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Lilly Gayle Romance

Lilly Gayle Romance

Category Archives: Christmas

No Time For the Apocalypse

21 Friday Dec 2012

Posted by lillygayle in Apocalypse, Christmas, Mayan Calendar, The Wild Rose Press, zombie apocalypse

≈ 1 Comment

Well, today is supposed to be the end of the world, but it’s after nine in the morning here in North Carolina and the sun is still shining. I feel a bit like one of the Who’s in Whoville shouting to Horton in Dr. Seuss’s Horton Hears a Who.  “We’re here! We’re here!”

Instead of shouting to an elephant, I’m whispering to the universe. “We’re still here. We’re still here!”

It’s not as if I believed the Mayan calendar but so far, today, there have been no horrific storms.

And no zombie apocalypse.

For some,  today was a day to dread. A day to fear. For me, today and this whole month are a reason to celebrate.

Today, I celebrate a milestone in my life. It’s my five year anniversary of beating breast cancer. Today, I am a five year survivor.

November and December have been great months for me. Not counting the unexpected $500 dollar repair cost of my Chevy Equinox that left us stranded at a gas station in Zebulon as we were headed home from a Thanksgiving visit with my husband’s family or the spare car, a 1997 Jeep that left me stranded at work when the battery died, I’m still counting my blessings.

My youngest daughter, Lauren moved out at the beginning of November. She has a fantastic, rewarding job as a radiation therapist, she bought her own car, and she now has her own apartment. I’m so incredibly proud of her. Then to top that, on Thanksgiving Day, my youngest brought a surprise with her to Thanksgiving dinner. She brought her sister!

Jennifer has been living in Germany for the past 6 years with her soldier husband, Mike. Jennifer hasn’t been home for Thanksgiving since 2005. And she hasn’t been home for Christmas since 2008. So, it’s been fun around here having her home. And Lauren has visited more often since her sister’s been here.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud of both my girls and I’m so happy for their independence. I had a handicapped sister, Cindy, who never had true independence. So, I know how important it is to a child and a mother to see their children living productive lives. God bless Cindy, she wanted her independence so badly. She died last February. And now, she is truly free.

If the world is going to end tragically today, I’m glad she missed it. But I just don’t have time for the apocalypse now. My son in law arrived in the states on Tuesday to join my daughter for Christmas.So, I’m really looking forward to celebrating the birth of Christ with my entire family.

So glad to have Jennifer and Michael home this year.

The world might be falling into chaos, but I don’t think it’s going to end today. Despite all the evil in the world, there is still goodness here as well.

I can’t imagine what those families in Connecticut must be going through. It must have seemed as if their worlds had ended last Friday, December 14.  I pray for those affected by that tragedy and hope that one day, they might find peace.

The apocalypse may well be near, but I’m still looking for the beauty in this world. I truly believe that if you seek love and happiness, you will find it. And right now, I’m pretty damn happy.

May you all find the peace, love, and happiness you seek. And may you all have a blessed holiday.

Hectic and Surprising Holidays

30 Friday Nov 2012

Posted by lillygayle in 12/21/12, Christmas, lightening strike, Lilly Gayle, Mayan Calendar, paranormal romance, Thanksgiving, The Wild Rose Press, TWRP, western historical romance

≈ 10 Comments

The holidays are such a busy time of year. For me, this year is especially hectic. My self-pubbed book, Helpless Hearts was just released in October, and I’m finding it harder to promote than the books I’ve published with The Wild Rose Press. I don’t have a “support group” with my self-published title.

http://www.amazon.com/Helpless-Hearts-ebook/dp/B009PSQ4MQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354290014&sr=8-1&keywords=helpless+hearts

About the same time Helpless Hearts came out, my youngest daughter, Lauren, moved into her own apartment. There was the move and then the clean up of her old room following the move. Then, I signed a contract with TWRP for Embrace the Darkness , the long-awaited sequel to Out of the Darkness. http://www.amazon.com/Out-of-the-Darkness-ebook/dp/B003O86NR4/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1354290131&sr=8-5&keywords=lilly+gayle

I was working on those edits when my youngest daughter elected me to have Thanksgiving at my house.

I wasn’t all that keen on the idea. I had a book to promote, another to edit, and I wanted to get the house decorated for Christmas before my oldest daughter and her soldier husband came home for the holidays.

