TWO 12 Days of Christmas Winners!

The winner of Sunday's blog post with guest Holly Jacobs is: gamistress66!!

Monday's winner is Deb Marlowe!!

Congrats, ladies :-)

Please send your snail mail info to: beth@bethandrews.net and we'll get your prizes out to you asap *g*

Thanks so much to everyone for chatting with us and Merry Christmas!!Source URL: https://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/search/label/12%20Bandita%20Days%20of%20Christmas
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Crazy Carols

posted by Aunty Cindy aka Loucinda McGary

On the 9th Day of Christmas my cabana boy gave to me
A post by Aunty Ciiiiindy!

Sorry, but it's December 21st, the shortest day of the year and only 4 more days until THE BIG DAY and Aunty is so far behind she can't even see the tunnel, much less any light at the end of it!


ACK!!!


This happens to me every year. I start off the month of December with great intentions and the next thing I know, it's less than a week until Christmas and I have NOTHING done! I wish I had the excuse of a looming deadline, or even a Dreaded Day Job, but I don't. I just have a difficult time getting into the spirit of the season...

Perhaps I need a bit more SPIRITS of the season... So pass the eggnog and Aunty has a little quiz to exercise our brains.

Back in the day, Aunty toiled away in the Land of Bureaucrats. Unlike romance writers, who strive to create clear and entertaining prose, all good Bureaucrats write to confuse and complicate. For example, instead of the Twelve Days of Christmas, a good Bureaucrat would call it The Dozen Festive 24-Hour Intervals.

Here then are the titles of some familiar and beloved Christmas Carols after the bureaucrats rewrote them. See how many you can figure out!

1. Embellish the interior passageways
2. Diminutive masculine master of skin-covered percussionistic cylinders
3. Obese personification fabricated of compressed minute ice crystals
4. Natal celebration devoid of color
5. Move hitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief
6. Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem
7. Nocturnal time span of unbroken quietness
8. Delight for this planet
9. Frozen precipitation commence
10. To decry matriarchal osculation of Yuletide anthropomorphism (Aunty's personal favorite)
How many do you recognize? Or maybe you can come up with some alternate bureaucratic titles of your own. Please share!

The 12 Bandita Days prize will go to a randomly chosen commenter.Source URL: https://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/search/label/12%20Bandita%20Days%20of%20Christmas
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Elizabeth's Winners - and Another Bandita Prize!

Thanks, everyone, for the wonderful welcome you all gave Elizabeth Essex on Thursday when she visited to talk about her debut romance THE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE.

Very generously, Elizabeth offered three prizes! The winners of signed copies of THE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE are:

PETITE!

BJ!

The VERY luck winner of a signed copy of THE PURSUIT OF PLEASURE and the audiobook of gorgeous Richard Armitage reading THE CONVENIENT MARRIAGE by Georgette Heyer is:

PINK PEONY!

Please email Elizabeth on erbaldwin @ mindspring.com (no spaces) with your snail mail details to claim your prizes! Congratulations!

And there's more!

The winner of Thursday's 12 Bandita Days of Christmas prize is:

LOIS!

Lois, please email the Banditas on romancebandits@gmail.com with your snail mail details and we'll get you your prize!Source URL: https://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/search/label/12%20Bandita%20Days%20of%20Christmas
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COOOOOOOKIES!!!! and Prizes

On The Second Day of Christmas...

...the Bandits gave to.....

Lis3182

through the time honored use of the handy-dandy random number generator, Lis3182 was chosen as the winner of the second day's Bandita goodies. Merry Christmas and thanks to EVERYONE who talked cookies with me!!

Lis3182, please send us your mailing info to romancebandits@gmail.com and we'll send you your lovely prize ;-)
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A Sparkling Seasonal Line-Up!

posted by Christine Wells

How did December get here so fast? Never fear, we have a fabulous program lined up to warm the cockles of your heart this holiday season!

