Your Weekend Read: MIRACLES AND GHOSTS PAST

 Please welcome dear friend and fellow author D.L. Finn.

Thank you, Sandra, for having me on your beautiful blog today to share the release of Ghosts & Miracles Past: A Christmas Collection Two! I’m beyond grateful for your constant support and friendship.

“Christmas Rescue” was originally in my first Christmas Collection. I pulled it because it wasn’t going anywhere. When I came back to it later, it all came together. Opal’s had a bad year. Her mother died, and her boyfriend broke up with her, leaving her in heavy debt. The worst part was that he took their dog too. All she could do was quit school and start working to pay off the debt. Not feeling her usual Christmas spirit, she still plans to host her aunt, uncle, and cousins as her mother would have. She needs some supplies on Christmas Eve. A big storm is coming, and she finds people are already home, but in one dark parking lot, she isn’t alone.

 

BLURB:

Miracles saturate the sweet-scented Christmas season—a reminder we aren’t alone.

Miracles & Ghosts Past: A Christmas Collection brings eight stories from past holidays. Rita buys train tickets for her and Morris’s 30th anniversary in the novelette, “The Christmas Train Mystery.” She’s convinced this trip will bring her and Morris closer—if he can find the time. A murder mystery excursion will change Rita’s life in more ways than one, but will she go with her workaholic husband or by herself? In the first short story, “Christmas Rescue,” Opal trusts the wrong man and loses her mother in the same year, leaving her feeling lost. On a mission to get candles for the dinner table, she makes an unexpected find. “Is There a Santa?” goes back to the 1920s, where a widower is desperate to hold on to his farm and children. He doesn’t want charity, just a bit of luck or a miracle. In the final stories, you’ll meet an eleven-year-old who’s home alone, a family living in the aftermath of war, a girl who gets some shocking news, a widow with a warning from beyond, and a woman trapped on an elevator with Santa. Hope underlies these stories; it endures even in the direst of circumstances. Whether help comes from a ghost, Santa, or an angel, miracles are just within reach.

 

EXCERPT FROM: Christmas Rescue, 1975

This Christmas Day, she’d paste on a smile, but inside lurked the Grinch before his heart grew three sizes. If time could pause, she would have the chance to breathe and dream again, but time and bills continued to march forward, unfazed even by the world’s Grinches.

 

“Perhaps life is meant to be endured, not enjoyed.”

 

Opal immediately felt guilty, knowing her mom would disapprove of that statement. But Opal’s mom wasn’t there to hear it after her fatal heart attack. It was going to be her first Christmas without her mom, who had been her best friend.

 

Still, she attempted to be positive in memory of her mom. “I know I have this house and my bartending job. But if I sold the house and got an apartment, I could finish getting my teaching degree. Which means I’d leave my childhood home and all the memories that come with it.” Opal sighed and wiped away a single tear. “I miss you, Mom, and you were right about many things—including Sam.”

 

That name repulsed her like a gory horror movie. With a shudder, she thrust away thoughts of her ex. She picked up a silver bell that had fallen off the Christmas tree and put it on an empty branch. The silver bell swung and stilled. She turned her back to the colorful tree to prepare the house for her guests, but the small silver bell started ringing like it was atop a church.

 

“Either an angel got their wings, or my walking jiggled the bell.”

 

Opal leaned toward the latter. She placed her mom’s porcelain nativity scene on the fireplace mantel. Her youngest niece, Lisa, was obsessed with the nativity. Lisa was convinced the angel was real and was watching over them. The sweet girl was always on her best behavior around it.

 

Even surrounded by all this good cheer, regret wouldn’t allow her to forget. It overshadowed everything. Three months after her mom died, her ex-boyfriend moved across the country with her inheritance and Beauty, the sweet pup she still missed. All Sam left behind were maxed-out credit card bills. Unfortunately, she was the primary cardholder; he had been able to charge with no responsibility for any of the debt. This had alarmed her mom, but Opal was in love, or thought she was, and didn’t listen. After her mom passed, Opal continued with her bad decisions, which included adding Sam’s name to her savings account after he pointed out it made sense since they were getting married. She thought that was his proposal, but no ring followed, just a breakup.

 

Universal Purchase Link

 

FUN FINN FACTS

1.      My favorite Christmas songs are: O Holy Night, Carol of the Bells, Silent Night, Happy Christmas (War is Over), Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow, Little Town of Bethlehem, Christmastime is Here, It’s beginning to look like Christmas, White Christmas, I’ll be Home for Christmas, The Christmas Song, Little Saint Nick, A Holly Jolly Christmas….I could go on. I couldn’t pick just one or two!

