she inherited and to move on once again. 

Carson Scott never forgot Annie or the way she left.  Now that she’s back in town he’s realizing that the old flame still burns hot but he can’t risk his heart the way he did last time now that he has his son to think about it. 

Being trapped together during a December snowstorm gives them a chance to rekindle their romance but is Annie back for good or is she just looking for a cowboy for Christmas?

The Author

USA Today bestselling author Katherine Garbera is a two-time Maggie winner who has written more than 60 books. A Florida native who grew up to travel the globe, Katherine now makes her home in the Midlands of the UK with her husband, two children and a very spoiled miniature dachshund. Visit her on the web at http://www.katherinegarbera.com, connect with her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter @katheringarbera.

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