M. Jean Pike's Blog

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Before the busyness of the day begins, I wanted to jump on here and wish all of my WordPress friends and family a happy and blessed Thanksgiving. May you have friends at your table and a song of joy in your heart today

Chester’s Miracle is featured on Penelope Marzec’s Blog of Bookish Thoughts today. Stop by to meet him and read a snippet!

Today was such a lovely day. We had an amazing church service with a message of thankfulness. Later in the day many of us returned to the church for a tree trimming party. We don’t normally put up the tree until after Thanksgiving, but with next Sunday marking the start of Advent and work schedules to coordinate, today seemed like the best day to do it I was pleased so many could come out to help.

Some fluffed tree branches, while others detangled lights and garland.

Since our theme this year is Our Favorite Things, each person brought a favorite ornament to hang on the tree.

Many hands make light work and our tree turned out beautiful!

Afterwards we enjoyed cocoa, cookies and each other’s company.

I’m so thankful for Christmas trees and yummy snacks and afternoons filled with laughter.

I’m so thankful for my church family

It’s been a few days since I’ve put up a post. We are ramping up for the Christmas season at work and I’m not going to lie, I’m feeling exhausted. When I get home at the end of the day, all I want to do is turn on the lights of my Christmas tree, make a cup of coffee, and relax

But I thought a short post about some more of my favorite Christmas things might be in order.  

I love little gift shops, especially at Christmas time. The scents of candles and potpourri, the soft lights, the whimsical little treasures tucked away in their corners. Years ago, my mother and I had a gifts and wallpaper shop in a Victorian-style house that was packed to the roof with just such treasures. After Mom passed away I couldn’t bring myself to go into a gift shop. It made me miss her too much, miss those wonderful years of working with my best friend.

But time has a way of taking the edge off of the pain. Several years ago when I moved to Ohio, my sister invited me to a sweet place called The Ladybug Christmas Shop in the little town of Minford. It wasn’t until I stepped inside that I realized how much I’d missed these places. Oh, such treasures we found! I am partial to primitives, and I could not resist this snowman

He looked to me like something a pioneer woman might have sewn together from scraps to decorate her home on the prairie. He stands about two feet tall and looks perfect surrounded by these hand painted wooden Christmas- gift blocks.

I also love this adorable painted slate and its message that hangs above the display.

God Bless Us, Every One!

So many of my loveliest holiday memories center on family gatherings, and no gathering was complete without my mother’s Christmas cookies.

Nobody made Christmas cookies like my mother!

In the days leading up to Christmas she made oodles of them, some for our family and some to share with friends and neighbors. I can still see Mom rolling out the dough, can still remember the fun of cutting out the shapes, and smell the delicious, sugar and vanilla comfort that would fill the house as the cookies baked. And then there was the fun of creating all the different colors to decorate them with – splashes of food coloring added to white powdered sugar frosting that somehow turned the cookies into magic!

Mom’s Soft Christmas Cookie recipe is one of my most prized possessions. Imagine my joy a couple of years ago when I was given this hand towel with the recipe on it – in Mom’s own handwriting!

This little towel, along with my mother’s cookie cutters, are some of my favorite Christmas things!

Do you have a favorite holiday baking memory? I’d love to hear about it

I don’t often do the writing prompts but reading through some of your responses to: What’s the Best Thing You Ever Found and Kept? my thoughts automatically went to my beautiful bookcase.

Each week, on the night before garbage pickup, you can usually see many household items discarded alongside people’s trash. Things don’t stay on the curb for very long in our town. Especially good and useful things. One evening a few years ago I was out for a stroll with Miss Emma. We hadn’t gone more than a block when I saw a mountain of treasures sitting on the curb at a house in my neighborhood. Among them, a beautiful solid oak bookcase! I don’t often get new furniture, and though I really needed a home for my books and framed photos, a bookcase was pretty far down on my list of must buys. I could not believe my eyes when I saw this beauty sitting there for the taking! But I knew I would have to act fast.

