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    Cozy Christmas Sweets
    Cozy Christmas Sweets
    Cozy Christmas Sweets
    Ebook162 pages2 hours

    Cozy Christmas Sweets

    By J.B. Hawker

    ()

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    About this ebook

    In the happily hectic holidays, we like to slip away to a comfy corner with a hot beverage and a tasty treat, where we curl up in our favorite chair for a few moments with a cozy story. 
     
    The twelve short stories in this collection are in a variety of genres and are the perfect length to provide a quick escape on each of the Twelve Days of Christmas. 
     
    Along with every entertaining story, the author has provided a favorite holiday recipe for the goodies enjoyed by her characters

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJ.B. Hawker
    Release dateNov 17, 2016
    ISBN9781540399250
    Cozy Christmas Sweets
    Author

    J.B. Hawker

    Raised in the northern end of the Sacramento Valley in California, J.B.Hawker's early life was framed by mountain ranges. While her physical vistas were bounded on almost every side, her imagination was free to soar without limits. "I've made up stories my whole life," said Hawker when interviewed. "While other children might need a flashlight to read under the covers after bedtime, I simply made up my own stories, many of which lasted multiple nights, having intricate details and characters drawn both from my life and my imagination." After twenty years serving small churches from Alaska to South Dakota as a pastor's wife, she returned to her California roots to start over in mid-life as a single business woman and author. J.B. has published many articles on faith and ministry as well as programming materials for women's ministry. "Hollow" the first book in the Bunny Elder series and winner of the BRAG Medallion Award, was her first published fiction. J.B. has three grown sons. Her oldest, the father of her three beautiful granddaughters, lives in northern Italy, the setting of the second book in the series, "Vain Pursuits", featuring the on-going adventures of Bunny and Max. "Seadrift" takes Bunny to the Oregon coast where their story continues. "...and Something Blue" concludes this series with Bunny and her new husband sailing off to Australia and, as usual, drifting into a series of inadvertent adventures.  

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      Book preview

      Cozy Christmas Sweets - J.B. Hawker

      ALSO BY J. B. HAWKER

      The First Ladies Club Series

      The First Ladies Club

      A Body in the Belfry

      A Corpse in the Chapel

      The Bunny Elder Novels

      Hollow

      Vain Pursuits

      Seadrift

      ...and Something Blue

      Cozy Campfire Shorts, a collection of spooky short stories

      Power for Women’s Ministry Leaders ,  non-fiction inspiration

      IF YOU ENJOY THIS BOOK, please tell your friends and consider posting a review

      To receive a free digital copy of the award-winning book

      Vain Pursuits,

      Subscribe to J.B. Hawker’s monthly newsletter

      To learn more about J.B. Hawker, visit her webpage or see her author page on the Amazon website.

      For updates on future writing you may friend her on Facebook.

      No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission of the author.

      This book is a work of fiction.

      Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.

      Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

      Copyright © 2016 J.B Hawker

      All rights reserved.

      ISBN-13: 978-1540399250

      ISBN-10: 1540399257

      Dedicated

      To

      Christmas lovers,

      everywhere

      Cozy

      Christmas Sweets

      A

      Short Story Collection

      By

      J.B. HAWKER

      Cozy Christmas Sweets

      Short Stories and Recipes

      Twelve Days of Christmas Angst

      Nutty Snowballs

      Goldie, Franklin, and Meryl

      Mince Tartlet Recipe

      Ghosts of Christmas Past

      Liz’s Mostaccioli with Mushrooms and Peas

      Mistletoe for Molly

      Cozy Café Feta Walnut Date Roll Pastries

      Slay Bells Ring

      Emily’s Thumbprint cookies

      A Festival of Lights

      Nut Penuche (brown sugar fudge)

      The Mysterious Happenings in Candy Cane Lane

      Docetti al Limone per macchina per biscotti (Lemon cookie press cookies)

      No Room at the Inn

      Old-Fashioned Fudge

      A Mrs. Thistlethwaite Christmas

      It’s a Wonderfully Cozy Life

      Rocky Road Candy

      One Magical Christmas

      Ginger Cookies

      Angels Overheard on High

      Divinity Drops

      Twelve Days of Christmas Angst

      Contemporary fiction

      "Christmas is only twelve days away and nothing is ready!" Monica Abernathy exclaimed, rolling out of bed in a panic.

