Jo-Ann Roberts
Let’s Ring in the New Year!
Happy New Year, Friends!
By now you have either put away your holiday decorations or are procrastinating, waiting for January 6th, the 12th day of Christmas.
But before you pack away that last box of ornaments, here a few fun facts how New Year’s traditions came about.
Since New Years’ Eve is celebrated around the world, there are a lot of interesting New Years’ facts. From the giant party in New York City to smaller celebrations around the world. There are many traditions that have become popular with bringing in the New Year.
Baby New Year
The tradition of Baby New Year has been around since ancient Greece. During New Years’ celebrations for Dionysus, a baby was paraded through the streets as a symbol of the rebirth of the year. In more recent times the New Years Baby has been paired with Father Time as a companion.
Times Square Celebrations
The Times Square celebration started in 1904, but the first Ball Drop happened in 1907 to celebrate the New York Times building. Back then, they used a simple iron and wood ball with just 100 light bulbs. Today, we marvel at the high-tech crystal ball that features an incredible 2,688 Waterford Crystal triangles. The modern ball illuminates the sky with 32,256 LED lights, creating billions of patterns and colors that mesmerize everyone watching. Over 200,000 people showed up for the opening of the building. Now the crowd grows to over 1 million people each year.
The ball has dropped each year since 1907. With exceptions made during WWII due to lighting restrictions in 1942 and 1943. During those years the ball did not light up at all.
More Than Just a Ball Drop
Even though most people are familiar with the famous ball drop in Times Square. Many cities have their own unique way to usher in the New Year. There is the Pickle drop in Mt. Olive, North Carolina, a boot drop in Prescott, Arizona. And a giant Moon Pie in Mobile, Alabama. These are only a few of the weird things that different places drop-in celebration of New Years’.
New Years Kiss
This is a tradition that has been around since Roman times too. It dates back to the festivities of Saturnalia. Which celebrated the god Saturn, god of times. Many of the traditions from this festival were later incorporated into Christian celebrations of Christmas and New Years’.
New Years Food
There are many different foods that are considered to be good luck to eat on New Years’. One of the most popular is Black Eyed Peas, Leafy Greens, and Cornbread. Followed by pork dishes and grapes and round foods. In Spain, they celebrate by eating 12 grapes right at midnight.
Drink Up
Over 360 million glasses of sparkling wine/champagne are consumed on New Year’s Eve. Followed by beer and mixed drinks.
New Years Resolutions
Over 41% of people make some sort of New Year’s resolutions. Most of them have to do with eating healthy and exercising. Others involve saving money and lowering stress. Most people give up by February. But there are a few people each year that actually manage to hold out and complete their resolutions.
New Years Song
“Aude Lang Syne” is the traditional song of New Years’. It was written in 1788 by the poet Robert Burns. The name means roughly “times long past” and the poem is about old friends meeting again.
Most of us are familiar with Canadian-born American dance-band leader, Guy Lombardo whose New Year’s Eve radio and television broadcasts with his Royal Canadians became an American tradition for 48 years. https://youtu.be/59JMuE-djvY
New Year’s Eve is one of the biggest holidays of the year and most people around the world celebrate it. From food to bring luck in the New Year to odd traditions that people have. Fr
From my family to yours, I wish you new beginnings, simple pleasures, and beautiful moments. Happy New Year!
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Giveaway!
What are your favorite parts of celebrating New Year’s Eve? Do you make any resolutions? Let me know in the comments.
One random winner will receive her/his choice of one of my 2024 holiday ebooks.
A Sleigh Ride For Claire – CLICK HERE
Ivy – Christmas Quilt Brides – CLICK HERE
Holly In His Heart – CLICK HERE
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Cowboy Cookie Exchange with Jo-Ann Roberts
Merry Christmas Eve, Friends!
Any time I can bake cookies is the most wonderful time of the year!
But during the holiday season, there is something special about the scents of butter, sugar, vanilla, and spices wafting through the house, along with the Christmas tree lights, and holly, jolly holiday songs on the Music Channel.
Most of my cookie recipes are handed down from my grandmother, mother, and aunts. They are the same cookies I make for weddings and special occasions for our family and friends. I have vivid memories of watching their fingers shape, scoop, roll, and frost dozens of Italian cookies, then carefully pack them in rows between sheets of wax paper in large plastic tubs before placing them in the bottom of the chest freezer until Christmas Eve.
