It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas (Reads) GIVEAWAY: An Amish Christmas Wedding (+ guest post)

today’s book: An Amish Christmas Wedding

Welcome to another post in my annual blog series spotlighting new and recently-released Christmas reads! (Over 50 this year – And I’m SO EXCITED about it!)

Christmas is only 10 days away (Yikes! lol) and I think we all could benefit from some extra Christmas cheer this year, right? Continuing through just before Christmas, I’m going to spotlight several new/recent Christmasy releases. So… snuggle in, grab your fave hot beverage and comfiest blanket, turn on some Christmas tunes and start your bookish Christmas list! Oh… and did I mention there are GIVEAWAYS with EACH POST in this series??!! (Because authors are awesome!)

Today’s next book is a collection of Amish Christmas romance by 4 fab authors, including Amy Clipston (Evergreen Love) who shares some of her family’s Christmas traditions!

AN AMISH CHRISTMAS WEDDING
GENRE: Inspirational Amish Romance collection
PUBLISHER: Zondervan
RELEASE DATE: October 6, 2020
PAGES: 400

From bestselling authors of Amish fiction come four delightful stories perfect for celebrating love, joy, and the everyday miracles Christmas brings.

Evergreen Love by Amy Clipston

Ryan Lapp had promised to marry Lorene Bontrager as soon as he was able to build them a house, but the day never came. Ryan moved away. Five years later, Lorene has settled in to her old maid role, and she’s shocked when her younger sister announces her quick engagement to Ryan’s younger brother. As they rush to plan the wedding, Lorene is constantly around the family she almost joined. Worse, she’s forced to face Ryan himself, who has returned to town. As both Ryan and Lorene examine their own feelings, they must decide if they can find grace with each other—and the young people they once were—this Christmas season. There just might still be love in their future.

Holiday of Hope by Kelly Irvin

Henry Lufkin is one of four bachelors who lived in the West Kootenai, Montana, cabins that were destroyed by wildfires. He’s the only one of them who hasn’t since married, but he likes his solitude. Then an old friend asks him to care for his son, and Henry has to share his small cabin and his life with bewildered and rebellious ten-year-old Tommy. When the child encounters trouble at school, Henry reaches out to Tommy’s teacher. Leesa Yoder never expected to find herself single and teaching sixteen young scholars, and she certainly didn’t anticipate an inexperienced bachelor telling her how to do her job. Amid the flying sparks, can Henry and Leesa see that there might be hope and love in this unexpected situation?

Wreathed in Joy by Kathleen Fuller

Mary Wengerd and Jakob Mullet have been best friends since childhood. Pressured by friends and family, they decided to date—with disastrous results. When they break up, their friendship is ruined. A year later, Mary is baking her Englisch friend’s wedding and groom cakes for a Christmas Eve wedding. Mary loves the Christmas season, and had always dreamed of marrying during that time. Now she wonders if she’ll ever marry. After she and Jakob form a tenuous new friendship, Mary breaks her arm. As he steps in to help her with the cakes, Mary is inexplicably and suddenly falling for him. But they’ve already dated, and that ended so horribly. Could it be better this time?

A Christmas Prayer by Vannetta Chapman

Widower Micah Miller runs the Amish Tour Company, offering Englischers a glimpse of a simpler life as well as tea at Rachel King’s. Rachel has never married and has recently lost her parents. When Micah comes across an abandoned and injured dog, he gives it to Rachel for company. As Rachel is charmed by the dog and shocked by news of the existence of family she never expected, her heart and mind bend toward the possibilities of change in her life—even toward the possibility of love.

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by Amy Clipston, author of An Amish Christmas Wedding

Christmas is focused on celebrating Christ’s birth in the Amish communities.  They make or buy Christmas cards to send, decorate the homes with a poinsettia and a little greenery, and give gifts that small tokens of love. You won’t find a tree, twinkling lights, or Santa Claus decorations in an Amish home.

My Amish friend told me that they set a Christmas table with place settings with little gifts for their children. They might receive things such as small toys or ice skates. Other family members, such as grandparents, give the children candy. And they always share the Christmas story from the book of Luke.

In my house we have certain traditions that we keep. Below is a list of my family’s traditions.

Christmas Cards

Many of my friends and relatives have stopped sending out cards through “snail mail” and instead post a holiday update on social media. I have kept the tradition of sending out cards. I usually write out my cards in early December, and I always include a special family photo taken during the year, along with the most recent school photos of my two sons. I send cards out to old friends, former neighbors, and relatives, and I enjoy receiving them as well. Unfortunately, it seems that I receive fewer cards each year.

Decorations

We decorate both the inside and the outside of our house. The front yard is always adorned with a Christmas train I purchased when my oldest son was little, along with other cute Christmas items, including wire light-up trees and other lights. We put up our Christmas tree inside of our house in mid-December. While my husband would prefer a real tree, we switched to an artificial tree years ago after the last real tree we had welcomed ants into our house. Buying a new Christmas decoration for the tree each year is a tradition I started when my husband and I were first married.

Special movies

Another tradition in our house is to watch the first “Die Hard” on Christmas Eve. It was one of my father’s favorite movies, so it’s fun to sit down with my sons, husband, and mother to watch it.

Gifts

When I was a little girl, we had the tradition of opening presents from my aunt and uncle who lived in Maine on Christmas Eve. We would open the rest of the gifts on Christmas morning. While my aunt and uncle have passed away, we have kept a tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve and the rest on Christmas Day. We each take turns opening our presents, so we can enjoy what everyone has received.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Amy Clipston has been writing for as long as she can remember. Her fiction writing “career” began in elementary school when she and a close friend wrote and shared silly stories. She has a degree in communications from Virginia Wesleyan College and is a member of the Authors Guild, American Christian Fiction Writers, and Romance Writers of America. She is the author of the bestselling Kauffman Amish Bakery series and Hearts of the Lancaster Grand Hotel series with HarperCollins Christian Publishing. Amy works full-time for the City of Charlotte, NC, and lives in North Carolina with her husband, two sons, mother, and four spoiled rotten cats.

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Other Authors in This Collection

Amy Clipston is offering a print copy of An Amish Christmas Wedding to one of my readers! (US only. Void where prohibited by law or logistics.) This giveaway is subject to Reading Is My SuperPower’s giveaway policies which can be found here. Enter via the Rafflecopter form below.

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What about you? What makes you want to read An Amish Christmas Wedding by Amy Clipston & the 3 other fabulous authors?