First up, on 2 December, Suz and Jo Davis take us on a field trip to Station Five to chat with Jo's incredible firefighters. A most... educational excursion, ladies! And there are some fabulous prizes to be won!

Then, on December 3, Silhouette author Bonnie Vanak makes her first appearance in the Lair. Our in-depth reporter, Nancy, interviews Bonnie about her fabulous shifter romances.

On December 6, warn the cabana boys because it's Party Time as our very own New York Times bestseller, Kate Carlisle launches her second Silhouette Desire, SWEET SURRENDER, BABY SURPRISE! RT Book Reviews says it's "Sweepingly romantic and startlingly sexy" and The Romance Reviews calls it "A tender romance with mass appeal." Wow!

Join us for something a little different on December 7 when Dorie Graham chats with Nancy about creative intelligence. I'm really looking forward to that, as "creative intelligence" sometimes seems like an oxymoron when applied to yours truly!

And Deck the Halls, because December 13 rings in our third annual 12 days of Christmas, with fun giveaways and more!

But that's not all, because on December 16 the lovely Anna Campbell will chat with debut author Elizabeth Essex about her sizzling new release, The Pursuit of Pleasure!

And now, just for a bit of Aussie flavour, let me leave you with a Christmas carol they sing at my son's kindergarten:

Christmas where the gum trees grow
There is no frost and there is no snow
Christmas in Australia's hot
Cold and frosty's what it's not
When the bloom on the Jacaranda tree is here
Christmas time is near!Source URL: https://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/search/label/12%20Bandita%20Days%20of%20Christmas
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Eloisa James Writes from Paris

by Anna Sugden

I'm delighted to give everyone in the Lair a Christmas surprise - we have a special guest today. All the way from Paris (yes, the one in France, not the one in Texas!) is Lair favourite, my good friend, the awesome NYT best-selling author, Eloisa James.

As many of you know, Eloisa and her family are spending a year in Paris. Even I, an avid Paris-hater (and we won't mention the Parisians *g*), have been captivated by her daily tales of life in the French capital, which she has been posting on Facebook.

So, with great pleasure I hand you over to Eloisa who will share with you a special piece about her time in Paris.

Thank you Anna and Banditas. It's great to be back here.

My study looks out over a small, quiet street called Rue du Conservatoire. This morning the snow is coming down fast, slanting sideways and turning the gray slate roofs opposite the color of milk. Since I grew up on a farm in Minnesota, this makes me feel at home. I found myself thinking about peeling potatoes for a hearty soup.

That’s when I got a jolting sense of vertigo. After all, I grew up on a farm outside a town of 2,242 people, though my father was a poet and not a farmer. One year we had no money (poetry is not lucrative), so my mother took down the dining room curtains, which had sailing ships on them, and made my sister and me new dresses for the first day of school. My prom party was held in a gravel pit, and I earned the money to buy my prom dress by waitressing in DeToy’s Supper Club.

Paris is a long, long way from the polyester dirndl skirts worn by DeToy’s waitresses.

And yet it’s still me, sitting here, looking out at snow, which is falling in that directed, intense sort of way that happens in Minnesota and apparently in Paris as well.

Sometimes life turns a corner and you catch a glimpse of time passing, as if you were in double time, both a teenager in a farm town, and a woman in Paris. And the current you is one that the Midwestern teenager would never have envisioned -- at least, I wouldn’t have. Skipping anything that has to do with an unflattering mirror, what about you? What’s happened to make you sit up and think: Is this really me? Can this be happening?

What’s one thing that’s happened to you that you never would have envisioned when you were ten years old?

Three commenters will be sent frivolous Parisian souvenirs – pocket mirrors adorned with glittery Eiffel Towers, bringing with them a whiff of la vie Parisienne, not to mention snow. And please join Eloisa’s Facebook Fan Page (http://www.facebook.com/EloisaJamesFans) to follow her daily adventures in Paris.


