Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

Ah, Christmas…love it or hate it, you can’t deny how pretty it is. All those twinkling lights, candy canes, tinsel, and sparkly reindeers. Not to mention the air waves filled with catchy Christmas carols you can’t help humming when you hear them. All. Day. Long.   I am one of those people who love Christmas. And in my household, I do almost all of it—outside decorations, inside decorations, gift buying, elf re-positioning (those of you with kids will understand this), and most of the shopping. Rumor has it, I may even stuff my own stocking with my favorite chocolate treats!  My husband likes opening presents with the kids on Christmas morning and eating our big Christmas dinner (and afternoon football), but if he didn’t have us, I’m pretty sure his only nod to the festive season would be a chocolate Santa he bought for himself at the drug store and the turkey dinner at Swiss Chalet.  I decided a while ago, that I’m okay with that. Christma...

My nephew declared over the phone that he thinks Jultomten —Santa Claus—may be fake. I can tell he's fishing for confirmation, so I only offered nonverbal responses in a neutral tone during our conversation. His main reason for suspecting that something fishy is going on is that his dad often has a last minute errand and leaves the house right before Jultomten shows up and then miss the whole visit. My brother—my nephew’s dad—mixes it up some years and trades duties of impersonating Santa with a neighbor or his brother in law. It’s hard for parents in Sweden to keep the myth of Santa alive, because the children there expect Jultomten to shop up in person on the evening of December 24 th  and hand out gifts from his big sack. He knocks hard on the door, usually three knocks, and asks in a boisterous voice if there are any nice children in the house. The confident kids shout yes. The rest look to their parents for confirmation that they’ve behaved well enough through the year to...