Celebrate with Lillian Duncan

The Wranglers are happy to welcome author Lillian Duncan to the round corral. Read her inspiring story here, then give her new book a try!

CELEBRATE!

My latest release is No Home For The Holidays, a Christmas-themed romantic suspense novella. Christmas and suspense? I love the challenge of finding a way to mix the two. The gist of the story is about a “prodigal daughter” who wants to go home but knows she will put her family in danger as well as herself if she does.

In the story, Chloe is downright grinchy. Christmas reminds her of home and since she can’t go home, she refuses to acknowledge or celebrate Christmas in any way. I wonder how many of us do the same thing.

I’ve got no kids so why put up a tree?

I’m alone now, so what’s the point of decorating?

It’s too much work.

I’m so busy.

Mmmm….Do any of those excuses sound familiar?

There’s nothing like a serious health crisis to teach us to appreciate life!  It started on April Fool’s Day in 2012 when I developed Bell’s palsy. An MRI brought even more shocking news—bilateral brain tumors and a diagnosis of NF2, a genetic disorder.  It continues still today.

It’s been a long and difficult journey, but God has taught me much. And one of those nuggets of wisdom is to celebrate life!

For the past several years, we’d cleared off our enclosed porch and filled it with Christmas trees--lots of them!  It's just for fun and just for us--no grandbabies around to enjoy it.  But when I started experience side effects from my second brain tumor treatment in 2013 much earlier than expected, we decided to forego the Christmas Porch.  Too much work and I didn't feel well enough to help.

But one morning I woke up to a porch full of Christmas trees, thanks to my sweet husband.  I can’t tell you how much joy I got from just seeing the Christmas Trees every time I walked past them.  And it taught me a lesson, life is worth celebrating, especially at Christmas.

At this time of the year, we have so much to celebrate--the birth of a babe in a lowly manger. A birth that changed the world! A birth that brought heaven to earth! It’s a time of the year when we should all be celebrating, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in.

We’re celebrating the birth of Jesus, our king, our savior!

To celebrate the release of No Home For The Holidays, Lillian is running a contest on her blog, Tiaras & Tennis Shoes. Five lucky winners will receive a $10 Amazon Gift card. So hop on over and leave a comment under the No Home For The Holidays blog post so you’ll be entered to win one of the gift cards.

 Lillian Duncan: stories of faith mingled with murder & mayhem!

Lillian is a multi-published writer with several Amazon bestsellers, including The Christmas Stalking. She lives near Wooster, Ohio where one of their claims to fame is that they had the first Christmas tree in America. 

According to the Wayne County Historical Society’s website: In 1847 a young German immigrant, August Imgard, 21, while a resident of Wooster introduced the first Christmas tree to America.

Young Imgard missed the Christmas tree which had marked the Christmas he had known in his native Bavaria. He also believed a Christmas tree would bring added joy to his nephew and niece, Albert and Mary Imgard. For these two reasons he went to the woods outside Wooster and dropped down a spruce tree. He obtained a tin star and made paper decorations, which ornamented the first tree at the Imgard home on December 24, 1847.

The novelty appealed to other Wooster residents and the next year many people cut and decorated thier own trees. Out of Wooster the custom spread and now it is universal throughout the States.

It could explain her own love of Christmas trees!

To learn more about Lillian and her books, visit: www.lillianduncan.net. Tiaras & Tennis Shoes is her personal blog.