Anna: And don't forget, we're still doing the 12 Bandita Days of Christmas! One of the three lucky commenters Eloisa chooses will also receive their special Bandita goody!Source URL: https://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/search/label/12%20Bandita%20Days%20of%20Christmas
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More Bandita Bootie

And the winner of the book and the 12 Bandita Days of Christmas gift is... dum da dum... Jane!!! Giving a late, but loud whohoooo for Jane, who had the killer sugar cookie recipe on the Sweet Treats post last week. Jane, if you'll drop me an email to Tawny@TawnyWeber.com with your shipping info, I'll get that copy of the Blazing Bedtime Stories right out to you :-)Source URL: https://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/search/label/12%20Bandita%20Days%20of%20Christmas
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Christie's Bandit Winner

Lady Graeye, you're the winner of a signed copy of Every Night I'm Yours and the Bandita's Days of Christmas goodies. Please email me at christie AT christiekelley.com with your full name and mailing address so we can get these out to you!


Congratulations!Source URL: https://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/search/label/12%20Bandita%20Days%20of%20Christmas
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Christmas Q & A

by Beth


I thought we'd do a quick Q&A for today's blog. So I give you my...



12 (and a few extra) Questions of Christmas!



Christmas trees:



1. Real or artificial?



2. White or colored lights?



3. Blinking or static?



4. Tree skirt or bare?



Decorations:



5. Red and green or silver and blue?



6. Old fashioned lights or LED?



7. Outside decorations - simple or the more the merrier?



8. Gingerbread houses - edible or just for looks?



Fun stuff:



9. Sleds...runner or plastic?



10. Ice skating, skiing or sledding?



11. Do you hang mistletoe?



12. Where do you hang your stockings?



The toughies:



If you had to choose (and lets pretend you DO have to choose *g*), which of these would you give up for the entire Holiday season:



Christmas music or Christmas movies?



What if you were wrapping and could have either Scissors or scotch tape (and no, you don't have any gift bags available either *g*) which would you choose to keep?



If one of these was the ONLY beverage you could drink through the entire season, which would it be: eggnog or mulled wine?



And don't forget, each commenter will be put in the drawing to win a rooster themed gift for our 12 Bandita Days of Christmas and I'll throw in TWO books from my stash of goodies. Winner's choice!
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Give Me Some Bing!

by Beth


Sorry for the late post. It seems as if this holiday season is busier and crazier than ever *g*


I do love the holidays though and one of the things I love most is the music!


Some of my favorite Christmas songs are:

Carol of the Bells - Trans Siberian Orchestra (I'd love to see them live!)



White Christmas - Bing Crosby. We listen to Bing every Christmas morning. No substitutes! And I love both classic movies Holiday Inn and White Christmas. I'm going to force my family to watch them with me this year :-)



Baby It’s Cold Outside - Lee Ann Womack and Harry Connick Jr. Great version of this classic song.



God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Bare Naked Ladies and Sarah McLachlan. So upbeat and fun and makes me want to dance *g*



And because I'm always behind the times, I just found out that Kristin Chenoweth has a Christmas CD out which I would love to have. Along with Faith Hill's.



Some of the songs that make me want to stick my head in a very deep snowbank are:



Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer. Ugh. I hate even typing that because now it’ll be stuck in my head!



Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney. Don’t get me wrong, I love Paul during his Beatle days but this song? Not so much.



Do They Know It’s Christmas by Band Aid. Great idea to raise money for the world’s needy but after over twenty years of this song, I’ve had enough *g*




What about you? What are your favorites? What songs could you happily go without hearing this year?



