Patricia Sands

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santons

Hurray for December!

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It’s here! I do love December!

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My friend Anneli Purchase surprised me by posting our chat about Christmas on her blog yesterday . It’s always fun to blog hop and it was a great kick-off for me for this season I love so much!(Even if it was still November.)

The spirit of giving is what December is all about … right? So let’s get started!

I’ve never done this before. Mark your calendars for December 4 and 5!

As a December special, The Promise of Provence ebook will be a FREE DOWNLOAD at this link. If you already have your copy, download some to give to your friends! How’s that for a gift? Please feel free to pass the news on to one and all. The more, the merrier!

Next, I’m happy to announce that the winner of the santon giveaway from my newsletter  is Amy Chouinard! Many, many thanks to all the newsletter readers who entered the contest by  leaving comments about their favourite Christmas traditions. It was a treat to read them all! Amy, congratulations! I will be in touch for postal information.

As I wrote in the newsletter, santons are an important part of Christmas in France. Those and other traditions in France are a focus of the first part of my next novel.  You can read all about santons here.  When I was in Nice in September/October, I purchased one for the contest.

Santons-PSandsPhotos
Santons-PSandsPhotos

In case you haven’t subscribed to my newsletter, there’s a link here to the right of this post.  Join the hundreds who have already signed up! It will be great to see you on the list!

Next, congratulations to Moira Martin who won a copy of The Promise of Provence in the contest Anna Fill held in The Riviera Woman last month. Thanks to Anna for featuring the giveaway and to everyone who joined in.

Here’s a December gift I am passing on to all of you. It’s actually a present from the talented Janine Marsh, the editor (Redacteur en Chef) of the fabulous The Good Life France website. This is a spectacular book about Christmas in France and IT IS FREE to everyone. Click right here to go the website and download it.

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I’m sure you will enjoy this book with its beautiful photography and excellent articles! I am in awe of the time, effort and love that must have gone into putting it together. Take a minute to let Janine know what a fine gift she’s given us! 

What special plans do you have now that the 12th month is here?

DECEMBER, YOU ARE OFF TO A GREAT START!canstockphoto0162164

I’m waiting for December …

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As many recover from Thanksgiving feasts, here are a few thoughts on the subject:

Courtesy of award-winning teacher Victoria Leon
Courtesy of award-winning teacher Victoria Leon

Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.  ~Theodore Roosevelt

Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare.  They are consumed in twelve minutes.  Half-times take twelve minutes.  This is not coincidence.  ~Erma Bombeck

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.  ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Thanks to everyone who took some time to help those less fortunate on this holiday that is meant for each and every one of us. 

Let’s take a minute to be thankful too for enterprising and creative teachers such as Victoria Leon who inspired this terrific poster. Click on it to enlarge and enjoy! You can also check out Victoria’s blog, Teacher Park, by clicking here! These are the kind of teachers we love to see!

I’m in the States at the moment and surrounded by all things Christmas even though it is just the day after Thanksgiving here. Traditionally, I’ve learned through the years, Thanksgiving is the kick-off for the “holidays” in this country whether it is Hanukkah or Christmas and I have certainly noticed this to be true.

For some reason, I have a mental block about thinking in the holiday mode until the calendar moves into December. So even though that means just one more day, I’m going to wait until Sunday to get festivities under way here.

HOWEVER, when I do kick it into gear, I have some exciting items to share. One will be the name of the  winner of the Santon giveaway that was posted in my newsletter and the other will be a fabulous free ebook about Christmas in France that will be available to everyone. I can’t wait to give you the link to that!

In the meantime I want to offer warmest wishes, Chag Shameach, to all those celebrating Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah), the 8-day Jewish festival of lights celebrating religious freedom. This is certainly a special, and early, date this year as the first candle on the Menorah was lit the evening before  and the first day  of the holiday is on Thanksgiving Day. We’re told this precise coinciding won’t happen for another 70,000 years, so enjoy what will surely be special celebrations!

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How did you celebrate this week … and do you have your Christmas decorations up? I know one of our daughters has her tree and decorations all in place … and she doesn’t even live in the States!

See you on December 1 for my first festive posting! If it’s Friday, it must be France will return next week.