Mike’s in the army and stationed in Germany. He and  Jennifer haven’t been home for Christmas since 2008. And Jennifer hasn’t been home for Thanksgiving since 2005. Jennifer told me they were flying home just before Christmas. And Lauren’s room was still purple. So, after Lauren drafted me to host Thanksgiving, she got her boyfriend to paint her old bedroom.

It’s now a soothing color called “beach.”

Lauren even promised to come over to help clean the morning before or family Thanksgiving luncheon, but she overslept…or so she said.

No problem. I got the house cleaned, got the food cooked, and was ready for my guests when Lauren called to say she was running late–not at all unusual for my youngest. She’s always running late.

The rest of my family arrived on time and were sitting in the living room talking when I saw Lauren’s car pull up in the front yard. I figured the driveway was too packed for her to park in her usual place. So,I went to the front door to open it before she knocked. I figured she’d have her hands full with the food she was bringing for our Thanksgiving feast. But when I opened the door, I found my oldest daughter, Jennifer. The daughter who was supposed to still be in Germany until December 23.

Lauren had been hiding her away in her apartment for three days.

I’ve never been so surprised in my life.” target=”_blank”>

my beautiful daughters

But now Thanksgiving is over and Jen is still here. I love having her, and her husband will be joining us a couple of days before Christmas. But visiting with her put me behind on my edits. Which, I finally completed late last night. Now, I’m patiently waiting for the art department to create the cover for Embrace the Darkness. And I’m trying to get ready for Christmas.

Then there’s the day job. I work as a mammographer in a local hospital and everyone wants to get everything done before the end of the year when their deductibles start over. So, I’ve worked late almost every night since Jennifer’s been home.

Life is hectic right now. And expensive. Besides holiday shopping, I had to spend over $500 on my car when it stranded us at a gas station as we were heading home from visiting my husband’s family for Thanksgiving. Luckily, I have towing on my insurance policy and Lauren’s boyfriend had driven separately so he could go to a race after church. The race was just a 1/2 hour drive from where my car stranded us. So, we didn’t have to wait long to get rescued and we had bathrooms and coffee. Everything I needed for a cold November night stuck in a car with my husband and 2 grown daughters. We even played Monopoly on Jennifer’s I-phone while we waited.

And now, the plumber is at my house, fixing a leak under my sink. There goes another couple hundred bucks! But I don’t want to get so caught up with money, or the lack there of, that I can’t give people meaningful gifts–even if I have to spend a little less this year. And I don’t want to get so caught up in making holiday plans that I forget to enjoy the season.

Christmas shouldn’t be so stressful. Hectic yes. Stressful, no. So I just need to slow down, take time to smell the Christmas tree (even if it is fake!) and enjoy my daughters’ company. Life is too short. And Christmas 2013 will be here before you know it…unless the Mayans are right and the world ends on 12/21/12.

Then, none of us will be here for this Christmas. So, why am I even stressing? Time to enjoy the most hectic, chaotic, wonderful time of the year.

So, before the world ends, share your most surprising holiday story for a chance to win an e-book of Helpless Hearts.

Changing Traditions

23 Friday Dec 2011

Posted by lillygayle in Christmas, family, historical romance, Holiday Traditions, Lilly Gayle, romance novelist, The Wild Rose Press

≈ 4 Comments

The tree is up, the gifts are wrapped, and I’m finally ready for Christmas. Now, I sit here reflecting and thinking of past Christmases when traditions seemed so important.

When I was a child, my dad always cut down a fresh tree and we decorated a week before Christmas. When I got older, my younger sister and I trudged into the woods with him to help pick out a tree. Nowadays, I have an artificial tree and I decorate the Friday after Thanksgiving. Decorating is a lot of work and I put up quite a few. I’m just lazy enough to want to leave them up as long as possible before I have to go to all the trouble of un-decorating.

My artificial tree used to be fat and tall, like the trees from my childhood. Nowadays, my tree is still tall, but not so fat. I got a pencil tree so it’d take up less room–and I needed to make a space for all the presents. Now that Santa doesn’t visit my house any more, everything gets wrapped and shoved under the tree–another tradition bites the dust.

We used to go to my grandparent’s house for Christmas Eve supper too. My dad’s entire family would be there: Uncles, aunts, cousins, even some great aunts and uncles and cousins. The next morning, we’d go back for brunch. As my cousins married and started families of their own, fewer and fewer cousins were able to make it to my grandparent’s house. After my younger sister and I got married and had children of our own, we started having Christmas Eve supper at my parents’ house and going to my grandparent’s the next morning. Even that changed as my children got older. Then my grandparents died, and the family stopped gathering.