And don't forget, we're still celebrating our 12 Days of Christmas! One lucky commenter will win a rooster prize plus I'll throw in a copy of one of my books :-)
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Warm me up, please

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a fan of winter. As soon as the temperature starts dipping into the 50s for highs, I start staring longingly toward Florida. From about November through March, I'm colder than I want to be. I live with layers of fleece and a space heater going next to my desk. My husband bought me fingerless typing gloves a few Christmases ago because my hands (particularly my right, since it's on the computer mouse a lot) go ice cold unless I get up and exercise.

It's this time a year that I wish I was a coffee drinker. Or even a hot tea drinker. Alas, I don't like either. But this is the only time of the year that Starbucks makes any money off me -- for their yummy hot chocolate.

In November of 2008, I think I hit half a dozen Starbucks locations in New York City when my agent and I met there to visit with the editors at my young adult publishing house. It was really cold (seriously, even New Yorkers were bundled up and looking pained), so every time we had to go somewhere and passed a Starbucks, in we ducked for hot chocolate.

I also love soups during the cold months. Potato soup, tomato soup, vegetable, chicken noodle, lentil -- you name it. When I go to Panera Bread for lunch and some writing time away from home, I typically get one of their hearty soups.

Another cold weather staple is a pot of white beans with cornbread. Not only is this warm and hearty, but with a couple of cans of Bush's Great Northern beans with a piece of bacon thrown in for flavor and a package of Jiffy corn muffin mix, it's also really easy. As someone who isn't a big fan of cooking, I like easy.

Finally, I love a big bowl of chicken and dumplings. I've been eating this dish since I was a little thing. I can remember my grandma making dumplings from scratch and me actually snagging a couple of pieces of raw dough to eat. Okay, so that wasn't very healthy and it sounds gross now, but at the time I thought it was awesome. What was even more awesome was the finished product. My grandma has been gone nearly 30 years, so most of my chicken and dumplings come from Cracker Barrel now.

So, I'm curious. What dishes do you turn to for keeping you warm in the winter? Also, I'm looking for some good soup or dumpling recipes. Please take pity on this cold soul and share. One poster today will receive a $10 gift certificate to Starbucks as we continue our 12 Bandita Days of Christmas.Source URL: https://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/search/label/12%20Bandita%20Days%20of%20Christmas
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Sweet Treats

by Tawny

Tis the Season for all those sweet treats. You know the ones - Fudge, divinity, homemade nut brittles and almond toffee. Mmmmmmm, I can feel the sugar rush just typing that.

Today is the second day of The Banditas Twelve Days of Christmas! So to celebrate, I thought we'd talk about visions of sugar plums... or even better, homemade goodies. Fruitcakes, cranberry bread, gingerbread. The once a year, only at the holidays, mom's secret recipe traditions that make this season so extra sweet.

I'm actually the designated candy maker in the family, with the help of my little baking elf: my oldest daughter. My mother makes a divine, to die for caramel (she actually handed over the recipe this year!!!) and both my gramma's are fab pie and 'regular' dessert makers. But they don't do the special holiday candies. So it's always been up to me. And I must say, I strive to live up to the sweet task.

Along with the regular assortment of candies, breads and treats, we always do a cookie decorating day. I'd planned it for today, but was informed by my youngest daughter and my niece that the cookies wouldn't be fresh enough for Santa if they were made this early. In the name of freshness and not offending the jolly fat one with all the pressies, the cookie decorating party has been moved to next weekend.

We also do a gingerbread house each year. Because we never actually eat it (do you eat yours? I always wonder if we're really supposed to), I don't feel bad about buying the pre-baked kits. Pre-fab gingerbread walls make it much easier to focus on the important stuff... decorating!!! how about you? Have you ever made a gingerbread house? Is it one of your sweet traditions?

