The Santa Letters Blog Tour

I am very excited to introduce as my first blog tour review, author Stacy Gooch-Anderson and her warm and inviting new Christmas story, THE SANTA LETTERS.
Stacy lives in Salt Lake City with her husband and four sons. She attended the University of Utah and has won several awards through the Society of Professional Journalists. THE SANTA LETTERS which arrived this year just in time for the upcoming holiday season, is a story of trials, forgiveness, and the joy that comes from allowing Christ into your life.

A year after her husband was killed by a hit-and-run driver, Emma Jensen finds herself dreading having to face Christmas without her sweetheart and with all the financial strains that have been placed on her family since William's death. Only six-year-old McKenna, still believes that Santa will bring a Christmas miracle for their family.
But Christmas has always been a time of magic, and the Jensen's miracle comes in the form of an mysterious package on their front door days before Christmas, with a letter signed by none other than Santa himself. As the letters and packages continue to arrive the family remembers the miracle of the Savior's birth and learns that their beloved husband and father may be closer than they think.

At 190 pages, this delightful Christmas story is just the right size to open your heart to the miracles that are all around us. Having lost my own father to cancer several years ago just after Christmas, I can understand the suffering that goes along with facing life without a dear one. Stacy Gooch-Anderson, has taken this pain and turned it into a story about life and love. This book teaches forgiveness, overcoming loss, and how to let Christ into our lives in a tone that is anything but overbearing. There were several times that I found myself tearing up as I thought about ways I could let the Savior into my life. But this book is not just for those of us who have suffered loss. It is for anyone who wants to reunite with the true meaning of Christmas. It is for anyone who earns to remember that there is more to this season than presents and decorations. This story is for anyone who wishes to feel the Savior's love in their lives. In short, this story is for you.

And because I am lucky enough to be hosting a blog tour and not just sharing my review, I was able to have a little Q & A time with the author.

BERLINWRITERGIRL: We've all heard of the 12 days of Christmas, but this was the most Christ centered version I have ever seen. How did you come up with this idea?

STACY GOOCH-ANDESRON: Several years ago, I found out that two of my sons had been in a sexually abusive situation and my first instinct as a parent was to kill and then sadness for having failed them. After many prayers, the only answer I got was that in order to heal them, I had to first heal myself. I went to my scriptures and studied the Savior's birth. And since Christmas was upon us and there was no money after so many legal and counseling bills, I merged the best of life and what the Savior has to offer and put together the Santa Letters as way to help us all forgive and heal and remember all the true gifts that have been offered.

BWG: There were several Christmas traditions mentioned in your book, which ones if any came form your own life?

SGA: All of them came from our own Christmas Letters experience but many of them like humor, the ornaments every year, the music concert and a night of service are annual Christmas traditions for us. The only one that was fictionalized in the book was Health and Good Cheer since I know of no event like that held in any city. But we did take a walk at a place called Gardner Village and enjoy the sights there as a family.

BWG: How can people use this book to bring themselves closer to the Savior this Christmas season?

SGA: Since the main focus of the book is bringing Christ back into Christmas, I would hope that people would think more about Him and what He can do for us and has done for us rather than the commercialization of the season. I also think service is key to that. Whether in the service of your family, friends or mankind in general, service will bring you closer to Him and heal your heart as you find the real Christmas spirit.

BWG: I noticed you named two of the main characters after your parents. Was there any significance in doing so?

SGA: My father, William (Bill) Rex Gooch, died at age 61 from cancer on March 28, 2004 while he was serving as the Bishop of an LDS ward. His whole life was about service and unconditional love. My mother (Laurel Stapley Gooch) really struggled with his passing and lost much of her joy in life. My kids called her Miss Emma after a "classical" Laurel moment when she mistook my son calling her Emma on the phone and replied, "Sorry there is no Emma here, wrong number.: and then hung up the phone. This happened about three times before she finally asked me if Justin had a friend named Emma - it sounded just like him. After looking at the niumber and determining that it had been Justin, I called him back and asked what was up. He was stumped and in his normally fast dialect told me that he'd said Gramma, not Emma. He was the one left confused at her reaction. She ran upstairs after that to give her ears a thorough cleaning. She died earlier this year at age 63, also from cancer, on April 29, 2008. Her life was all about serving as a mother and unconditional faith but the lessons they taught me all growing will live on in our memories and through this book.

BWG: To those of us who are inspiring writers, what advice can you give us?

SGA: Find your passion and write from your true inner voice and never, never give up! And hone your skills in whatever way you can. talents were made to be used - not buried.

BWG: Would you share a little bit about your journey in writing and publishing this book?

SGA: You read a bit about my story above but what I didn't share then was that for 15 years I'd prayed earnestly that I could write stories that would touch the hearts of men. Even when we went through this, I didn't think about writing it since I figured that no one would be interested on one family's journey of healing. But then a good friend of mine, when she found out what we were doing, challenged me to write the story.I feel like I was just along for the ride from there as I watched the Lord's hand take over in everything to the timing of it, the publisher whose desk it landed on and the success since.I truly feel it is not my story but one that I was blessed enough to be a part of.

