Advent Day Four *plus* Literary Friday: Christmas Bliss

Happy Advent Season, My Lovelies!  This year on my Advent Calendar I want to share Christmas traditions from around the world along with a daily scripture reading.

Today I'm featuring a tradition from Germany and one of my oldest daughter's favorites: the gingerbread house.  The gingerbread house became a Christmas tradition in the early nineteenth century due to the popularity of the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales, especially Hansel and Gretel.

Luke 2:1-5
The Birth of Jesus2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.

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Literary Friday



This week I read Christmas Bliss by Mary Kay Andrews.  I'm reading cozy Christmas mysteries and chick lit this month because we are reading Chaucer in school.  I'll get back to reading literature after Christmas.
Weezie Foley is planning a Christmas wedding to her successful chef extraordinaire Daniel.  Daniel isn't much help in the planning because he has been given the opportunity to serve as guest chef in a posh New York City restaurant for most of the month of December.  When Weezie visits Daniel's Savannah restaurant to sample food from his sous chef for the wedding reception, she sees a photo from a NYC newspaper of Daniel and the stunningly gorgeous restauranteur draped around his person.  Weezie is not amused, and immediately books a flight to New York to surprise Daniel and find out what the heck is going on between him and the sexy-cocktail-dress-wearing Carlotta Donatello.  She leaves the wedding planning in the capable hands of her friends Cookie and Manny. Surely they can keep the wedding planning on schedule, elegant, and simple.....or can they???
Weezie's best friend and Maid of Honor BeBe is very pregnant.  She has even larger problems than Weezie because her past is about to come back and kick her in the butt.  Her sweet partner Harry wants to marry her more than anything in the world, but BeBe is refusing.  While Harry is contemplating quitting his job as a charter captain for deep sea fishing trips, BeBe doesn't want to burden him with her past issues.  Unfortunately her doctor has insisted on bed rest due to BeBe's high blood pressure, but she has issues that must be resolved before she gives birth.
With so much drama going on, will Weezie be able to pull-off her Noël nuptials?  Packed with over-the-top characters, a wonderful setting with a true Southern sense of place, and very sweet ending, Christmas Bliss is a fun Christmas read.  Andrews wrote an earlier Christmas Book entitled Blue Christmas with the same characters, and I wish I'd read it first although both are stand alone books.  

By the way... The cover of Christmas Bliss did influence my mantel decor for Christmas.

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Until next time…
Blessings!
Ricki Jill

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