My Wild Rose blog tour guest today is historical author Victoria Gray. She is sharing with us her favourite Christmas treat: Cookies for Santa.

* * *

Thanks for having me today, Rae.  As we enter the Christmas season, I’ve been thinking about the traditions that make the holiday season such a special time of year.

Every family has its own Christmas traditions. One of my favorites is baking Christmas cookies. When my sons were young, we’d all bake cookies for Santa Claus; they’ve long outgrown the notion of Santa and his reindeer, but my Christmas Eve tradition keeps going strong.

My favorite cookies are oatmeal raisin cookies. There’s something about the smell of spices and sugar in a warm oven that brings back memories of my childhood and Christmases past. If only these cookies were a health food. It almost seems unfair that something filled with oatmeal and raisins is fattening.  If only scientists could discover a way to make these cookies calorie free – talk about the best gift ever!

On a typical Christmas Eve, oatmeal raisin cookies aren’t the only things baking in my oven. Chocolate chip, sugar, and peanut butter blossoms – those yummy peanut butter cookies topped with a Hershey’s kiss – all have their turn. My husband’s favorite chocolate chip cookies are a must, while my boys enjoy any kind of cookie I whip up.

Americans throughout our history have treasured baked goods as comfort foods. In my new release, Angel in My Arms, a trio of Union spies in war-time Richmond use their baking prowess to win over the hearts of powerful men via their stomachs,  gaining entry to the Confederate prison to funnel information in and out using their fresh baked treats as a lure. The heroine, Amanda Emerson, is an accomplished baker whose culinary creations win men over nearly as much as her beauty. Amanda and her hero, Steve Dunham, no doubt would have enjoyed a batch of sugar cookies sitting by a fire on Christmas Eve.

What are your favorite holiday treats? Do cookies bring to mind images of joyful Christmases past, or do you prefer a hearty apple pie with the smell of cinnamon wafting through the kitchen? Share your favorite treats, and you’ll be entered in the “end of tour” blog contest for a chance to win a free pdf of Angel in My Arms.


Blurb:

Amanda Emerson must break her cousin, a notorious double agent, out of a Confederate prison before his imminent execution. She’s a skilled Union operative, but for this mission, she needs a man. Even a man who looks and acts like a Viking warrior.

Caught with Rebel battle plans and set for a hanging, Union spy Steve Dunham isn’t about to refuse the assistance of the sable-haired beauty who shows up at the jail and slips him the keys to his cell. Of course, she’s there for a reason besides saving his neck – he’s the key to her plan.

He may be trading one noose for another, but he won’t forsake her. The spoils of his victory will be her surrender. And the terms of surrender will be sweet.

Angel in My Arms can be bought from Amazon as a print edition or Kindle edition, from DigiBooks Cafe, All Romance eBooks and direct from The Wild Rose Press in print and ebook forms.

You can visit Victoria on her blog where she is hosting Maya Blake this week.

* * *

I’m also running a contest on this blog. There are two sets of traditional Christmas tree ornaments up for grabs. All you need to do to enter is follow/subscribe to this blog, like my Facebook page, or re-tweet this post. Each like, follow or tweet counts as a new entry. And don’t forget to leave a comment or email me letting me know what you’ve done, so I know to enter your name in the contest!