Week #3 in The 12 Books of Christmas Giveaway: A Door Country Christmas by Cynthia Ruchti

Week #3 already in the 12 Books of Christmas, can you believe it? Me, neither! We're down to only about 9 weeks until Christmas. Wow!

I know you'll enjoy this week's giveaway, A Dorr County Christmas, offered by Cynthia Ruchti. I had the pleasure of meeting Cynthia at the 2009 ACFW conference and I can't tell you how sweet and just plain real she is. She is an amazing ACFW president and a beautiful person.

Here's a brief bio:

Cynthia Ruchti writes and produces a 15-minute drama/devotional radio broadcast The Heartbeat of the Home. She is the current president of American Christian Fiction Writers. Her debut novel--They Almost Always Come Home (Abingdon Press) released in May. A Door County Christmas released September 1. She lives in the heart of Wisconsin with her plot-tweaking husband, not far from her three children and five grandchildren.

Visit Cynthia online at: www.cynthiaruchti.com

FUN HOLIDAY QUESTIONNAIRE:

Favorite Christmas carol: Traditional: O Come, All Ye Faithful; Modern: Mary, Did You Know?

A family Christmas tradition: Dad had a habit of waiting until Christmas Eve to go shopping for Mom. So we kids held our breath waiting to see what he found at the gas station or hardware store. One year he bought and wrapped a hockey puck, just to throw her off. Something she could never guess. She was surprised, all right. None of us can remember what he REALLY gave her that year. We only remember the hockey puck.

A memorable gift you've given or received: When microwave ovens were a brand new concept, mysterious, only slightly smaller than a stove, and cost $300 for a simple model, my mom (who must have gotten some kind of inheritance we didn't know about) gave each of her five grown children a microwave. Their first. We have a picture of my then 8-year-old daughter and me opening the huge package together and finding not our normal Christmas pajamas but nuclear technology!

Favorite Christmas television show or movie? I suppose it's obvious I write women's fiction if I cry at Cindy Loo Who's soliloquy in "The Grinch." The "Charlie Brown Christmas" is always a favorite, too.

When do you start your holiday shopping? I used to take great joy-bordering-on-pride over finishing my Christmas shopping before the start of the school year. Those days are gone. I pick up things throughout the year, but have let my schedule infringe upon my original good intentions about being organized in September, purchasing in October, wrapping in November, and done before the first of December. But...I do not shop on Christmas Eve!

Ever been kissed under the mistletoe? Every time my husband and I walk under the bunch that hangs in the doorway between our dining room and family room. High traffic. :)

Do you deck the halls in style or keep it simple? We could probably live in a smaller house if we didn't need storage for the Christmas stuff. Some years, I decorate glitzy. Sometimes rustic, which fits better with the northwoods lodge decor in my family room. One year, my daughter and I thought it would be cute to decorate the tree with teddy bears, but the only small stuffed teddy bears we could find were wearing satin and lace angel outfits. We wanted Christmas in Wisconsin. So we ripped off their angel costumes and knit sweater vests and scarves for dozens and dozens of stuffed bears. I embroidered snowflakes on some of the vests. We're talking four-inch bears, so you can imagine the size of their winter-wear! By the time we were done knitting, my daughter and I laughed at our obsession with the project. She mentioned something about hand-painting little wooden magnet train cars this year.

What food do you overindulge in during the holidays? I have to eat gluten-free, so most Christmas cookies and other goodies are out. But a friend of mine makes the best peanut brittle. If it's not that, it's good, high quality toffee.

Favorite recipe to share?

Good Enough to Gift Caramel Corn:

Melt 2 sticks of butter (real butter) in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add 1/2 c corn syrup and 2 c brown sugar. While that blends and comes to a boil (for 5 minutes, stirred frequently and watched carefully), microwave two bags of popcorn, one at a time. Dump the popcorn into a massive bowl, then lift handfuls of it into another massive bowl so the old maids fall out to the bottom of the first bowl. Discard old maids (resist the urge to explain).

When the sugar/butter mixture has bubbled hard for five minutes, remove the pan from the heat and stir in 1/2 tsp of baking soda. Watch it foam. Pour over popcorn. Stir very carefully as the caramel will be screaming hot. Coat popcorn as evenly as possible. Let cool just enough to eat without burning something. Yum.
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Now for the giveaway! Here's a blurb about Cynthia's book, A Door County Christmas:

A DOOR COUNTY CHRISTMAS is a novella collection from Barbour Publishing with ACFW authors Eileen Key, Rachael Phillips, Becky Melby, and Cynthia Ruchti. Peer behind the closed doors of a Wisconsin tourist town gone dormant for the winter season. Watch as the drama and romance start to heat up—just as Lola the innkeeper promised her four single friends a year ago when she gifted them with her prayers and a Christmas cactus. Will each woman find love—along with cactus blooms—as promised?

In Cynthia's novella, "The Heart's Harbor," Amanda Brooks escapes Chicago, hoping for a quiet getaway. In one jaw-dropping moment, she's drafted into managing the Heart's Harbor Victorian Inn and its legendary Christmas Tea. Quirky guests, a bare-bones budget, and the innkeeper's exasperating son make her wonder if Christmas and love have anything in common.

Leave a comment on this blog post to be automatically entered in this giveaway. Be sure to leave your contact information so I can get in touch with you if you win.

Contest ends at midnight on Friday, October 15th. The winner will be announced in a brief post on Saturday.

**Contest disclaimer: Void where prohibited; open only to U.S. residents. Odds of winning depend on number of entrants.**