Grandparents have a way of holding a family together for the holidays–until the grandchildren start having children of their own. Then a new generation of grandparents begin new traditions. Or so it seems in my family. I don’t have grandchildren yet, but my oldest daughter lives in Germany.

Because of the six-hour time difference we now exchange gifts on Christmas Eve morning via SKYPE. After the gift exchange, my daughter runs off with her boyfriend to spend time with his family. My husband and I go to my cousin’s house, where I once again see those aunts, uncles and cousins. And we go to my parents’ house after lunch on Christmas Day. These days, I work a lot of Christmas mornings for half a day to allow those with children to be home for Santa Claus.

For years now, we’ve celebrated Christmas with my husband’s family the week before Christmas in an effort to eliminate the stress of so many families trying to divide Christmas day into rushed visits. But now that my sister in law lives in Utah, we seldom see her any more.

As I grow older, I find my life changing and those Christmas traditions I cherished as a child must change as well or the meaning of the holiday will get lost. My tree is no longer real, but I have the same ornaments. From the two turtle doves, now slightly mangled by a troublesome cat, to the first ornament I bought as a married woman and my daughters’ “My First Christmas” ornaments, the tree still holds some traditions. And while we we no longer rise at the crack of dawn to see what Santa brought, I still get up early on Christmas morning to go to work. And we still go to my parents’ house on Christmas Day. But these days, we have our traditional oyster stew for a late lunch or early supper rather than at brunch.

Life changes and it’s sometimes stressful. But Christmas isn’t about the gifts or the dinners. It’s about family and finding time to be with them and remember why we celebrate. So, no matter if your Christmas involves following time-honored traditions, creating new traditions of your own, or just trying to fit as many people into your plans as possible, take time to remember the reason we celebrate.

When is Easter Again?

24 Sunday Apr 2011

Posted by lillygayle in Christmas, Easter, historical romance, Lilly Gayle, Religion, writing

≈ Comments Off on When is Easter Again?

Easter coincides with the vernal equinox. According to the New Testament, Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection occurred about the same time as the Jewish Passover, which was celebrated  on the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Both those who believe in the Good Friday to Easter Sunday and the Wednesday to Saturday timeline for Christ’s death and resurrection do not argue this point. But, because of the differing phases of the moon, Christians celebrated Easter at different times and by the end of the second century, some churches celebrated on Passover and others celebrated the following Sunday.

The year I was born, Easter was on April 17th. The year I got married, it fell on April 6th, the day after my birthday. Easter was March 30th the year my oldest was born and March 26th the year my youngest was born. And this year, it lands on April 24th, which to me, seems like the latest Easter I can remember.

Going to http://www.timeanddate.com/ can show any calendar from any year to see when Easter fell in any given year. But  who sets the date for Easter and how do they decided? Why not celebrate on the day Christ was resurrected?

Well, for one thing, Christians, theologians, and scholars cannot agree on the day Christ was crucified or resurrected. Christians celebrate the Good Friday Crucifixion to Sunday morning resurrection timeline. But that’s not three days and three nights.  And according to Mathew 12:39-40, Christ was in the earth for three days and three nights.
Matthew 12:  39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

So, then, how could Christ be crucified on Friday and resurrected on Sunday. The math doesn’t add up. Then again, according to the Gregorian calendar, Sunday is the first day of the week and the sabbath falls on Saturday. And the Gregorian calendar is a continuation of the Julian calendar that started with the year Jesus was born. But most western religions who celebrate the birth and resurrection of Christ worship on Sunday. So, maybe that’s why Christians cling to the Good Friday to Easter Sunday time line.
But according to some- http://www.herealittletherealittle.net/index.cfm?page_name=Jesus-Resurrection -Christ was crucified between 9:00 a.m and 3:00 p.m. He was then placed in the grave. Although this isn’t a full 24 hours, it counts as the first day and first night in the grave. Thursday and Friday are days two and three and Christ arose on Saturday, the day then recognized as the Sabbath.
So, why don’t Christians follow this time line? And why do we celebrate on different days and even months?

How is Easter even determined?

Easter is determined by the equinox. Every year around March 21 and September 23, there is twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of darkness. Day and night are equal. These two days are known as the vernal or spring equinox and the autumnal equinox.


