12 Days of Giveaways—Day 6: Kim Holden

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Kim Holden is joining us on the blog today to tell us more about her favorite holiday things.

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Favorite Christmas Song: Elvis singing "Blue Christmas" always does it for me. "Carol of the Bells" is probably my all-time favorite though.

Favorite Christmas Cookie/Dessert: I loved making cookies every Christmas with my mom when I was little. We had cookie cutters in the shape of a tree, a bell, and Santa, and we used red and green food coloring to dye the frosting. My mom always bought sprinkles too (that was a BIG deal). I was always overly generous with the frosting and a bit aggressive on the sprinkles.

Best Christmas Gift: Best Childhood Gift: When I was ten Santa brought a foosball table. I have no idea how many hours my dad and I racked up playing over the years, but I would wager it was several hundred. We wore the thing out.

Best Adulthood Gift: Our son, Phoenix, made us a snowman out of paper plates and construction paper when he was in preschool. It gets hung on our refrigerator every year at Christmas. It's my favorite, even though it's nine years old now and looking a little ragged. I'll keep it forever.

Best Christmas Tradition: Every Christmas Eve for the past seventeen years, my husband, son, and I go out for dinner. We always try to pick a restaurant where the servers work their butts off but probably don't make a killing in tips and would rather be home with their kids and families.
Waffle House has been our go-to the past few years. We enjoy our meal and chat with our server and when we get our check, we pay with cash and then leave them a holiday card and a one hundred dollar bill for the tip. We hurry out before they get to it and then watch inconspicuously from the car. More often than not, they cry. And more often than not, I cry. Because that, to me, is the spirit of Christmas - showing some love and helping a stranger. I read a book called The Christmas Jar years ago and got the idea from it. We save up our spare change all year in a jar and then cash it in just before Christmas and use that for the tip. I look forward to doing it all year long.

Christmas Eve or Christmas Day for gifts: Always Christmas morning. It feels like cheating if anything gets opened on Christmas Eve.

Funniest Christmas/Holiday party moment: My grandma used to put carrots and raisons in her lime jelly, does that count?

Dream Christmas destination: Hawaii would be nice. I'm a Colorado girl, but I hate the cold. I would love to spend Christmas vacation somewhere warm and tropical just once.

What's at the top of your list? Honestly, there's nothing on my list this year. Just looking forward to spending the day with my husband and son and watching A Christmas Story on TV.

What book boyfriend would you want to kiss under the mistletoe? Easy peasy. Paul Hudson.

 

Some of my favorite things:

Reading (YA or New Adult), writing (especially on a productive day), the two coolest guys on the planet (my husband and son), my bicycle (hand built by my husband), Facebook (it’s an addiction at this point), iced coffee (hazelnut from McDonalds), and music (LOVE Sunset Sons, the 1975, Dredg, the xx, Balance and Composure, Teenage Bottlerocket, Manchester Orchestra, and 30 Seconds to Mars).

I also love dreaming. Big. Writing a few years ago was an elusive dream until I grabbed a hold of it with both hands and refused to let go. Keep chasing YOUR dreams …

You can follow Kim and purchase her books below:

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Facebook

Instagram

 

BOOKS:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

iBooks

Goodreads

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