This year, however, I’m changing things up a bit. Since y’all will reading this on Christmas Eve, I’m going to share a cookie that is sure to keep Santa satisfied during his trip around the world.
For years, I’ve been making the oatmeal cookie recipe that was printed on the Quaker Oats box. But recently, they were leaving me a little “flat”…pardon the pun. So, when I saw this recipe, I decided to give it a try. All I can say is “WOW!”
Buttery and rich, this old-fashioned oatmeal cookie is fantastic. They’re crunchy and crisp around the edges and chewy in the middle. Coconut adds tons of flavor and texture. It’s what makes this different from other oatmeal cookies. I opted to add walnuts and raisins along with the coconut and loved these. If you love oatmeal cookies, give these a try.
Grandma Helen’s Oatmeal Cookies
Yield: 18- 24 cookies depending on size of cookie scoop
Prep time: 15 Min
Cook time: 10 Min
Ingredients
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 large eggs, well beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
3 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups of coconut (or your choice of, nuts, raisins, dates, chocolate chips, etc.)*
Directions
- Cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl.
- Add beaten eggs and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, mix salt, baking soda, flour, oatmeal, and coconut.
- Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until combined.
- Fold in your choice of nuts, chocolate chips, raisins, or dates.
- Allow dough to rest in the refrigerator (or on the counter) for a few hours.**
- Use a cookie scoop, drop dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake immediately.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
*I use a mix of raisins, coconut, and walnuts.
**I seldom bake cookies immediately after mixing the dough. The primary reason for a brief resting period is to redistribute the liquid in the dough. While the dough sits, turning from loose and soft to drier and more scoopable, the flour is hydrating, yielding cookies that will bake and brown more evenly. The sugar also absorbs moisture from the eggs and butter: With less “free moisture” hanging around, the dough has a higher concentration of sugar, and the higher this percentage, the more likely it is that you’ll get cookies with chewy centers and crispy edges.
Wishing you all the joy that this beautiful season can bring.
Merry Christmas – Happy New Year!
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Cowboys & Mistletoe – Jo-Ann Roberts
Happy Holidays, y’all! Goodness Christmas is only two weeks away…where does the time go? 2024 has been a very busy year for me. I wrote five books…three within the span of four months. Whew! I know other authors are far more prolific than I but then again family milestones impacted my writing schedule. A new grandbaby! Grandson’s college graduation and wedding! A fall foliage trip to New England! Adoption finalized! Son & daughter-in-law moving to North Carolina!
All that being said, I’d like to introduce my three Christmas books and tell you about them.
A Sleigh Ride For Claire – With Christmas on the horizon, Claire McAllister has far too much to do to entertain dreams of a husband and family. Even if she feels inclined to help Lincoln Wyse outwit his three mischievous young daughters, it’s impossible to imagine the handsome widower seeing her as anything but a scolding schoolteacher.
Even though the pretty schoolteacher never turned a favorable eye to him, Linc Wyse’s heart skipped a beat whenever she pinned him with her mesmerizing green eyes. Beautiful or not, Claire McAllister was a meddling spinster who placed judgments on him and his family.
Yet, neither one can imagine how three little, mischievous matchmakers and a magical Christmas Eve sleigh ride will open their eyes to love…or how the Lord will awaken their faith and hope.
Ivy – Christmas Quilt Bride –Years ago, Ivy Sutton was drawn to the new orphan boy in town. Unfortunately, she soon became the focus of Grady Walsh’s mischievous deeds in school.
Ivy is back home in Harmony, Kansas for good but is she willing and able to forgive the boy who made her childhood unbearable?
Grady Walsh lost his heart to the sweet girl the day she gave him a quilt. Now, as a well-liked and respected tradesman in Harmony, can he make up for the reckless actions of his youth?
Or will another steal her away before they have a chance to discover a kind of love that might heal the pain from the past?
Holly In His Heart –What is a boy to do when he is trying to play matchmaker for his father? Seven-year-old Danny Stone is working hard to help his lonely widower father find love again. When a pretty, new teacher moves to Angel Falls, Danny believes she is the perfect choice. But so far, his matchmaking attempts have not been successful until a snowstorm hits and strands Miss Holly at their farm.