In the spirit of the season, I thought I'd share one of my sweet recipes -and a secret. I completely suck at making fudge. No matter what recipe, it always ends up grainy and, well, blah. I wish like crazy I could make that smooth, silky fudge but haven't ever been able to pull it off. Well, until I found this nifty little recipe:


Candy Bar Fudge

1 can Pillsbury Chocolate Frosting
2 Snickers bars(3.7 oz.) ,chopped
1 12 oz. pkg. semisweet chips

Line an 8 inch square pan with foil,extending over sides. Spray with non stick spray, and set aside.
Melt chips in a microwave and stir in frosting. Pour half of this mixture in pan. Place all candy except a few pieces to garnish over this. Pour remaining chocolate over and garnish with remaining candy.Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.

LOL - I can just imagine the die-hard candy making Bandita cringes over this recipe. But what's a girl to do when she can't measure up to the holiday fudge requirments?? I can make caramels, divinity, almond toffee and any number of cookies, cakes and a killer pie crust. But fudge? I just can't do it. Until this recipe.

How about you? What's your favorite holiday sweet? Do you make it yourself? Is it a family tradition - a recipe handed down through the generations? Or do you try out new treats each year? Do you want to share any recipes? Anyone who can teach me to make fudge gets their name in a drawing for the 12 Days pressie and a copy of my upcoming January Blaze - YOU HAVE TO KISS A LOT OF FROGS, from the Blazing Bedtime Story anthology!!!
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On The First Day of Christmas the Bandits Gave to Me....Joanie T's Annual Christmas Trivia!!

Today is the first day of The Banditas Twelve Days of Christmas!





We've been very busy here in The Lair getting ready for the holidays. Demetrius cut down the Christmas tree with his gladius and Lucien has been stringing popcorn which has taken longer than we anticipated as he eats two bowls of the stuff for every one that makes it on the string! The GR was in charge of ornaments, flapping up to the boughs to place each ornament just so....which also took extra long as he kept getting distracted by all the shiny balls. The hockey hunks solved that by replacing broken ones with pucks!


Marcus keeps shaking the packages while Sven insists that today is NOT the first day of Bandit Christmas but Lucia day....a tradition from his home country where it is believed man and beast require extra nourishment........Stop! Boys! Stay away from the cookies!!!



Sigh.


Yes, we are steeped in tradition, steeped in good will, steeped in eggnogg.....Oh, wait! That's just Anna C. and AC and (squints at shoes sticking out from beneath the table) maybe....Suz???


Tawny, Jo stop standing under the mistletoe winking at the glads....no...no. ack! Jeanne! Stop shaking the packages! No, there is not C4 in the green one...no! Really! Don't. Shake. It.




Oh, wonderful. Anna S. just breezed in from England with a huge bowl of wassel....like we NEED more alcohol...and now she's taking down the mistletoe and chasing the hockey guys around!


What? Yes, yes Donna that corset is very pretty in green and red. Oh, my...it lights up...and in the most interesting places. Look, Susan and Kate have just arrived from the cave.....nice Elf hats girls. Do ya'll hear that? What is that carol Nancy, Caren and Christie are singing? "Deck the Halls with SuperHero Figures"...no, I think the words are...


Stop! Stop! Kirsten, honey really I don't think doughnuts will hold up as a wreath..the glaze don't you know. Ah, Christine...just in time....I need help with....what have you got on your head? A candle wreath? You say you're name is Lucia??? Sven! Sven...come back here and finish the wreath! Beth, Trish....step away from the long, weapon like package KJ just put under the tree...um, don't put it close to that green package!


This party is getting out of control and we haven't even served the cake...er, pie...er, cake.


(Collapses against reindeer) Never mind. Let's get on with the Christmas trivia. During the day, I will post batches of Christmas trivia questions. The first person to answer each correctly will get a point. The person at the end of the day with the most points (9 pm EST in my world) will win the first Bandit Christmas prize. Good luck!

BATCH #!


