But it's never too cold to snuggle up to one!

Hello my friend!

I am writing to you from my spare room office on a very chilly Saturday morning. Upside—it's stopped raining. Downside—for my darling husband at least—is that I am dressed in my onesie! It is very likely the least sexy clothing I own. But it is also the warmest. So I ask Mr. Bloom to look away when I leave my room to make tea or get a snack so he won't get sick of seeing me looking like a big, purple sleeping bag with legs!

I saw a post on Facebook this week that got me thinking about what we wear and how that can impact our relationships. This is the image:

My sleepwear sad story—with a happy ending

I've mentioned before that Mr. Bloom is my second husband. Prior to meeting my forever man, I was married to a lovely guy for 14 years: Darling Husband #1, DH#1.

He was my best friend and I was his. We had a son together and were always on the same page with our parenting. By day, we had the perfect marriage. No joke. No exaggeration. We had fun, loved, laughed and had a great life.

But at night? Things weren't so hot.

In fact, they were downright cold. I take full responsibility. Well, 99%. I'm assigning 1% to my ex-husband's mother.

Every Christmas for the 14 years I was married to DH #1, my mother-in-law gave us each a pair of pajamas. It was a tradition I looked forward to. Every pair for all those years fell into the style category of #1 above—long pants and t-shirt, sometimes with long sleeves.

So that's how I went to bed every night for my entire marriage—fully clothed.

The very last pair I got were Winnie the Pooh PJs. I'll never forget them even though I haven't worn them in over 15 years. In fact, since the first night I spent with Mr. Bloom—even though I told him I would not have sex that night—I have slept in the attire represented by #20 above. Buck naked.

Back to the 99% responsibility I accept for a decade of cold nights with my ex... my libido was non-existent after I had my son. Like nothing could make me want to engage. At first DH #1 was patient. And I did have sex once a month or so, because I loved the guy and wanted to give him what he needed. But I was not present. Of course he could feel it.

The pajamas did not help. Having a full body barrier between us gave us no room to just touch each other's skin in a loving way. In the end—which seems inevitable now—I gave him permission to have an affair so he could get the attention he craved and deserved. Of course, neither of us counted on him falling in love with that woman. But he did.

Back to Mr. Bloom and our first night together. I decided and told him that if we were going to be in a relationship, one of my criteria (I had several!!) was that we would sleep naked—our bed would not be clothing optional, it would be clothing banned.

It wasn't much of a negotiation—he agreed immediately!

I got the therapy I needed to address my libido issue (it was trauma-based, nothing to do with DH #1), and it has not been a problem since. Well, until I hit menopause.

Menopause has not been a friend to my libido but, because Mr. Bloom and I sleep with skin-to-skin contact every night, it's a lot easier to maintain the connection that DH #1 and I lost because Winnie the Pooh, cute as he is, was a serious cock-blocker!

So no PJ's but I do love—and need—a cozy bathrobe. I mentioned to Mr. Bloom that I'd found one online he could get me for Christmas this year... guess what UPS delivered yesterday! Even though I know what's inside, it will be a delight to open the gift on Christmas Eve and to retire the robe he gave me for Christmas six or seven years ago.

Funny thing is that when I put on my least sexy Onesie in the entire world this morning, Mr. Bloom said, "It's a good thing I ordered the large robe for you since you're going to need it to cover that... " he didn't finish his sentence. He didn't need to. His face said exactly what he was thinking!

But lucky for me, since we sleep naked, he can close his eyes and picture a more appealing version of me!

Oh, the magic of Christmas!

Do you celebrate gift-giving in December, Christmas or otherwise? This is a must-see collection of holiday stories with books from dozens of authors.

Here's a book I hope you start seeing everywhere

I mentioned Secret Santa last week and will continue to until Christmas. Forgive me if you're more bah-humbug than ho-ho-ho. But this book is important to me and the 50+ other authors who have contributed a story to the collection because 100% of proceeds are being donated to Ronald McDonald House.

So far we've raised over $1,500 but we'd love to write this charity, which supports families who have children in hospital away from their home communities, a check for at least $2,500.

All it will cost you is $0.99. In return you'll get over 50 stories—from short to full-length novels!—organized by heat level. Virtually every sub-genre is included so you'll be sure to find at least a couple of stories to bring you joy. Even if you're not a fan of Christmas stories, if you love love you'll find something in this collection to love. Got it, love?

More free books to warm the cold nights

Includes free books by ...

L.M. Mountford

Lauren Wood

L. Steele & lots more!

Includes free books by ...

Nina Dallas

Ruby Rose

Britney Bell & loads more!

Includes free books by ...

Ella Cooper

Harper West

Tara Brent & scads more!

Includes free books by ...

Piper Cook

Pandora Snow

Avery North & many more!

Share your sleepwear story...

That's it from me this week. My coffee mug is empty and so is my grumbly tummy. It's time to sneak out of my office and hope Mr. Bloom is fully focused on the Formula One qualifying race I can hear outside my door.

Since I love hearing from you, if you have a story about sleepwear, please tell me. I will NOT share those in a future email. Though... if a story is funny or sexy enough, I may have a character act it out in a future book!

warmlove & stuff,

Danika

xo

PS - If you haven't read my holiday rom-com, Third Party, I think you'll love Josh and Paige's second chance romance.

There's a meddling Nana who knows these two should be together and works her magic to make sure they remember why they fell in love and how wonderful their future could be as a couple again.