Fleeing an ill-fated relationship, Holly Ross accepts an interim teaching position in Angel Falls, Kansas. During the first week, she is knocked down by a stranger, and his rude behavior raises her annoyance when he insists he saved her life…not that she believed she needed saving. When she discovers Jesse Stone is the father of one of her students, she vows to give the man a wide berth. But when Danny leaves behind a scarf belonging to his late mother, she makes a decision that will alter her Christmas plans…and her life.
Since his wife’s passing, Jesse Stone has no interest nor time for romance. With a herd, a ranch, and a seven-year-old son to raise, the last thing he needs is ungrateful criticism from a woman he saved from being hit by a wagon. His irritation grows when he discovers Holly Ross is the new teacher his son keeps praising…and the feeling is mutual. So, she is the last person he expects to see at his door at the start of a blizzard.
Will a dose of Mother Nature’s magic, along with a bit of divine intervention make a little boy’s Christmas wish come true?
There you have it…these three sweet historical romances are filled with family & friends, joy, second chances, and the magic of finding love at this most wonderful time of the year!
Provide your best caption for the picture below – humorous, thoughtful or poignant – to be entered in the drawing.
All entries will be eligible for our oh-so-beautiful Grand Prize, too!
Winners announced Sunday, December 15!
(USA winners only, please.)
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Christmas Stocking Sweethearts! Jo-Ann Roberts
Welcome, friends! I’m excited to be part of this holiday series with seven other gifted and talented authors. And I’m doubly excited to share my story with you. I hope Holly and Jesse’s Christmas romance will add joy and laughter to your holiday reading plans. So, grab your favorite winter brew, a handful of Christmas cookies, a cozy blanket, and settle in for a great series!
What is a boy to do when he is trying to play matchmaker for his father? Seven-year-old Danny
Stone is working hard to help his lonely widower father find love again. When a pretty, new teacher moves to Angel Falls, Danny believes she is the perfect choice. But so far, his matchmaking attempts have not been successful until a snowstorm hits and strands Miss Holly at their farm.
Fleeing an ill-fated relationship, Holly Ross accepts an interim teaching position in Angel Falls, Kansas. During the first week, she is knocked down by a stranger, and his rude behavior raises her annoyance when he insists he saved her life…not that she believed she needed saving. When she discovers Jesse Stone is the father of one of her students, she vows to give the man a wide berth. But when Danny leaves behind a scarf belonging to his late mother, she makes a decision that will alter her Christmas plans…and her life.
Since his wife’s passing, Jesse Stone has no interest nor the time for romance. With a herd, a ranch, and a seven-year-old son to raise, the last thing he needs is ungrateful criticism from a woman he saved from being hit by a wagon. His irritation grows when he discovers Holly Ross is the new teacher his son keeps praising…and the feeling is mutual. So, she is the last person he expects to see at his door at the start of a blizzard.
Will a dose of Mother Nature’s magic, along with a bit of divine intervention, make a little boy’s Christmas wish come true?
Yes, we know. It’s that time of year when we sometimes feel less kind than we should.
Re-write the sentence in red to something less naughty and more nice. For example:
NAUGHTY: “Grandma’s eggnog is too thick and chunky.”
NICE: “Isn’t it wonderful Grandma is still with us to make her eggnog?”
THE STORES ARE ABSOLUTE MAYHEM.
You might win this piano ornament!
All entries will be eligible for our oh-so-beautiful Grand Prize, too!
Winners announced Sunday, December 15!
(USA Winners only, please.)
In the event the piano ornament becomes unavailable, we will happily make a substitute.
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Jo-Ann Roberts Has Two Winners!
Thank you, everyone, for your comments. I enjoyed reading about your plans and the special dishes you prepare for Thanksgiving.
Winners, I will contact you to arrange for delivery of your ebook.
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A Widow’s Cause: Bringing Thanksgiving to Victorian America by Jo-Ann Roberts
The holidays are upon us! I had barely dropped bags of Halloween candy into my shopping cart when I turned into the next aisle and was bombarded by a full-blown display of Christmas. The retail community had completely overlooked the day set aside for gratitude and giving thanks.
This revelation gave me pause, as I wondered how the celebration of Thanksgiving came about. Was it suggested by a group of civic-minded people or just one person? How was it decided to celebrate the day on the fourth Thursday in November?
