Congratulations to the winners! Sue of Napkinwriter blog and Leah Moss each had their names drawn for a copy of Miracle On I-40. I thank each of you who dropped by to enter the drawing, and for your kind comments. It seems to me that no matter what our backgrounds or beliefs, those of us who enjoy Christmas have a certain bond.

Miracle On I-40 was the first novella I wrote, way back in 1988. I remember when my editor asked if I would like to do a Christmas story for an anthology for Silhouette Books. I said, “Oh, yes…I love Christmas!” And without a beat, she replied, “I just knew that.”

The story has been reprinted, edited, and enlarged a number of times, until it became the present gift book. When I first wrote the story, my husband, son, and I had been taking a number of trips along Interstate 40, from our home in Oklahoma to my hometown of Elizabeth City, North Carolina, or from Oklahoma west to New Mexico on research trips. How many restaurants like Geralds we stopped at! Later, when I added the scene of Lacey getting her son the remote-controlled car, I was prompted by my own son’s desire for such a car, and the search for one. Anna– that is my mother’s name, and in my mind I picture a little girl with dark bobbed hair and bangs cut straight across her forehead, the image from a sepia photograph of my mother.

I think something else that echoes from my life, and the lives of most women today, is the constant juggling of time. In the book, Lacey is continually rushing. I feel much like that. Do you?

Right now as I write this, behind me my office is scattered with Christmas boxes that need putting away, gifts that need wrapping, and all manner of good intentions just waiting for a spare moment, which is not likely to come, until I wrestle it away from daily life.

I hope Miracle On I-40 will provide you with some precious quiet moments of relaxation and a few smiles amid the scurrying of the Season.

Blessings,
CurtissAnn