In 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea established Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon and dependant upon the ececclesiastical approximation of March 21 for the vernal equinox. But if the full moon falls on Sunday, Easter is delayed one week, which decreases the chances of it falling on the same day as the Jewish Passover.

So, if Easter is celebrated at different times of the month, does it really matter whether Christ died on a Friday and was ressurrected on Sunday. Or if he died on Wednesday and was ressurected on Saturday? What matters is that Christ was tortured, ridiculed, and crucified for our sins. He was buried in a tomb where he lay dead for three days before his ressurection on the third day. And because he died, we migh live and have eternal life.Believing and having faith is what counts.

In the words of Sturar Chase~  “For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don’t believe, no proof is possible.”

Christmas Traditions

15 Wednesday Dec 2010

Posted by lillygayle in Blog Tour, Christmas, Maya Blake, prizes, romance, The Wild Rose Press

≈ 13 Comments

Today is the last week of The Wilder Roses Blog tour. Leave me a comment today about the man of your dreams or your favorite holiday traditions for a chance to win The Man of My Dreams candle from Celebrating Homes.
So, what’s your favorite tradition?
Christmas dinner. Grandma’s special cookies. Reading The Christmas Story. Decorating on a certain day. Everyone has a Christmas tradition, even if those traditions change over the years the way my family’s have. (You can check out my Christmas traditions at http://plparker.blogspot.com/ . It’s part of the Wilder Roses Christmas Blog Tour.)
Today Maya Blake, author of Hostage to Love is sharing her Christmas traditions.
So, Maya, tell us something about yourself and your favorite holiday traditions.

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Hi, I’m Maya Blake, I’m a thirty-something romance writer whose life-long dream of writing finally came true last year when my debut novel was published by The Wild Rose Press. I’m the fourth of five siblings and I live in Kent, England with my husband and two (sometimes, lol) adorable kids.

I don’t have a Christmas tradition at my house, per se, but definitely the one thing I look forward to once lunch is out of the way is opening presents, and who doesn’t? But before we get down to this momentous task, we have a little pre-present opening “thing” we always do. First, we get out the mince pies (which goes in the oven after the turkey comes out) and the mulled wine. For my buddies across the Atlantic who’ve never heard of mince pies, here’s a link http://www.yourcounty.co.uk/recipes/mincepies.html of the ingredients that goes into a yummy mince pie (and no, it has no meat in it ). The teetotallers in my house go for tea, but I always make sure I’m nice and toasty with a glass of warm mulled wine on standby.
My husband tends to do the honours in dishing out the pies, usually served with lashings of rich cream. There’s nothing like digging into a warm mince pie with a roaring fire going and everyone full and happy from a lovely lunch.
It is only after the pies and wine are eaten and drank that we open our Christmas presents. The children get their presents first, naturally. Then it’s Grandma’s turn. I tend to open mine last, because more often than not, I know what I’m going to receive – my family aren’t very good at keeping secrets *sigh*.
Finally, the older ones succumb to a well-earned nap in front of the TV clutching whatever present they’ve received that year and wake in time (if they can) for the Queen’s Speech!
What’s your favourite holiday tradition?
Maya Blake is Crimson Rose author of Hostage to Love, available from The Wild Rose press http://www.thewildrosepress.com/hostage-to-love-p-1277.html 
and Amazon: http://goo.gl/POGwd

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Blurb –
Crushed by betrayal, Belle Winkworth-Jones flees the shambles of her short-lived marriage, only to be kidnapped by a vicious rebel soldier determined to keep her for himself. Nick Andreakos mounts a ruthless rescue to save the wife who walked away from him, even though he’s resentful Belle could dismiss their marriage so easily.
On Althea, their private Greek island where Belle recuperates, passion ignites, taking hold with relentless force. But in the shadows, danger lurks. The rebel soldier is determined to recapture Belle.
Can Belle and Nick set aside their differences in time to fight this threat and save their love, or will it be too late…?

