Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and yours a very blessed Christmas to the glory of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

See you all after the New Year!

Love,
Jennifer

Tick Tock Tick Tock

Cookies Left to Make: Chocolate Chip
Gifts left to Buy: FIVE
Gifts left to Wrap: SIXTEEN

Hi, all!
The kiddo was home sick with Step ALL WEEK last week so I was basically held hostage and could not get done my Christmas shopping. But I hope to finish up between today and tomorrow.

I had my COOKIES FOR CASH cookie swap last Thursday. I did NOT win. :(
I came in second. Again. Always a bridesmaid and never a blah, blah, I guess.

In case you're curious what I made, you can check out the recipe here. They're yumola. And they look so pretty to give too.

Anyhew, I need to leave now to go shopping so I can make it back home for an online seminar at 10AM.

I'll be checking out blogs after that. In the meantime, it's the all-important question of the day:

Heat miser? or Cold miser?

Deja Vu Blogfest!

 How does Deja Vu blogfest work?  On December 16^th all of those taking part will re-post their favorite blog offering, or one that never received the exposure it should have. For more info go to Nicole's blog HERE.

I chose one that was fairly popular but also fun. (Well, I thought it was fun) :-)

Anyway, and away we go...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Beyond Blonde and Brunette: The Redheaded Hero

Hey, all!

As you all know I was in Florida last week where I was able to relax and do a lot of reading. It's kind of funny the things that you start to notice when you're zipping through books--and one of them is the hair color of MEN.

Believe me, there are plenty of tall, dark, and handsome heroes going on. A few blonds I've seen. And then, of course, the sandy-brown colored hair, which naturally dips down (just so) where the heroine has that desire to brush it off his forehead. :-)

All very nice hair colors for men.

But where I ask you is the REDHEADED HERO?! (--interrobang)

Is there some kind of red prejudice going on? Are there certain images that get conjured up in our minds when we think of redheaded men?

Hmm....Well, maybe.

I'd like to think that there will be a resurgence in ginger-headed heroes, but maybe there is a certain stereotype that's automatically in our brain when we think of men with red hair. I know. It's terrible. But we women can't help it!! After all, look what we've been subjected to all these years:

Cute. (Sort of.) But not a romance readers typical "fantasy"type of guy. Nothing personal to those redheaded gentlemen, but romance readers are kind of... PICKY--opting for larger than life heroes over the guy-next-door type of hero.

Most authors tend to keep this in mind when naming their heroes. Romance readers LOVE masculine names for their heroes as well as masculine looks. It's just the way it is, because a hair coloring or a name conjure up images when we're reading.

But now that this phenomenon has come to my attention, I feel the need to write a hero with red hair. Yep. Those men deserve their props. And who knows?
There might be some hero hope for them yet. :-)


How about you? Have you read (and liked) any romances that had a redheaded hero? If you're a writer, have you written a book with a redheaded hero?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**on another note, the winner of the Sweet Sunshine Cookbook is...

Karen Walker!!

Please email me at jennifer--at--jennifershirk--dot--com and let me know where you want it sent.

Christmassy Stuff--and a Giveaway!

Hey, all!

I went away on a little bus trip with my mom on Saturday. We decided to do something for Christmas and go to Bethlehem.

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, that is. :)

It's actually called The Christmas City, christened "Bethlehem" on Christmas Eve 1741. We went shopping, had lunch, took a light tour and saw a short film on the city. We had so much fun! We actually bought Christmas gifts for each other. LOL

I soooooooooo needed that little getaway. And it was so nice to have so much fun with my mom. We try to do these little mommy-daughter getaways at least once or twice a year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More Christmassy stuff: It's COOKIES for CASH time again. What's that? It's a cookie swap my friend hosts that gets pretty darn serious because the winner gets the pot of cash everyone chips in on entry. This year I'm changing it up, but in case any judges are reading this, I won't post my cookie recipe until AFTER the swap.
Wish me luck!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And now since I'm in such a Christmassy mood, I figured it's the perfect time to do a little cookbook GIVEAWAY!

Sweet Sunshine is a Charity Cookbook, with all proceeds going to the Sunshine Foundation of Canada www.sunshine.ca.

Within these pages, several featured authors have shared a childhood memory, some pictures of us as little kids, recipes, and a few have written a story, complete with artwork and coloring pages. Recipes include; Cookies, Cakes, Pies, Desserts, Fudge & Smoothies!

Available in print and ebook.

So if you would like a copy of this cookbook chock-full of yummy recipes, then ENTER to win by commenting below and telling me what your favorite Christmas treat is!
**contest will run from now until Thursday 11:59 PM EST.**
**anyone can enter to win, however if you live outside the U.S or Canada, you will be eligible for the ebook version only.

Tis the Season...

Oh my gosh, I feel out of touch with everyone.
This has been an INSANE week. That's all I can really say.
INSANE.
So I will leave you with Happy Thoughts while I'll try to regroup and play catch-up.


Da Christmas Tree:
Da Kitchen with my new ginormous poinsettia. Isn't it pretty?
Here's a closeup:

Anyhew, I promise to be back next week in right mind. :-) I'll also be doing a little cookbook giveaway for fun--and just in time for the holiday season.

Have a great weekend!

Have I missed any big news? Please tell me I haven't.

Gone Shopping!

Hey, all!

Well, the Christmas Tree is officially up and the house is decorated. FINALLY!

I had a little bit of trouble getting into the spirit initially. I think it's because it's been so unseasonably warm.
But for someone who's been a bit of a Grinch, I sure bedazzled my house!! I had no idea I had it in me!:)

Anyhew, my church's Advent Luncheon went off wonderfully, thanks for asking. I actually had four women request my Caesar dressing recipe. Yes, it's THAT good.

So now, I'm off to get some shopping done...um, since I have yet to start.

Catch up with you all later.

How about you, is your tree up yet?

And we have a winner...

Happy Friday!!

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and commented on my guest blogger Melissa McClone's guest post! We both really appreciate it!

Right now I'm up to my ears in extensive copy edits for my Avalon release coming out in April.
Did I mention how extensive they are? Sheesh.

I'm also preparing to speak at my church. Our Women's Ministry is having their third program on the subject of PRAYER this Saturday, and I happen to be the closer. :-)

(PS. I'm also in-charge of making enough salad dressing and croutons for 50 women. ) More sheesh.

Anyhew, I wanted to pop in and announce the winner of Melissa's giveaway.
The winner of one $10 Amazon Gift Card is...

Theresa Milstein!!

Congrats, Theresa! Please email me at Jennifer AT jennifershirk DOT com with the email you would like to use and I will have Melissa get your prize out to you.

Have a great weekend! And see you Monday!