2.      I start Christmas shopping in July or August.

 

D. L. Finn is an independent California local who encourages everyone to embrace their inner child. She was born and raised in the foggy Bay Area, but in 1990 she relocated with her husband, kids, dogs, and cats to Nevada City, in the Sierra foothills. She immersed herself in reading all types of books but especially loved romance, horror, and fantasy. She always treasured creating her own reality on paper. Finally, surrounded by towering pines, oaks, and cedars, her creativity was nurtured until it bloomed. Her creations include children’s books, adult fiction, and poetry. She continues on her adventure with an open invitation to all readers to join her.

 

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To celebrate the release, I will be giving away three Amazon Gift Cards: $5, $10, and $15. At the end of the tour, I will randomly pick the three winners from those who leave comments during the blog tour. Good Luck!

 

Ketch-up Thursday

 

This really is my ketch-up--or I'm now caught up--post:)

Christmas Day we celebrated Christmas and the Grands BDay. My daughter and SIL fixed a lovely meal. The grands peeled potatoes, Ms. E. and I mashed and my daughter and SIL did everything else. Bless them. And I mean that strictly in the Northern sense;) 

 The HH always does balloons. He found some that had lights inside. Just let me say the lights held up much longer than the balloons;)

You can't really tell from the picture, but the lights that were in the balloons are circled around the pitcher. And are still going....

We had Minion cupcakes for the grands. A combined effort of my sister and I, and iced and eyed by the grands;)

 

As I mentioned in a previous post, relatives came by train, plane and automobiles. My brother and SIL took the train. Their first and last train trip. They had gotten a sleeper, but the coach shook so badly they couldn't sleep on the way down. On the way back, there was a delay of several hours. Maybe to fix the shaking? AND to add insult to what could have been injury and thank goodness wasn't, the train hit a tree. They had to take a bus the rest of the way home.

And last but not least.

 

 What about you, blogger buds? Any goodreaders out there? Did you meet your goals? Have any Holiday Horror stories to share?

 

Ketch-Up Day

 

How are you?  What have you been doing?

We took the train to Philadelphia and celebrated Thanksgiving with our lovely daughter and son-in-law. The train was over an hr late getting in which put us on it for over twelve hrs and a good portion of that was spent with no working toilet in our car. Next year I think we are either going to try the sleeper or fly. 

Views from the train:

 

 

Thanksgiving.

Dinner as always was wonderful. We had a cheese board and crackers, and Christmas movies to see us through the day till dinner.

 

The squirrels and birds ate well too.

We went to Longwood Gardens Friday. (Pictures to follow.) Then headed home Saturday.

A few days later  we woke up to this:

Nori came to us Thursday.  We already have a problem. I caught her drinking my coffee. 

Frank is as big as she is.

Callie is still unnerved and is not impressed that her spot on my lap has been usurped  by the interloper.

That's it for now. Hoping to get one more post out before the Holidays. How are you doing?

Be well.

Your Weekend Read: MIRACLES AND GHOSTS

 A warm welcome and shout out to great friend and author, D.L. Finn.

 

 Thank you for kicking off release day and the beginning of the blog tour, Sandra! You’re beyond appreciated! 

Don’t miss the note at the end of this blog post.

 

Miracles and Ghosts: A Christmas Collection was going to be a single Christmas short story. I had a title and a time frame, but A Perfect Ghostly Christmas grew into a novelette and other stories kept coming. In the novelette, Julie inherited her grandparent’s house and property after being put into foster care at eight years old. An accident on Christmas day took them away from her, after already losing her parents. Julie, now a teacher, has returned to sell the house.

The story’s setting is in the Sierra Nevada foothills where I live. I dipped into our area’s lush history from the Gold Rush.

When we bought our house in Nevada City over 30-plus years ago, we found out we didn’t own the mineral rights to our property—only the top few feet. That was fine. There were absolutely no plans for mining on our part. However, our area is abundant with scattered mine shafts, and the Magical Trail has a large sunken hole. I like to think, it’s an old mine shaft, but it could be anything.

But what if Julie owned those mineral rights? What if there was gold at the end of the rainbow, she saw upon arriving at her old childhood home? I weaved that idea into the story. How could Julie be aware of this? That’s where a ghost comes in, but where there’s money, greed isn’t too far behind either. The heart of the story, though, is family and getting a second chance at Christmas.

