Shannon here: Cindy Bonds shares her family traditions, a recipe for No-fail Sugar Cookies, & an excerpt from her latest Romantic Suspense, Fighter. Comment or answer the question this post to enter the drawing for a paperback copy. Deadline: Dec 18th, 11:59 pm central time. Here’s Cindy:
Hello everyone! Cindy Bonds writing to you from Clinton, Arkansas.
Since it’s the holiday season, I’d like to share a few of the traditions we have in our family during the holidays!
Thanksgiving is a big deal in our family. My husband decided about five years ago that it would be fun to purchase a fryer and fry a turkey for our large Thanksgiving dinner. After that, he was hooked!
Although I have a small family, my husband’s family spreads through the county in the form of distant cousins, aunts and uncles. His father is one of four and each aunt has two kids, who each have two kids, etc.
Usually, our meals average 45 people who gather in our home, each with their assigned dish. Garrett is always in charge of turkey and usually fries two large, 16 pound turkeys. It’s a job he takes very seriously.
The last few years have cut down our gatherings due to sickness, so we’ve not had the pleasure of having all the family in our home and getting to spend time with cousins we don’t get to visit with often enough. But it’s a tradition we plan on extending for as long as we can make it last!
For Christmas, we always start the day or sometimes the weekend after Thanksgiving, taking down fall and putting up Christmas. My kids usually help to decorate the tree and the bookshelves, finding pictures as if they’re new each year.
We have a cookie recipe that I’ve shared before for sugar cookies, the best kind to cut into shapes and decorate for Santa! These are a mainstay and we always bake a huge batch to take with us when we visit my family or even to distribute to others. With large families and changing plans, the cookies are the one thing we do every year, without fail.
As our kids grow, I’m hoping to keep these traditions as well as adding a few of our own. I’m giving you a copy of our never fail sugar cookies. I hope you’ll enjoy them this year with your family!
Excerpt from Fighter by Cindy Bonds:
Taillights burned bright as they paused and surged at the series of lights. Within a few miles, they were in front of the restaurant.
“Stay here. I’ll go get the food.”
“Look, there’s going to be a lot of bags. I can carry a few.”
“It’s raining.”
“It’s just a little water, Evan.” Even though her tone was annoyed, hearing her say his name made him smile.
“Okay, fine.”
Luckily, the rain had eased to a steady mist. He helped her down from the SUV and gripped her hand as he slowly made it across the parking lot, until she picked up the pace and pulled him under the awning.
“I don’t mind a little rain, Ev. But I don’t want to stand out in it.” She huffed and shook out her hair that had started to curl.
“Why not? You look good all wet.” He chuckled as she punched his shoulder. “Easy, no need to be violent.” He smiled as she worked to control her smirk.
After a roll of her eyes, she grinned. “Very funny. At least you have a hat to keep the rain off your face.”
“Fine, here.” He pulled off the hat and set it on her head. Oh, man. “That looks good, too.” He forced a smile, clearing his throat and turning to open the door to the restaurant. “Let’s get the food and get back in the car before the rain picks up again.”
She nodded and stepped through as he worked to ease the pounding in his ears. Attraction, heat, whatever this was, it wasn’t coming close enough to an end, even after their talk. Even after the Tennison situation. But maybe when it was all over …
About Cindy: Cindy Bonds lives in rural Arkansas where she works for an aviation insurance agency and spends her free time with her husband and children. In between ball games and her daughter’s gymnastics, she loves to read and work on her crafting skills.
Writing has become an outlet for her creativity and she is excited for her novel Fighter to be released as the first of a three book series. Learn more, connect, & sign up for her newsletter:
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About the book – Fighter:
Bexley Bowers has lost everything during her 30 years on earth. Struggling to find her path, she’s targeted and kidnapped by a crazed terrorist.
Evan Mitchell retired from the Navy only to find himself back at work, clinging to his job with the Tactical Response Team. He meets Bexley while on assignment, and a strange tug on his emotions leaves him scrambling. Bexley is too stubborn and too beautiful. He’ll never be able to get her out of his mind – especially now that he’s her protection.
When Bexley finds herself in trouble once more, can Evan and his team arrive in time?
Fighting the clock and their pride, Evan and Bexley must decide which is more important – their egos or their future.
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Fighter – Scrivenings Press Cindy’s books – Amazon
Question for Readers: What are some of the traditions you do each year- either holiday or summer vacation? Is there a new tradition you’d like to start and what is it?
Come back Dec 14th for Kathy Harris!
Hey Cindy, my favorite family traditions is when my husband reads The Tale of the Three Trees at our gathering. He always gets choked up toward the end, every year.
Glad to have you here today.
I’ll have to read that!
We make Christmas ornaments each year for our Christmas tree.
For Christmas Eve dinner we always have bread bowles with soup.
Sounds wonderful! Anything bread, I’m in!
In our family the youngest person present always puts the Angel atop the Christmas tree when we decorate it. On Christmas morning the oldest person present always plays “Santa” handing out the gifts from beneath the tree. Traditions are all important.
Although our traditions have altered throughout the years due to family moving around, we try to keep up those little things that make Christmas special. Certain decorations, homemade items, even food, it all comes together each year!
Christmas morning is always spent with the grandchildren. We enjoy each other and a wonderful breakfast.
Family is so important for our Christmas gatherings. Thanks for sharing!
Now that there are four generations, family members who live in the local area get together at my parents’ house the weekend before or after December 25 to visit, share a meal and have a small gift exchange. Those who are out of state try to call or visit via Facetime or Zoom.
It’s amazing how technology has become so helpful the past few years to connect family! I never would have thought livestream would be our church gathering at the beginning of the year or FaceTime being the only way to keep in contact with family when we can’t visit. Thanks for commenting Roxanne!
One of my family’s traditions is to go out on Christmas Eve and drive around to look at light displays while we listen to Christmas music. Then we return home to drink eggnog or hot cocoa and eat Christmas cookies I baked.
I miss those days! We did that as kids but with ours, we find ourselves running constantly in December. I’m hoping we can make time this year. Thanks for sharing!
We go caroling on Christmas Eve 🙂
How fun! Thanks for commenting Natalya!
I have a winner! Suzan B won the drawing. I appreciate Cindy for being my guest and everyone else for stopping by.