      Monica’s father, William, had suffered a mild heart attack on Thanksgiving and she had been out of town helping her mother take care of him... and keeping her mom from blaming him for bringing on his attack by overeating. Monica loved her mother despite that woman’s controlling ways and William was more than capable of dealing with them under normal circumstances, but Monica couldn’t leave him defenseless in his weakened state.

      Come back to bed, sweetheart, her sleep-rumpled husband, Andrew said. You’ve been gone for weeks and you got in so late last night, I haven’t had a chance to welcome you home properly.

      He waggled his eyebrows in a Groucho Marx leer, threw back the blankets and patted the bed beside him.

      Monica was torn. There was so much to do, but Andrew was so appealing with his sleepy eyes and tousled hair. She had missed him, too. With a shrug and a roll of her eyes, she peeled off her nightgown and jumped under the covers, giggling.

      Shampooing her hair in the shower, later, she was nearly overwhelmed by her mental Christmas To-Do list, but she couldn’t regret the morning’s half-hour delay. Smiling, she rinsed off and prepared to tackle her holiday labors.

      When Andrew and their twin sons were off to office and elementary school, Monica and four-year-old Andrea went over the list.

      Daddy will take Kevin and Devlin with him to get a tree after school today, so that’s one thing off our list, Monica said, ticking the list with a pencil.

      I wanna go get the tree, too! Andrea wailed.

      I’m sorry, sweetie, but it would take too long for Daddy to come back here to get you, and then go all the way back to the tree farm. We just don’t have the time. We will all go together next year, I promise.

      Not mollified by promises of future delights, Andrea jumped down and ran into her room, crying.

      Monica frowned, but didn’t have time to jolly her daughter out of her disappointment. Putting her list in order of priorities was nearly impossible. Almost everything should have been done, already. She was so grateful she had finished most of her gift-buying on-line before Thanksgiving, but all those packages in her closet still needed to be wrapped. She moved that item to the end of the list, thinking she could do it on Christmas Eve after the church service, if necessary.

      What couldn’t wait? She looked around the room, trying to collect her thoughts, and her eyes alit on a basket of mail on the kitchen counter.

      Christmas cards! she cried. I’ve got to get them into the mail, right away.

      She regretted that they wouldn’t be able to have a family photo card this year, but there was simply no time. A handwritten note on a card from a box would have to do.

      Buy Xmas cards, she wrote on the top of the list.

      Her scan of the room revealed a complete lack of holiday decorations. Andrew had stuck a couple of the boys’ drawings of Santa Claus on the refrigerator, but that was it.

      She would need to haul the decorations out of the garage and begin setting them out, as soon as she returned from shopping.

      Monica called to Andrea to get her coat on and snatched the grocery list off the bulletin board before hustling her still disgruntled daughter out to the garage.

      Stamps! Don’t let me forget to stop at the post office, Andi, she said as she buckled her daughter into her car seat.

      Monica backed out of the driveway, narrowly missing the neighbor’s mailbox, and didn’t notice Mr. Cooper’s friendly wave as she sped by.

      By the time Monica and Andrea returned from their whirlwind shopping trip, both were tired, hungry and grumpy.

      Andrea fussed and dawdled over lunch and Monica snapped at her, finally sending the girl to bed for a nap.

      I wish I could take a nap, too, she thought, but forced her legs to carry her out to the garage and back several times, carrying large containers of Christmas decorations.

      Ow! she cried, as she felt a sharp stab in her lower back.