 

Blurb:

Miracle and Ghosts: A Christmas Collection’s eight tales bring light in the darkest of circumstances. In the novelette, A Perfect Ghostly Christmas, Julie has survived the foster care system and finally comes home. She now owns her grandparents’ house and has received an offer that appears too good to be true. On top of that, the family she felt had abandoned her during her difficult times has reentered her life. But it’s the otherworldly experiences that lead her to something her grandparents left behind. This discovery changes everything and opens a door to danger. The seven short stories explore fractured families, a widower’s loneliness, a mall shooting, financial struggles, strained relationships, woodland kittens, and a woman haunted by a red truck. Whether it’s a ghost, an angel, or Santa, some unseen force is there to provide help when needed. A reminder in the busy holiday season or anytime we are never alone, and miracles are possible.

 

Excerpt:

A Perfect Ghostly Christmas Novelette

December 1986

Julie Sandals pulled in to the gravel driveway of the old ranch house where she used to live with her grandparents. It stood defiantly against the harsh winter elements of the Sierra Nevada foothills. Years had dulled the cheerful yellow paint. Someone had boarded up a broken window like slapping on a Band-Aid, and rusty moss had taken up residence on the roof. The landscape was slowly reclaiming what once was a loving family home.

She sighed, threw the old Chevy Nova into park, turned the key, and heard it shudder off.

“What am I supposed to do, Grams? I wish you could send me a sign or perhaps a—”

Julie leaned forward and wiped the dirty windshield with her lime-green fleece sleeve. A pristine rainbow had appeared, ending in the once-thriving apple orchard behind the house. “Wow! A perfect rainbow! I remember you loved them, Grams, and said seeing them meant something good was coming. Are you trying to tell me there’s a pot of gold waiting for me at the end?”

A hollow laugh escaped Julie’s lips, betraying her true feelings. Grams was dead and wasn’t sending her rainbows or anything else. Still, odd things always happened around her, like items vanishing and reappearing where she had just searched. It meant nothing and hadn’t changed her situation since the day her world shifted.

The memory of her last Christmas at this house kept Julie going through the dark years of foster care and the loneliness of college. Now she was a responsible, logical adult with a shiny new teaching degree and an old house she inherited last month on her twenty-fifth birthday. Only this building, the land, and $152 after the lawyers’ fees remained from those who had loved her. Her heart wanted to hang on to it, but how could she?

She longed to return to her innocent eight-year-old self, still believing that Santa existed and everything would be all right. But nothing was all right, and she had no power to alter it.

“If only that hadn’t happened. If only . . . ”

 AMAZON LINK

https://www.amazon.com/Miracles-Ghosts-Collection-D-L-Finn-ebook/dp/B0DDWFNR1D/

 Fun Finn Facts

1.      I live in an area that was a part of the Gold Rush and includes Malakoff Diggins and Empire Mine. I enjoy hiking in both areas and taking in all the history.

2.      I’m determined to find a gold nugget someday in the Yuba River. But, in the meantime, I enjoy collecting all the other pretty rocks.

 

About the Author

D. L. Finn is an independent California local who encourages everyone to embrace their inner child. She was born and raised in the foggy Bay Area, but in 1990 she relocated with her husband, kids, dogs, and cats to Nevada City, in the Sierra foothills. She immersed herself in reading all types of books but especially loved romance, horror, and fantasy. She always treasured creating her own reality on paper. Finally, surrounded by towering pines, oaks, and cedars, her creativity was nurtured until it bloomed. Her creations include children’s books, adult fiction, and poetry. She continues on her adventure with an open invitation to all readers to join her.

Note: There’s a chance to win one of two $10 Amazon gift cards just by leaving a comment! I will randomly pick two winners from the comments during this blog tour. Good luck and thank you for stopping by.

 

 

 

 

Ketch-up Day

 

Well, we are home from the hospital. Day of surgery, we got there at 6:30 a.m. and he got to his room about 7:00 p.m. He under went spinal fusion so it's going to take awhile to pop back. So far, the surgery has every appearance of being a success. And each day marks another day of healing.The daughter and SIL drove from Philly and delivered homemade soups. It was a lightning trip since they had to be back at work Monday, but it was wonderful to see them.  

On another note:)

While in Philly for Thanksgiving, as mentioned, we went to Longwood Gardens. Here's some pics. (Many more to come. Heh.) These are a few of the Christmas trees we saw. Pretty, huh?

 

That's all for today folks. I'll be back next week. Let me know what  you have been doing while I've been gone.