It's December 1st and that means that all over the world, wherever Christmas is celebrated, young children - and not so young - are pinning up their Advent Calendars and opening the first door to see what picture - or chocolate - lies behind.
In past Decembers I've shared this tradition with you - offering a small surprise/giveaway for each day leading up to Christmas . It's been a way of sharing the time of celebration, of thanking my readers for sharing the past year with me - and specially for sharing and enjoying my books. It;s also been a way of getting to know you all better because the way we share is that I ask you a question about yourselves, your lives, your families, the way you celebrate Christmas - or whatever you're celebrating right now if Christmas isn't a special festtival for you.
What you do is you leave me an answer in the comments section - here, or wherever I'm blogging on each day - and I pick a winner of a particular book to give away, Well - no, I don't pick the winner. In the past that was always Sid the Cat's job. I gave him the names on pieces of paper and with a cat treat on the top of each one. And the first treat that Sid ate, the name of the winner was on that piece of paper. Sadly dear Sid is no longer with us but he did train up his apprentice in Charlie The Maine Coon (and ccasionally Flora The Floozie). Charlie is well ready to perform this important task - and as you can see from the photo, he's already been practising on his own Advent Calendar which was given to Sid by his dear Lady Across The Pond Anne McAllister and has now been passed down to Flora and Charlie in their turn.
What you do is you leave me an answer in the comments section - here, or wherever I'm blogging on each day - and I pick a winner of a particular book to give away, Well - no, I don't pick the winner. In the past that was always Sid the Cat's job. I gave him the names on pieces of paper and with a cat treat on the top of each one. And the first treat that Sid ate, the name of the winner was on that piece of paper. Sadly dear Sid is no longer with us but he did train up his apprentice in Charlie The Maine Coon (and ccasionally Flora The Floozie). Charlie is well ready to perform this important task - and as you can see from the photo, he's already been practising on his own Advent Calendar which was given to Sid by his dear Lady Across The Pond Anne McAllister and has now been passed down to Flora and Charlie in their turn.
So today is December 1st - the start of the countdown to Christmas and time for the first question .
Today's book is a bumper givewaway - Mediterranean Tycoons is a 3 in 1 volume with books by two other great authors as well as mine:
The De Santis Marriage is by Michelle Reid
and
The Sicilian's Virgin Bride is by Sarah Morgan
My book in this collection is The Greek Tycoon's Unwilling Wife. This was originally published in 2007
Recuperating on his private Greek island after a car crash, Andreas Petrakos had no memory of the previous year. The last thing he remembered was his passionate affair with beautiful Rebecca Ainsworth.
. . . when actually she was his wife!
Becca returned to the island because Andreas had asked for her. But she had to hide the truth from him. So what would happen when he recalled throwing Becca out - on their wedding day - for a reason only he knew?
So would you like a chance to win a copy of this great collection?
All you have to do is to leave an answer in the comments section -
Today's question - well, I've been talking about Advent Calendars. What about you?
Do you have an Advent Calendar in your house? For you or just for the children?
What picture/theme/design is it this year? (The lovely Anne McAllister specialises in great Advent Calendars - she always sends me a Jacquie Lawson Advent Calendar to have on my computer. I love it!)
So what does yours look like? Do you have pictures or chocolates behing the 'doors'
Or perhaps you light an Advent candle or make a Blue Peter Candle Wreath . . . or do something else entirely?
If you don't have advent, a calendar or anything like that - how do you mark the days leading up to a special celebration? I'd love to know.
And yes- before anyone asks - I will send the prizes anywhere in the world. So back. Leave your answer - I love getting to know more about my readers. So come and join in. The more the merrier.
