Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Guest post - Kyra Lennon - Christmas Traditions

Special thanks to Kyra Lennon for guest posting on my blog today. If you don't know who Kyra is, then you're missing out, and if you do know who she is, you're a lucky soul! She's super sweet, and an amazing author.

Take it away Kyra ....


Christmas Traditions

Blindsided is set during the lead-up to Christmas, and one of the things Jesse learns while staying with the Mills family, is that they have a lot of Christmas traditions. We all have them, don’t we? Certain things we do every year, at roughly the same time to get us in the festive mood.

One of the things I took from my own family’s traditions and wrote into the story is putting up the Christmas decorations on the first weekend of December. I don’t know if any of you have guessed this about me yet, but I am a big kid at heart! Once December hits, Christmas mode flicks on in my brain, and I NEED to immerse myself in all the seasonal goodness. The tree comes out (we have to have an artificial one, there isn’t really enough room for a real one, plus those suckers make so much mess!) along with tinsel, lights, garlands, etc. My mum and I always put on Christmas music while we decorate, and quite often, we’ll dance around a bit while we’re hanging things up!

Traditions have changed in my house since I was a kid, mainly because there are less people in the house. When I was a kid, there were more of us, and we did things differently. We still had traditions, but they’ve evolved over the years.

My newest tradition is Christmas baking. I LOVE making cupcakes, and while I am far from being a genius at it, I always like to make Christmas cupcakes, and biscuits. Last year, I had a slight crisis when I ruined a batch of shortbread. Well, I call it a crisis, it wasn’t really. It was just too ugly, misshaped, and crumbly to serve to visitors. I had to eat it all myself! :D

What are your Christmas traditions? Have they changed over the years? Have you taken traditions you had when you were younger, and introduced them to your own family? I wanna hear all about it!




Blindsided Synopsis:
After a successful first soccer season in L.A, Jesse Shaw heads to London with his best buddy, Hunter, but his world is turned upside down when a dangerous prank threatens his career and his blossoming relationship with Hunter’s cousin, Isabelle. 

Isabelle Mills lives in Notting Hill with her parents and her twin sister, Georgia. When she finds out her cousin is coming to stay, along with his famous soccer player friend, her first instinct is to hibernate until they’ve gone. However, once she meets Jesse, everything changes. He’s everything she ever wanted, but with so many obstacles in their path, can she really risk putting her heart on the line?


Author Bio:
Kyra Lennon was born on the South coast of England, and to this day, still lives by the sea. After years spent working in retail, where she met enough versatile characters to write hundreds of books, she finally took the plunge and quit her day job. Kyra's debut novel, Game On, was released in July 2012. While fiction writing has always been her passion, she also has numerous articles on a variety of topics published on prolific websites. 


Buy Links: 
Kyra Lennon on Amazon.com
Kyra Lennon on Amazon.co.uk

Find Kyra online
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Goodreads


Thanks to Kyra Lennon for posting on my blog today, and thanks to you wonderful bloggers who stopped by!

Have a great day!

28 comments:

  1. I think family traditions are so important. A lot of our childhood memories revolve around traditions that help maintain a family bond. I grew up in a difficult family situation without any family traditions except one. Every year around Christmas time my mother and I would drive around the neighborhood at night looking at other people's holiday decorations. It was fun. Now that I'm a mom, I'm trying to instill some family traditions like opening the advent calendar with my kids, decorating the house after the 5th of December (my son's birthday) and going out one night to the city to see the lights. Oh, and also Chocolate Truffles, I make those every year for Christmas. (;

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    1. And Congratulations Kyra with Blindsided! I've got it on my tbr list and really hope to read it soon, sounds like a perfect read to have while curled up next to the fire. (:

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    2. Thanks, Elise!

      Driving around to look at Christmas lights is one of my favourite things to do, and I love that you are starting your own traditions with your children! :D

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  2. Congrats to Kyra! Blindsided has a nice festive vibe. We also have to put up the tree and decorations on the 1st of December in our house. And just cute things like leaving out a mince pie for Santa are nice for the kids!

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    1. Thank you!

      Yay for December 1st decoration putter-uppers!

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  3. Our tradition is putting out the Christmas decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving. And yes, let's hear it for artificial trees!

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    1. W00t! I always think of artificial trees being a UK thing. Most of my U.S friends always have real trees, I'm quite jealous even though they make a mess!

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  4. Baking cakes for Christmas was one of my family's traditions. Two books, Kyra? Great!

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  5. our traditions keep changing---is that possible ;)

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    1. LOL! Maybe you will eventually find one that sticks ;)

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  6. Congratulations with your book! My daughter's birthday is Dec. 2nd so there is no Christmas until she has enjoyed the full attention and revelry of her birthday. THEN we can go hog-wild!

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    1. Thank you!

      Aww, yes that is totally understandable, and a very good decision!

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  7. We don't have traditions per say but we do try to spend Christmas together whenever possible. Congrats on your new book.

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    1. Well, that is what Christmas is really all about - just being together! :D

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  8. It's great when a crisis has an upside! My family (the kids, the hubs, and I) put up our tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Always. And if everyone is alive at the end of the process, the kids get a small gift.

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  9. Such fun! I love people who bake, especially cupcakes and cookies. :) Growing up, we always got a real tree, but the tradition turned out to be a family argument trying to put the thing up! We'd never consider getting a fake one, though. My parents would always have a huge party on Christmas Eve too and all the neighbors would come over for drinks and treats. All us kids would get together in the basement and plan out how we were going to spot Santa that year!

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    1. Aww, sounds like your Christmases were amazing! I love the idea of creating plans to spot Santa!

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  10. i am slow movin this xmas because we will be away for a week this month! tough getting motivated! my mom was the best baker but that didnt get passed to me...i do save and put up the kids' xmassy creations on the cupboards, thats a fun tradition!

    hoping blinsided does well! love xmas romance!

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    1. Ack, being away must make everything more stressful! And yeah, putting up kids Christmas creations is always fun! :D

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  11. I'm not good at baking, but I do like eating what other people have baked, teehee. I love Christmas cookies, especially gingerbread men. I also love looking at the houses and streets that are decorated in Christmas lights.

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    1. Lol, yes the eating part is good! :D I love looking at Christmas lights too!

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  12. We stay away from real trees. Too much of a mess! Traditions are so important. I'm so happy for you Kyra and thanks too, Jackie! I love getting to know my blogging buddies and fellow authors more.

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    1. They are definitely too much mess!

      Thanks Dani!

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  13. Thanks everyone who visited, and many many many congrats to Kyra and her success!

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  14. Yay Kyra! We do a 'fake' tree at our house :) But we also put it up before December so... haha

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