1. What do the carolers in the song "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" insist they be given?





2. Who wins the decorating contest in "A Charlie Brown Christmas?"



3. Where did the Grinch steal Christmas?



4. When a Ukrainian finds a spider web in their Christmas tree, what does it signify?



5. Who was the first ghost to appear to Ebenezzer Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol?"



6. What Christmas song was introduced in the movie "Holiday Inn"?



7. What non-traditonal Christmas movie sports the character Oogie Boogie?



8. What actor won an Academy award playing Santa Clause?



9. What branch of the American military is associated with Toys for Tots?



10. What did Carol Brady lose that jeopardized the Brady's Christmas celebration?




Bonus FIVE points will be added at the end of the day to the BB who describes the most unique ornament for any of the Banditas.



Now, excuse me....Cassondra is putting TRUCK NUTS in the stockings!!!!
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A Kind of Hush

by Nancy

Some 40 years or so ago, a group of British musicians "invaded" the American music scene. Exactly 40 years ago yesterday (I'm writing this on Christmas Day), Apollo 8 orbited the moon with guidance systems more primitive than the computer on my desk. And somehow, the news coverage this week has drawn them together for me.

The title of this post was inspired by a song one of those invading British musicians, an extremely cute young man named Peter but known as Herman, made famous. The refrain was There's a kind of hush/ All over the world tonight . . . and went on to talk about lovers in love. There's a hush in my neighborhood right now, the hush that comes on major holidays when everyone's inside, at gatherings that mark romantic and filial and friendly love.

Not all of these holidays are Christian, of course. The world's Christian population is somewhere between 20 and 33 percent, depending on which sources you consult. Which means the rest of the world follows creeds (or nonreligious ethical systems) other than ones based on Jesus's teachings. In the United States, Christianity (and thus, Christmas) is a dominant cultural force, but that's not so in other parts of the world, where Jews, Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists dominate. In those parts of the world, I assume, shops are open, streets are bustling with whatever traffic is usual, and people are going about their daily business. Yet all of the major religions and ethical systems have at least a couple of things in common--a belief in kindness or charity to the rest of humanity and a desire for peace among peoples (I except the militant religious splinter groups from this statement and hope we can avoid discussing them. For me, at least, today is a day to think of peace on Earth).

Which brings me, at last, to Apollo 8 and its crew, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and William Anders (who took the famous picture at left). They noted that there are no boundaries or divisions on the planet in that photo or in the view from space. Subsequent astronauts have said the same thing, that after a few days in space, they stopped thinking about their own parts of the world and saw it as a whole. The Earth is, of course, still fraught with war, genocide, famine, and plague. The hush in my neighborhood doesn't extend nearly far enough. I hope, though, that it will someday.

In the meantime, I'm grateful for my family and our friends and neighbors and our peaceful morning. I'm also grateful for all the Christmases past that I shared with family and friends who've moved away or passed away. A good friend of ours made our beautiful tree skirt, came over with her husband to help decorate the tree every year until they moved to Arizona, gave us ornaments and beautiful, cross-stitched art, and reveled in all things Christmas except the holiday itself. They're Jewish, you see, and she didn't feel right about putting up a tree of her own.

One year, when I was about 7, I got the Barbie Dream House for Christmas. The adults in my life didn't realize it came with Massive Assembly Required (all the furniture--think tab A and slot B--which was then cardboard). I don't think, personally, that could possibly have been as bad as tiny decals for Gundams and Power Rangers, but I could be wrong. Anyway, the adults were so distracted by furniture assembly that they forgot to open the chimney flue. Until the smoke from burning wrapping paper poured into our living room to remind them. We had to evacuate the house until they got the situation straightened out, and then we froze with the windows open for a couple of hours. My grandfather lived with us, so our house was jammed with aunts and uncles and cousins on Christmas Day. And all us kids were in the yard together that morning, freezing. I cherish the memory of that day. All the adults are gone now, and the kids have kids of our own, and the cyle of life moves on.

I hope you've had wonderful memories of this day or other holidays your family celebrates. Will you share them? What's your favorite holiday, and what does it make you think about?Source URL: https://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/search/label/12%20Bandita%20Days%20of%20Christmas
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Saturday's 12 Days of Christmas Winner!

