Dear Sinners,
I told my husband tonight that I was having trouble coming up with a message to write to my readers like I do every year to accompany my free Original Sinners Christmas stories, so he put on How the Grinch Stole Christmas to inspire me. I admit it did inspire me. Now I want to tie reindeer antlers on my cat Honeytoast.
But maybe that’s not the only bit of inspiration the movie gave me.
Here’s the thing. Although this year has been hard, very hard, for so many people in so many ways…Christmas is still coming. Nobody stole it from us, even if it feels like they tried. Though the midwinter is bleak and the days are dark and everyone, it seems, feels a little bit colder, on December 25th, Christmas will arrive. And on that day I’ll be with my husband and my parents and my sister and her husband and my niece and nephew, and we’ll be silly and happy and we’ll eat and play games and the presents will be the least of it all.
Christmas is about giving so you can find it wherever people give of themselves to each other. All year long, my readers give to me—you buy my books, you leave reviews, you send kind e-mails and silly tweets to thank me for the stories I write. And I’m here giving you all this story as a gift because you've made my dream of being a professional writer come true, and for that, a free Christmas story every year is the least I can do. So Christmas isn’t just coming. Christmas is here.
And the Cubs still won the World Series, and no one can take that from me either.
Merry Christmas, my beautiful Sinners. Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, and a Happy and Blessed New Year!
And Go Cubbies!
I hope you enjoy The Scent of Winter. And when the time comes and the world isn’t so bleak, enjoy the warmth of summer, too.