Perfect to read for Family Night, great to give as a gift, and inspirational enough to pick you up when life becomes overwhelming, THE SANTA LETTERS can be purchased through Amazon, or Deseret Book.

I *HEART* HOMEWORK!

Now that C has started Kindergarten I was surprised at the amount of time needed to do homework each day. In 3rd grade M has to read to me 20 minutes a night, do her spelling words and one sheet of math, plus the occasional extra assignment such as preparing for her upcoming book report. C in Kindergarten has a lot as well. We need to read at least 15 minutes, work on writing for at least 10 minutes and work on math for at least 5 minutes each night, and additional projects for her as well. Now I know that does not seem like a ton, considering my 15 year old niece has about 3 hours a night for 10th grade. But it is a big step for us, with soccer, preparing to move, my being sick, potty training for L, a husband in a Masters course, and life in general. At first I was frustrated with it, but then I realized that homework time was the perfect opportunity to stop the stress of the day and bond with each child. I am having such fun reading The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane with M and finding words she doesn't know in the dictionary, and working on Math with C plus snuggling for story time, that I actually have invented homework time for L as well. We read, count, and at the dollar store I bought a bunch of Whinnie the Pooh pre-K books for him to do. I work finding out about school and friends into the time and end up getting to spend some great time with each kid while they are learning.
I am learning a lot about my kids by doing homework, so come on and bring it on teachers, I don't mind, its just more time to spend with my little ones!

So when should the medicine start working?

That is the question of the day as I sit here completely drained after another restless night. And the next question is...What do I do if my house falls apart before I get some energy back? The good news is the diet seems to be helping the diabetes, at least my blood sugar is normal again. The bad news is, you can't see my living room floor. I have heard Thyroid meds take anywhere from 3 to 6 weeks. I would sure love it to be closer to 3!

Truffle for Thought

Hey everyone! I have been invited to share my comments on a new blog called Truffles for Thought. You can go there to hear my comments on Movies, Books, Music, whatever! Check out the link in the next column over. I will probably not post that stuff here anymore unless it is just too outstanding for words! Hope to see you there!

What a day!

It was a day like any other day..well, not exactly, maybe like any other day for the past month. I dragged myself out of bed just in time to get M off to school, looked at dishes in the sink, the growing pile of laundry on the floor, tripped over the toys that littered the house, attempted to clean, got tired sat down, fell asleep allowing the kids to destroy more of the house. My dear friend in an attempt to cheer the black clouds that have been forming for the last month goes out of her way to drive to Sonic to get me a cherry coke. They mess up and give her a strawberry coke. Yuck! But at least it makes me laugh once in the day. Finally after hours of waiting, the doctor finally called. The good news, I am not just a lazy slob. The bad news, not only is my thyroid out of balance, but I also have diabetes. And then as I am trying to digest this and learning just how hard cutting not just sugar, but all carbs down is, I get a rejection letter on my partial. It was not a good day. Oh well, C'est La Vie! At least I have great family and friends. Thanks to all of you who have been there!

9 Happy Years

Tomorrow D and I will be celebrating our 9 year wedding anniversary. We were married on August 12th, 1999 in the Mount Timpanogos temple. There were so many wedding there that day because 9 years ago today SLC saw its biggest (at least in my lifetime) tornado and the SLC Temple was closed for damage repair. The Jordon River Temple was also closed so all the weddings that were to take place in SLC went either north to Bountiful or South to Mount Timpanogos. We had gone the day before and taken all of our pictures except the family ones and I am so glad that we did becasue it was crazy, but none of that mattered. All that mattered is on that day I was sealed for time and all eternity to the love of my life.
In these 9 years we have enjoyed 3 kids, 6 moves, and 2 states. We have had the propeller fall off our plane mid-flight, traveled (my favorite trips were to Germany and Wisconsin), put D through school (he will be done with his Masters in December), lived at one time or another with all of our parents, watched a lot of Sci-Fi (D has been a very patent man sitting through everything from Babylon 5 to Quantum Leap to BattleStar Galactica with me). We have laughed and cried, loved and learned. We have survived everything life has thrown at us. I can truly say that I am married to my bestfriend. Here is to 9 great years and an eternity more to come. I love you D!

For the record...

I read it and I loved it. I have been reading some people's reviews on Breaking Dawn and I am wondering if I am just innocent, or if there are some people out there that just like to pervert anything they can. Trust me, I don't think I'm that innocent. I gave it a five. Twilight was the only other book in the series that I gave a five. Two types of books get fives from me. Books like: A Thousand Splendid Suns, which I may not read again, but the message is just so intense and thought provoking that you are truly changed by the story. Or books that are fantasy and just so much fun I could read them again and again. Breaking Dawn falls into the last category.
Maybe because I have never been one much for Vampires. This book seemed to have more magic in it than the others. I loved that. I love happy endings. This book is fun. By the way people it is FANTASY. That is the great thing about fantasy, anything can happen. I for one think Meyers did a good ending to the story. The only ending that made much sense. I will admit there is still one question I have, but I can say this..I finally like Bella! So while a lot of people are disappointed, I will probably find myself reading this book again, and again.