The winner of Saturday's Christmas Movies post is:

Barbara Vey!

Congratulations, Barbara!

Please send your snail mail info to Jeanne at: jeanne@jeanneadams.com

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MORE 12 Bandita Days Winners

SUPER CONGRATS to our winner on the 7 Swans a Swimming Day (Dec. 18th) and the post about the underground cities:

Gillian Layne

Please send your snail mail info to Santa's Bandita helper Le Duchesse Jeanne at jeanne@jeanneadams.com for your very special gift!


and congratulations to
TREETHYME - our winner for Dec. 19th and the post from guest blogger Dianne Castell.

Congratulations Becke! Please send your contact information to Jeanne as per the above.Source URL: https://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/search/label/12%20Bandita%20Days%20of%20Christmas
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Your Fantasy Christmas

by Kirsten Scott

I was reading a great Harlequin Desire the other day (The CEO's Christmas Proposition, by Merline Lovelace) and it was filled with fabulous descriptions of Christmas in Salzburg. You could see the homemade wooden toys, taste the buttery breads, and hear the children's choirs singing in the background of a wintery wonderland. (Here's a picture of Salzburg in the winter -- incredible, isn't it?)

Of course, if you're going to be stranded somewhere at Christmas time, it helps to be stranded with a gorgeous millionaire. But that's beside the point.

The point is, I am now adding "Spend Christmas in Salzburg" to my Bucket List. 


Not long after, I was at a holiday party and a friend of mine was complaining about her dysfunctional family and how Christmas brings nothing but angst and fighting. Some year, she vowed, she would be on a beach for Christmas, far away from everyone but her sweetie.

Hmm...Christmas in Oahu? I hadn't really considered it, but once she said it, the idea started to grow on me. Sure, I'd miss the kids and all, but putting that aside, wouldn't it be great to take that dreary, cold, wet time and spend it covered with suntan lotion, sipping a fruity beverage with my husband at my side?

Which leads me to the subject of today's blog: Your Fantasy Christmas.

Where would you go, if you could go anywhere in the world? I suspect most of us want to be exactly where we are, surrounded by family and friends, close to our church and all the people we love. But work with me here -- we're romance readers. No one does fantasy better than us. If you have to, you can imagine you've been stranded by cancelled flights or some other Act of God, and simply CAN'T get home (thereby absolving all Christmas-related guilt).


So what would it be, and who would you bring? A warm beach with your sweetie? A trip to Sweden's Ice Hotel with your best friend? How about New York City, with all the hustle and bustle, the ice skating in Central Park, and the giant Christmas tree?

Remember, we're still counting down the 12 Bandita Days of Christmas! One lucky commenter wins a prize! So let yourself go. Close your eyes and start fantasizing! Source URL: https://violeta-diario.blogspot.com/search/label/12%20Bandita%20Days%20of%20Christmas
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Another winner!

It's time for our busy little elf to draw out another name in our 12 Bandita Days of Christmas, so please give me a drum roll...the winner from among the comments to my small-town Christmas post on Monday is...

crianlarich

If you can drop Bandita elftess with the mostest, Jeanne, your shipping info including your name , she'll get your pressie out to you. jeanne@jeanneadams.com

And thanks to everyone for sharing your Christmas memories yesterday, whether they were from a small town or large city or anywhere in between.
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Bandita Goodies

Santa's little elf picked Keira as Sunday's BB winner! YAY Keira and congratulations. And thank you everyone for hanging out with me all day and sharing your holiday crafty experiences. Now I'm super hungry for bonbons, really wishing I knew how to make scones and in deep envy of those Bandita Buddies who work at Michaels *sigh*.



Keira, if you can drop our darling Bandita elf, Jeanne, your shipping info, she'll get your pressie out to you. jeanne@jeanneadams.com
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