So, like much of my research, down the rabbit hole I went. To my delight, I discovered once again it was a woman who led the campaign, giving us a day set to give thanks for the blessings and freedoms we enjoy today.
During most of the 19th century, Thanksgiving was not an official holiday. Admittedly, it had its roots in the New England states and was widely celebrated there and in the mid-West. The actual date of the holiday was left to individual states and territories. It could vary widely from September through December but is mostly celebrated in November after the harvest.
While the idea of celebrating a good harvest was an old one, it took a Victorian lady to give it its voice. Specifically, the editor of a highly popular magazine of the times, Godey’s Lady’s Book, Sarah Josepha Hale.
Suddenly finding herself a widow and single mother with children to support–including a brand-new baby–Sarah wrote a book, Northwood. Its success led to a job offer for the “editorship” of a new “ladies” magazine, turning Godey’s into one of the most important periodicals in 19th century America. Though it is now remembered primarily for its fashion plates, crafts, and household tidbits, it covered social issues as well.
Year after year, Godey’s Lady’s Book published the same plea. Each year the campaign brought new success. By 1851, 29 out of 31 states celebrated a day of Thanksgiving. However, not on the same day so she continued to insist the holiday be celebrated on the exact same day.
Having thoroughly thought it out, she suggested the last Thursday in November so that “the telegraph of human happiness would move every heart to gladness simultaneously.” To further her cause for a unified day of giving thanks, she pointed out that farm labor was done for the season, and the election cycle was over. Below is the original 1847 plea from Godey’s Lady’s Book.
OUR HOLIDAYS. —”We have but two that we can call entirely national. The New Year is a holiday to all the world, and Christmas to all Christians—but the “Fourth of July” and “Thanksgiving Day” can only be enjoyed by Americans. The annual observance of Thanksgiving Day was, to be sure, mostly confined to the New England States, till within a few years. We are glad to see that this good old puritan custom is becoming popular through the Union…Would that the next Thanksgiving might be observed in all the states on the same day. Then, though the members of the same family might be too far separated to meet around one festival board, they would have the gratification of knowing that all were enjoying the blessing of the day…”
Despite her claims, she had not achieved the ultimate endorsement; a proclamation from the President. In 1861, with civil war looming, she focused on national unity as her strongest selling point.
Finally, under these conditions and the stress of considerable loss of life, a devastated Southern economy, and public support for the holiday, President Abraham Lincoln endorsed and proclaimed, “a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelt in the heavens.” Furthermore, he stated, Americans should “fervently implore” blessings from the Almighty to “heal the wounds of the nations, and to restore it…to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and union.”
Successive presidents continued the tradition and proclaimed a yearly Thanksgiving at the end of every November. Still not satisfied, Hale’s magazine urged Congress to recognize the holiday. Unfortunately, she didn’t live to see the Congressional Proclamation of the Thanksgiving story (which finally took place in 1941), but by the 1870’s Thanksgiving was already a part of America’s culture.
The national holiday has become just what Sarah Josepha Hale envisioned: a celebration of home and hearth and the blessings for which we are grateful.
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Giveaway!
Two lucky winners will each receive an e-book edition of my upcoming release, “Ivy” Christmas Quilt Brides. Just leave a comment below telling me how you celebrate Thanksgiving in your home.
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Upcoming Release
He was the town bully.
She was his target.
Has anything changed?
Years ago, Ivy Sutton was drawn to the new orphan boy in town. Unfortunately, she soon became the focus of Grady Walsh’s mischievous deeds in school.
Ivy is back home in Harmony, Kansas for good but is she willing and able to forgive the boy who made her childhood unbearable?
Grady Walsh lost his heart to the sweet girl the day she gave him a quilt. Now, as a well-liked and respected tradesman in Harmony, can he make up for the reckless actions of his youth? Or will another steal er away before they have a chance to discover a kind of love that might heal the pain from the past?
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Halloween…A Time for Romance?
Happy October, friends!
Along with ghosts, goblins, and trick-or-treating, I learned Halloween was as much a time for romance as it was for pranks. Who would have thought?
To find love on the night of the dead, demons, witches, and goblins? Um, that’s a little bit concerning, no? Would you go ‘yay’ or be ‘boo-ed’ away by these strange Halloween traditions?