      She limped over to the couch and eased down onto it. When the muscle spasm passed, she rolled off onto all fours, pulled herself erect using a side table for support, then went into the bathroom and took a couple of aspirin, before going back to work making her home festive for Christmas, with her mouth set in a grimace of pain.

      In the following days, Monica stoically and determinedly worked through her list of Christmas duties, marking each one off with a sense of grim satisfaction.

      Three days before Christmas, it started to snow. Miraculously, Monica had checked off her last task after dinner, just before the first snowflakes fell.

      The next morning, Andrew took a personal day from work and the boys were home for Christmas break, so Monica decided to make waffles for breakfast. She felt a pang of guilt to think how for the past week or so, cold cereal had been the order of the day.

      Who wants waffles? she called out from the kitchen.

      No time, hon, Andrew said, coming in and giving her a kiss. We are off to Thumper’s Hill with our toboggans. This snow isn’t going to last forever, you know.

      The children, already dressed in snowsuits, came bouncing down the stairs.

      Well, wait for me and I’ll go, too, she said.

      No, Mommy! You stay here, Andrea said. If you come, you’ll melt the snow with your angry face.

      The boys laughed at their little sister’s remark, but looked at their mother, as though afraid of her reaction.

      Andrew tousled his daughter’s hair before pulling up her hood and tying it under her chin.

      Mommy will stay here and keep the house warm. Then, when we come back, we can all have hot cocoa and some of those great cookies she baked, right?

      What about your breakfast? Monica asked.

      We’ll drive through Mickey Dee’s on the way. Bye!

      With her family gone to play in the snow, Monica no longer felt like having waffles. She put the fixings away, turned off the waffle iron, poured herself a cup of coffee and wandered into the fully decorated living room.

      Andrew had poked up the fire before leaving and the room looked as cozy as a Christmas card. Scented candles adorned the end tables, live garland entwined the banister, a six-foot tall tree was decorated with antique ornaments in an elegant gold and white theme, coordinating holiday throws and pillows softened the furniture, and a fragile miniature Santa’s village, complete with a do-not-touch train set, encircled the base of the tree. This room could grace the pages of a magazine.

      Yes, Monica thought, it was hard work, but she had pulled it off; she’d made the perfect Christmas in less than twelve days.

      As she sipped her coffee, a tear slid over her quivering lip, plopping into the cup. She returned the china Christmas cup to its saucer and began to weep with great heaving sobs.

      In her frantic efforts to give her family a special holiday, she’d gotten off track, thinking it was up to her to make Christmas happen.

      With a snort, Monica thought maybe she wasn’t so different from her mother after all. In all her hustle and bustle trying to make everything perfect, she had run roughshod over her family and left out everything that makes the season truly perfect: peace, joy and love.

      Wiping her eyes, Monica sat down at her desk to begin another Christmas to-do list, and right at the top she wrote, Love your family.

      She washed her face and, with a hopeful smile, returned to the kitchen to arrange cookies on a plate and set out Christmas mugs for the hot cocoa.

      When her half-frozen family, all rosy cheeks, soggy mittens and happy smiles, stomped into the kitchen, they were greeted with a warm smile, yummy cookies, hot cocoa and a welcoming hug.

      Okay, you guys, what’s say you finish your snack and then we go into the living room and take our model train on a tour of Santa’s village? she asked, smiling at the shock on their faces. Who wants to be engineer, first?

      Nutty Snowballs

      Preheat to 350°F

      1 C. butter (softened)½ C. confectioners’ sugar

      2 tsp. vanilla extract2 C. flour

      ¼ tsp. salt2 C. chopped walnuts

      Approx. 2 C. more powdered sugar for rolling warm cookies.

      Cream sugar and butter; add vanilla; gradually stir in flour, salt and nuts until blended. Chill about an hour.

      Shape into 1" balls; place on greased cookie sheet. Bake 15 min. Remove from cookie sheet and immediately roll in powdered sugar to coat. Cool. Roll once more in powdered sugar.

      Goldie, Franklin, and

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