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Excerpt
Belle jerked awake as a loud blast ripped through the cave, her eyes unprepared for the blinding, strobe flashes of light that lit up the dark cavern a second later. Squinting, she saw the flashes continue intermittently for several seconds, then stop. She lurched from her position propped up against the wall and wondered for a moment if she was still dreaming.
The screams from a few feet away told her she wasn’t.
She’d stayed awake long after the rebel leader retired behind his curtain, unable to sleep for fear he might vent his anger on Father Tom. 
She’d also contemplated what she would do after nature ran its course. She’d bought them three days, four at the most. What would happen after that? Could she willingly to let the loathsome man touch her for the sake of keeping one or all of them alive? And what guarantee did she have that he wouldn’t harm Father Tom?
The idea that perhaps they could overpower two of the soldiers, steal their weapons and make a run for it, she immediately discarded as foolish, and dangerous. She’d slumped, dejected, against the wall of the cave. That’s when she must’ve fallen asleep.
Dizzy and momentarily blinded by the flashes, she jumped as Edda screamed again. What was happening? Had the rebel leader decided they weren’t worth keeping and blasted the cave, burying them alive? Curiously though, the walls of the cave remained intact. She blinked a few times to dispel the blindness. Nothing happened.
A staccato burst of muffled gunfire sounded close by. But the gunfire was inside the cave, not outside. Which meant the rebels were still inside. Something brushed against her and she bit back a scream.
‘It’s all right lass, it’s me,’ Father Tom whispered close to her. ‘I told yer we’d be rescued today.’
Rescued! Why hadn’t she thought of that? Her spirits soared. Then plummeted.
Who would rescue them? Only Liz knew where she was, and she knew her friend wouldn’t give up her whereabouts lightly. Besides, she wasn’t due to make her weekly phone call to her best friend until Monday, so she wouldn’t guess Belle might be in trouble until after she failed to make the call. As for Father Tom, having lived and run the mission in Nawaka for the last seventeen years, he wouldn’t be missed back in his native Scotland. The same went for Edda and Hendrik, who’d been travelling around Africa for the past two years. As for the Nawakan government, it had enough on its plate with its fight to prevent the gold and diamond mines from being looted to mount rescue operations of kidnapped foreigners.
So rescue was not an option.
The only other conclusion she could reach was that another rebel faction had caught wind of Captain Mwana’s bounty and intended to claim them. It wasn’t unheard of for one rebel group to seize another’s hostages if they could profit from it. Sometimes rebels within the same group rose up against each other. Was that what was happening here? Had Mwana’s subordinates staged a coup against him?
If so, they had to take advantage of the gunfight.
‘Father, I don’t think we’re being rescued, but I still think we should make a run for it. This may be our only chance.’ God, she prayed she was right.
He gave a nervous chuckle. ‘I’m with you, lass, but unfortunately, these old eyes cannot see a thing at the moment. I think I’m blind.’
She stopped herself from telling him she suffered the same ailment, although she could just about make out shadowy images in her periphery. ‘It’s all right Father. Just hold onto my hand and I’ll guide you. Keep your head down. Hendrik, Edda, are you okay?’
‘Yes,’ Hendrik responded.
She took a deep breath and edged forward, her hand clamped around Father Tom’s. They’d travelled only a few feet when a bullet slapped the cave wall beside her. Small rocks struck her cheek and she cried out. Fear strangling her, she crouched down, eyes shut, beside Father Tom.
‘We have to keep moving,’ Hendrik urged from behind her.
She opened her eyes and thankfully, most of her vision had been restored. But what little she saw stilled her heart. Since whoever was attacking the rebels was doing so from outside the cave whilst the guerrillas defended themselves from inside, there’d be no way to escape without being caught in the crossfire.
Another bullet whizzed past her and struck a lantern on the far side of the cave, igniting it. A huge plume of acrid smoke bellowed up towards the craggy ceiling of the cave.
Their situation had just worsened a hundred-fold.
She knew they only had a matter of minutes to live. Because if the bullets didn’t get them, the smoke and fire would. There was enough bedding, ammunition and lamps to set the place ablaze in seconds.
Just then the gunfire ceased.
‘Come on,’ she whispered desperately to Father Tom. She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the entrance of the cave, trying not to let the sight of the bloodied bodies disturb her. She focused on the discarded guns instead. If they could arm themselves, they’d increase their chances considerably.
But as she reached for the nearest rifle, she heard the crunch of feet approaching.
Another burst of gunfire. Then silence.
Through the smoky light she saw a figure, tall and male, enter the cave, followed by two more. In silence, the men advanced towards them. Belle’s throat closed up, fear completely seizing her. She turned to Father Tom. Her hand gripped his and she tried to shield him with her body.
Someone crouched behind her. She squeezed her eyes shut.
This is it. This is it.
‘Hello, Tinkerbelle,’ a deep voice purred in her ear.

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