Many old Halloween traditions included fortune telling, and many of those fortune-telling rituals focused on how to learn about your true love. Here are a few Halloween love spells that I found in in my research. Most of these Halloween traditions were popular in the 1800s and later. Each is something that people said you could do on Halloween night to learn of your true love.
If Match.com hasn’t been working for you perhaps you want to try one of these vintage Halloween traditions, or perhaps you will just find them interesting like I did.
Oh, and the idea of seeing my true love as an apparition, as is the hope of many of these rituals, would be disconcerting. These Halloween traditions make me happy I’m not in the market for romance or marriage.
Reflection in the mirror
There are a few versions of a Halloween tradition that results in seeing your true love in a mirror at midnight.
One version says you should go secretly into a room at midnight on Halloween and cut an apple into nine slices. You should eat the apple slices in front of a mirror, holding each slice on the point of knife before eating it. As you do this you will supposedly see the image of your true love over your left shoulder asking for the final apple slice.
Another version says you should eat the apple while holding a candle and looking in the mirror. Then you will see your future husband or wife over your shoulder.
Yet another version says you should comb your hair while eating the apple and looking in the mirror in order to see your future spouse over your shoulder.
The most precarious version says that at midnight you should go down the stairs backwards and holding a mirror, in which you will see your future mate.
I suspect that last one only works if your future mate happens to be the paramedic who responds after your horrible fall from walking down the stairs backwards in the middle of the night.
Burning the nuts
Place two hazelnuts (or some say chestnuts) in a fire after naming each for the people in a couple. If the nuts burn together side by side the relationship will last. But if one of the nuts cracks or jumps out of the fire the couple will split. 
Pulling the cabbage
The cabbage’s popularity also made its way into becoming a fortune telling device. One popular method was for a girl to steal a cabbage and then place that cabbage over a door. The first man the cabbage fell on would be the man she was supposed to marry. Women would also pick cabbages and use the stumps to predict information about their future husband.
Making cakes
Fortune telling in cakes has been a tradition for many different holidays. The Irish had their own version called Barmbrack where various objects were baked into bread to tell one’s future relationship status. If a person received a pea, that person would not marry in the upcoming year, a stick would signify an unhappy marriage, and a ring would mean that person would be wed within a year.
The three bowls
Place three bowls in a row. Fill one with clean water and one with dirty water. Leave the third bowl empty. Put the bowls in a random order then lead a man blindfolded to them to dip his left hand in one of the bowls. If he puts his hand in the clean water, he will have a young wife. If he puts his hand in the dirty water, he will end up with an old widow. If he puts his hand in the empty bowl, he will forever be a bachelor. This process should be done three times moving the bowls each time.
The other end of the yarn
Throw a ball of yarn out the window (or into a pot of water on the stove, depending on the version), and hold onto to the other end. As you wind the yarn back up repeat, “I wind, who holds?” again and again. Before you reach the end of the yarn the face of your love will appear in the window and/or the name of your love will be whispered in your ear.
Making an initial from an apple skin
Here’s another Halloween tradition involving an apple. Pare an apple in one continuous piece of skin without breaking it. Move the skin around your head three times then throw it over your left shoulder. The letter that it forms on the ground is the initial of your future husband or wife.
So, this year when the moon is full and bright, try your hand at a fortune telling delight, you might just find your true love on Halloween night.
Happy Halloween Y’all!
My Upcoming Release!!!
Years ago, Lily Sutton was drawn to the new orphan boy in town. Unfortunately, she soon became
the unfortunate victim of Grady Walsh’s mischievous deeds in school.
Lily is back home in Harmony, Kansas for good but is she willing and able to forgive the boy who made her childhood unbearable?
Grady Walsh lost his heart to the sweet girl the day she gave him a quilt. Can this boy-turned-man make up for the reckless actions of his youth?
Or will another steal her away before they have a chance to discover a kind of love that might just heal the pain from the past?
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Jo-Ann Has a Winner…
Judy A. Sexton
Congratulations, Judy A. Sexton! You are the winner of a $10 Amazon gift card. I will contact you shortly to arrange for delivery of the giveaway.
A great big thank you to everyone who stopped by to leave a comment on my Thursday post. I truly appreciate all the kind words about my upcoming release.
