GUEST: Tina Donahue

What’s Your Favorite Holiday Memory?

I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for the holidays. Put a little pine scent and chill in the air, throw in the fragrance of pumpkin pie, honey-baked ham and all the other goodies no health conscious person should eat and I’m a goner.

However, it’s the memories that stir me the most. In particular, this one that didn’t start out so great but turned into something oh so romantic.

The first year my husband and I dated, I was giddy about Christmas as only a twenty-something can be. Although I wasn’t expecting a ring (we were too new to each other), I was expecting some kind of jewelry. What I got was a clock radio. “So you’re not late for work,” he said. You see, he owned the newspaper where I worked.

Hmmm. By the look on my face, he knew he’d fallen into a deep hole of doo-doo, especially since I’d given him a gyroscope he’d been eyeing. Don’t ask me why those kinds of things interested him, they just did.

The following year, I had no great hopes. We were married by then and I figured I’d get a blender or iron to improve my wifely skills. Christmas Eve, a working day for us, he left for the office earlier than usual, mumbling about deadlines. I trudged in a little later, but before the rest of the crew had arrived. I had a migraine, a pimple the size of Mt. Everest erupting on my chin and just wanted to curl up under the front desk and sleep.

A beautifully decorated envelope on the desk stopped me. It was taped to the wood and had my name on it. Inside was one of the loveliest cards I’d ever seen. What’s more, instead of a canned poem being inside, there was my hubby’s handwriting, telling me how much he loved me.

I called out his name. No answer. Surely, he was here, I saw his car out front. I went into the guts of the paper. There, on various tables and bookcases were other envelopes with my name on them. There were also gaily wrapped packages. One had a beautiful nightie I’d told him about in passing. The next, a novel I’d been thinking of getting. Another a briefcase I’d seen in an office magazine.

It was hard to read and see all the stuff, I was crying so hard. I ran into his office. He pretended to be on the phone, all serious and busy. I pulled the phone from him, hung up and kissed him hard, babbling about what he’d done. “Oh,” he said, “you got to all of it?”

There was more?

At my desk, I saw another small package. It held a diamond and sapphire ring I’d seen at Zales when I went shopping with one of my friends. Clearly, he’d asked her what I wanted. What I liked. How he could please me.

It wasn’t the gifts, though they were great. It wasn’t even the cards with all of his thoughts written down. It was that he took the time to make Christmas special for me. That he cared enough.

It’s a moment I’ll never forget. I lost him a few years back from what insurance companies call a ‘medical misadventure’. He had a minor ailment and the doctor prescribed the wrong medication. In a flash, he was gone.

But never forgotten. He’ll always be in my heart and thoughts.

I’d love to hear about your best holiday memory.

Leave a comment and you’re entered in my CONTEST!!!

One lucky commenter on this blog will have her choice of one of my following ebooks**:

Adored – RWA award-winning; EPIC 2011 Finalist; 4 Stars RT

Deep, Dark, Delicious – EPIC 2011 Finalist; Holt Medallion Award of Merit

Lush Velvet Nights – EPIC 2011 Finalist; Golden Nib Award

In His Arms – SIX 5 Star Reviews; 4 Stars RT

Sensual Stranger – 2010 Book of the Year (erotic); 4 Stars RT

The Yearning – Top Ten Bestseller

Take Me Away - #1 Pick, Miz Love Loves Books

** Winner chosen at random. Winner chosen December 20.

More great news - I have two new releases out!

SiNN, contemporary ménage

More info: http://www.tinadonahue.com/books/sinn/

Unending Desire, erotic paranormal

More info: http://www.tinadonahue.com/books/unending-desire/

Tina Donahue is an award-winning, bestselling novelist in erotic, paranormal, contemporary and historical romance for Ellora’s Cave, Samhain Publishing and Kensington. Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Romantic Times and numerous online sites have praised her work; she has reached finals and/or placed in numerous RWA–sponsored contests. Three of her erotic novels were named finalists in the 2011 EPIC competition. Sensual Stranger, her erotic romance, was chosen Book of the Year 2010 (erotic category) at the French review site, Blue Moon reviews. The Golden Nib Award at Miz Love Loves Books was created specifically for her erotic romance Lush Velvet Nights; and Deep, Dark, Delicious (erotic romance) recently received an Award of Merit in the RWA Holt Medallion competition (2011). She was the editor of an award–winning Midwestern newspaper and worked in Story Direction for a Hollywood production company.

Email: tina@tinadonahue.com

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