Debbie Macomber - On a Snowy Night: The Christmas Basket; The Snow Bride

Christmas 2004

Dear Friends,

Anyone who knows me is well aware of how much I love Christmas. For the past few years Ive written a story each year set during the holiday season, and On a Snowy Night includes two of my favorites. The Christmas Basket and The Snow Bride are both romantic comedies that were originally published as gift-sized hardcovers.

The Christmas Basket is the story of two feuding mothers who are forced to work together to create charity basketswith hilarious results. Meanwhile, their adult children are falling in love with each other (for the second time) and are looking for ways to mend this silly feud. The storys climax takes place on Christmas Eve in the middle of a Pacific Northwest ice storm.

The Snow Bride is the story of a hardworking single woman who goes to Alaska to meet her Internet hero and become a mail-order bride (or, I guess, an e-mail-order bride). Only, she doesnt get the chanceshes sort-of kidnapped and taken to a one-woman town on the tundra. There she gets involved with an assortment of interesting characters (and, of course, her sort-of kidnapper). Naturally, the one woman who normally lives in Snowbound is away. I do promise youll laugh.

I think both stories will make you chuckle and occasionally sigh, but mostly I hope youll fall in love.

Have a wonderful Christmas.

Debbie

To
Mr. and Mrs. Dale Macomber
(my son and Laurie)
Merry Christmas
Your first as husband and wife

December 1

I did it. I broke down and actually booked the flight to Rose. I have a ticket for December 18Dallas to San Francisco to Portland and then the commuter flight to Rose.

All my excuses are used up. I always figured there was no going back, and yet thats exactly what Im doing. Im going home when I swore I never would. Not after what happenedNot after Thom Sutton betrayed me. I know, I know, Ive always been dramatic. I cant help thatits part of my nature.

When I was a teenager I made this vow never to return. I spoke it in the heat of passion, and no one believed me. For that matter, I didnt believe me, not really. But it proved to be so easy to stay away. I hardly had to invent excuses. While I was in college I had an opportunity to travel to Europe two years in a row. Then in my junior year I had a summer job and was a bridesmaid in a Christmas wedding. And when my senior year rolled around, I was working as an intern for the software company, and it was impossible to get time off. After thatwell, it was just simpler to stay away. Without meaning to, my family made it convenient. I didnt need to visit them; they seemed willing enough to come to Dallas.

All of that is about to end. Im prepared to face my past. I joined Weight Watchers. If I happen to see Thom Sutton, I want him to know exactly what hes missing. Ive already lost five of the ten pounds I need to get rid of, and by next week hell hardly recognize meif we even run into each other. We wont, of course, but just on the off chance, I plan to be prepared.

Good ol Thom Sutton. I wonder what hes doing now. Naturally I could ask, but no one dares mention the name Sutton to my family. Its the Hatfields and McCoys or the Montagues and Capulets all over again. Except that its our mothers who started this ridiculous feud.

If I really wanted to know about Thom, I could ask Megan or Stephanie. Theyre the only two girls out of my entire high school class who still live in Rose. But I wouldnt do that. Inquiring about Thom would only invite questions from them about what happened between the two of us. As far as Im concerned, the fewer people who know, the better.

Hes bound to be married, anyway. Good. I want him to be happy.

No, I dont.

If I cant be honest in my journal, then I shouldnt keep one. Okay, I admit itwhat I really want is for him to have suffered guilt and regret all these years. He should have pined for me. His life should be a bleak series of endless days filled with haunting memories of me. Its what he deserves.

On a brighter note, Im thrilled for Kristen. Ill return home, help her plan her wedding, hold my head high and pray that Thom Sutton has the opportunity to see me from afar, gorgeous and thin. Then I want him to agonize over all the might-have-beens.