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“Wash Day Monday”
Women have been organizing and keeping house from the beginning of recorded time. However, several centuries back, universal housekeeping regimes were adopted in England. These schedules were shared mother-to-daughter and sister-to-sister until they were widely accepted. Nursery rhymes even incorporated them.
Ivory Soap added a Mother Goose rhyme about washing on Monday to one of their ads (below). In
Laura Ingalls Wilder’s book Winter Days in the Big Woods, the author notes the following schedule for homemakers:
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- Wash on Monday
- Iron on Tuesday
- Mend on Wednesday
- Churn on Thursday
- Clean on Friday
- Bake on Saturday
- Rest on Sunday
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As a lover of history, I’m fascinated by these rituals in which our early sisters partook. However, while doing my research I came across a slightly different variation of the poem and the reasoning behind it that made perfect sense.
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- Wash on Monday
- Iron on Tuesday
- Bake on Wednesday
- Brew on Thursday
- Churn on Friday
- Mend on Saturday
- Church on Sunday
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It’s worth noting that “brewing” was not so that early American homemakers could get tipsy. These were not early “desperate housewives!” It was necessary because settlers were told not to trust the water. So, they would brew and drink apple cider instead. Thompson notes that once the water controversy was cleared up, “Thursday was designated as marketing day.” Another transition happened when farmers began providing dairy products and it became unnecessary to have a segregated day for churning. “This relieved the city dwellers of churning and making cheeses on Friday, and they began using this day for housecleaning.”
However, the wash day process started days ahead of the actual washing.
On Saturdays, the laundry was gathered, sorted, and mended. Any rips or tears were sewn, socks darned. On Sundays, the clothing was then soaked overnight in warm water, of with a bit of soap, baking soda, or lye.
Once Monday arrived, the real work began. Women would rise early, gather a great deal of fuel for the fire, and haul many gallons of water to fill their wash, soaking, and rinse tubs, then they would go through the following steps:
- wash clothes right side out, including applying soap and scrubbing on a washboard.
- wring to rid clothes of excess water
- wash the clothes inside out, including applying soap and scrubbing again on the washboard.
- wring to rid clothes of excess water
- boil the clothes in soapy water, agitating them with long sticks.
- wring again
- rinse clothes in fresh, clean water to remove all traces of soap.
- wring once more
- dry on clothesline, a nearby bush, or even laid flat in the grass
Whew!!! All I can say is as much as I’d want to travel in a wagon train…thank goodness for my Maytag washer and dryer!!!
In addition, it was also necessary to “blue” the laundry to rid the fabrics of the yellowing that came with age, washing, and wear. Bluing could be found in stores and mercantiles in the later 1800s. A bit of bluing would be added to the water causing the eye to see less of the yellow, and instead, see more of the white.
Other bleaching agents were buttermilk or turpentine for cotton material and ammonia for flannel material.
And just when you thought wash day was over, there was still starching and ironing to be done. Starch would be mixed with water, the clean, dry clothing submerged in the mix, and then wrung out again. Once the clothes were almost dry, a sadiron would be heated on the stove until hot, then applied to the clothing to remove the wrinkles. From my own memories, I recall my mother sprinkling liquid starch on my father’s Sunday white shirts, rolling them up before them in a plastic bag and refrigerating them until she was ready to iron.
Folding the clothes and putting away the clothes was the final step.
Imagine doing all this while chasing after the children, getting meals on the table, and doing a myriad of other things?
***********Giveaway***********
To win a $10 Amazon Gift Card answer the question below:
Were you aware of all the steps it took to wash clothes in the 1800s?
He was the most stubborn and prideful man she’d ever met.
She was a busybody who stuck her nose in his business at every turn!
With Christmas on the horizon, Claire McAllister has far too much to do to entertain dreams of a husband and family. Even if she feels inclined to help Lincoln Wyse outwit his three mischievous young daughters, it’s impossible to imagine the handsome widower seeing her as anything but a scolding schoolteacher.
Even though the pretty schoolteacher never turned a favorable eye to him, Linc Wyse’s heart skipped a beat whenever she pinned him with her mesmerizing green eyes. Beautiful or not, Claire McAllister was a meddling spinster who placed judgments on him and his family.
Yet, neither one can imagine how three little, mischievous matchmakers and a magical Christmas Eve sleigh ride will open their eyes to love…or how the Lord will awaken their faith and hope.
