This is the first year in many I haven't blocked my ears to holiday tunes... what have I been missing?

Hello and happy Day 11 on the advent calendar, !

Last year around this time I admitted that I haven't been a huge fan of Christmas since my divorce 15 years ago—the stress of juggling all the family and ex-family expectations overwhelmed the fun and joyful bits of the season.

Since the boys are now men, the only thing I've truly looked forward to is being Mrs. Claus in our village while Mr. Bloom... I mean, Santa!... hands out gifts to all the little kids.

But something shifted this year. I was the one to suggest hanging lights and putting up the tree last Saturday, December 4. Mr. Bloom, who is a huge Christmas fan, got the lights up as the sun went down. Then we walked around the neighborhood with our dog, ooh'ing & aah'ing at all the pretty houses and yards.

And you know what happened that night?

It snowed!!

It's not normal to get snow on the south coast of British Columbia—especially in early December—so I felt like we'd been part of some Christmas magic.

I'm loving how the holiday season is feeling this year.

My darling husband asked me what happened that caused this 180 degree flip in my attitude about all the Ho-ho-ho'ing, why I suddenly wanted to watch all the Christmas movies and didn't recoil at hearing holiday songs. The answer was easy—

Romance authors got me in the holiday spirit!

In September, I wrote a new story for a charity anthology that's raising money for Ronald McDonald House, Secret Santa: A Christmas Romance Collection. Over 70 romance authors contributed to this book, all of us donating 100% of our royalty share to support families with sick kids.

We have a Facebook group where we chat and cheer each on other on. And that's what broke my decade-long bah humbug—being in the energy of so many people who are acting on the true meaning of Christmas. It's amazing!

In the spirit of gift-giving...

If you've not yet read my second-chance, Christmas rom-com with a meddling Nana and lots of dogs, you can get Third Party for zero pennies on Amazon until December 13th. My gift to you for taking time to read my weekly ditherings.

No matter what kind of romance you love, there will be something here to tickle your fancy

If you buy books from Amazon...

And you don't have Kindle Unlimited—

that's their subscription where you pay $9.99 a month and can read unlimited books that are enrolled in the program—which is a million more books than anyone could read in a lifetime, including all of my titles!—Amazon has their annual deal where you can get 3 months for just $0.99.

Since the link to the deal is different in every country, and not always easy to find, I tracked them down for the USA, Canada, UK and Australia. They're all here, at the bottom of the page.

If you already have Kindle Unlimited—here's a trick to save some money this month!

I subscribe to KU in Canada but wanted to know if I could get in on the deal—and I could. Not the same one, but a good one!

To grab this deal (I hope you have it offered to you, too), go to your Amazon account homepage and scroll to the very, very bottom of the page. That's where you'll find the section called Subscriptions. Click Memberships & Subscriptions and look for the Cancel KU button! And then, if the Christmas magic is with you too, you'll be offered 3 free months to stay with them.

Woo hoo! Now you can use that surprise savings of $29.97 to buy some paperback books since you'd already budgeted to spend it! Right? I mean, that's what I did...

Time to crack open a new book

It's mid-afternoon here in windy, rainy, British Columbia. It's time for me to put my work away, make a fresh cup of tea, snuggle under a blanket and read a book. Then, maybe I'll use my new markers (they're so pretty!) and color another picture from the Romance Coloring Challenge... I've done four so far!

You can see them in the brand new, Colorful Romance Facebook group. If you enjoy coloring, I hope you'll download and color a page then join me in the Facebook group!

Have a lovely evening. Stay safe.

love & snowystuff,

Danika

xo

You were so amazing with the Christmas movie recommendations... tell me what you favorite holiday album or song is. I'll make a playlist of everyone's favorites and share that next week!