Merry Christmas!

I hope your day was filled with the shining warmth and love of family and friends.

My DH and I shared a quiet holiday amongst family. We didn't get caught up in all the commercialism this year. We truly can say we shared the holiday in its true meaning for the first time ever. We did not exchange gifts, we did not get lost in the bustling crowds of the season, but we did share lots of love and family time.

We have no children which made this season bearable as like so many others we struggle just to make ends meet in these trying times. With the state of the economy is these days, I have to admire parents struggling and conniving to make the holiday wonderful and full for their children and not having the available funds to accomplish the feat. God bless you all and I wish you prosperity in the New Year.

We have a beautiful Sheltie, Gypsy Lee, who was diagnosed with Canine cutaneous epitheliotropic lymphoma (mycosis fungoides)which is rare and virtually, as we are finding out, hard to treat. She is a fighter and has not had any life threatening changes to personality, vigor, or activity, however, she has horrendous tumors forming around her upper snout/lips. We are treating the disease at this time with oral chemotherapy and are in the first stages of treatment.

Why do I bring this up? Because I am trying to explain how we have first hand witnessed the joy of this season. First, I want to say I feel so very fortunate to still have my baby with me and doing well in spite of the ugliness of the disease.

Now to the point. We (the family) all agreed to not exchange gifts this year. We're all older and there are no children involved so we opted to have a nice simple celebration. Well...

To my DH and my surprise, Gypsy was the recipient of all the gifts. She got everything from her favorite treats to money for her medical treatment! Needless to say her mommie spent some time in humble tears today. Tears of joy knowing that our family cares as much for our Sheltie as we do and tears of relief knowing that the financial burden had been lifted if only a little.

To me that is the meaning of Christmas. Families and friends sharing, loving, and always with you in your darkest hour and times of need.

I hope you all have experienced a special joy this year. Thank you for allowing me to share mine with you.



Now, I'm sure you are all wondering who the winner of the drawing for a free download of Eternal Obsession, my newest release, an erotic vampire short available at The Wild Rose Press/Scarlet Line. DH drew the name out of one of his hats, LOL And the winner is...

Drumroll, please...

Mary Ricksen!!!

Congratulations, Mary. I hope you enjoy the story.

Now I'm off to work on Roma Wolf Tales Book II. One of my goals this year is to get two more projects done and submitted for consideration.

Have a wonderful night!

Dayana~