Much to Miss Emma’s dismay, I turned around and took her home. Then I hurried back to the house where the bookcase was. It was much, much heavier than I thought it would be. I am no Wonder Woman, but by lifting one end at a time, I managed to maneuver it, inch by inch, to the end of my driveway. Thankfully my neighbor saw me struggling and came out. He didn’t even ask if I needed help, because that was pretty obvious, lol. I thought together, each on one end, we could get it safely into my car port until I could clear space in the living room for it. My neighbor lifted the entire weight and carried it down my long driveway to the car port

I don’t know why the people chose to discard this beautiful bookcase, but I’m thankful God sent me out for a walk at exactly the right time. It has been such a blessing to me. As have my wonderful neighbors. Sometimes the best things in life really are free!

Chester is the kind of guy that people just naturally love. He stole my heart from my first glimpse of his wise, brown eyes, the first little wag of his tail. When I decided to write a story featuring a medical service dog, I knew Chester would be my model. He’s sweet, loving, and makes friends wherever he goes- which is everywhere!

Chester flies first class!

He charmed them at Disneyland!

Even Santa loves Chester!

Chester’s Miracle released on Monday and already the reviews are coming in!

Chester is on the list to be euthanized only to have an unexpected reprieve. Aimee sets off to meet the man of her dreams only to be stopped in her tracks by an unexpected snowstorm. Marty is resigned to spend another Christmas in his cozy mountain cabin with his mother while Charlotte has ignoring ongoing health problems. The author weaves all this together and the story flows smoothly with beautiful word pictures, descriptions and emotional scenes reminding us that prayer changes things and Christmas is a time for miracles. It was extra special to learn that Chester is based on a real service dog the author knows. You will love him. – Amazon Reviewer

If you read only one Christmas book this season, let it be this one. Chester’s Miracle is M. Jean Pike’s best work to date, a beautiful story of faith, hope, and love. I became deeply invested in these characters and couldn’t stop reading until the last page when they all got their happily-ever-after, but not in the way I expected. This is a beautifully satisfying, feel-good story you will love. – Amazon Reviewer

Based on a real-life support dog (named Chester), I enjoyed every page of this festive book!  Elisabeth from The Optimistic Musings of a Pessimist

It’s a story that reminds you that God is faithful and can make something beautiful out of life’s scraps. If you read Chester’s Christmas Miracle, you’ll be given the gift of hope this Christmas, too! – Goodreads Reviewer

Sweet and inspiring, Chester’s Miracle features a darling canine and a cute Christmas setting. Recommended as a quick, festive read for those who enjoy light romances and pup protagonists. – Stephanie’s Ninth Suitcase

I’m so pleased with the response the story is getting so far. So blessed to have a furry friend like Chester

We had our first snow of the season overnight. It’s a little early for Southern Ohio. We don’t normally see much of the white stuff until around Christmas. Though I am no fan of driving on snowy roads (I certainly had my fill of it driving through numerous Western New York winters) there’s something so magical and lovely about the first snow of the season.

Another of my favorite Christmas things!

I guess I got this little lady out just in time. She only graces my front entryway at Christmastime. The old tricycle has been in my family for generations

The first snow also brought Chester’s Miracle! It released today at AMAZON. just in time for cozy, cold weather reading I must say, in all my years of storytelling this is the first time I have ever dedicated a book to a dog!

But Chester is no ordinary dog!

As you know if you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, I am a big fan of garage sales. I don’t usually go with an agenda, but I’m always thrilled when I find boxes and tables of books at them. It often crosses my mind that it would be fun to discover one of my books at a garage sale, rubbing elbows with the likes of Debbie Macomber and Francine Rivers. So I was absolutely delighted when I received a note from a reader this week telling me she had picked up a battered copy of one of my older titles at a garage sale and it has become her favorite book!

I guess I have finally made it

With my Christmas tree up, I’ve been putting out some of my other holiday decorations a little at a time. I thought it might be fun to do some posts about my favorite Christmas things Most of what I have, I have had for more years than I can count. Some are treasures that have been in my family since my childhood, and others I have picked up along the way to where I am now. Any more, I’m very intentional about what I buy for Christmas. I have to really love it in order to bring it into my space-challenged home. Anyway, here are a few things I have put out so far…

I love little white churches and little red trucks My dad picked this birdhouse up for me several years ago at a flea market. It did its time outdoors for a lot of years and now it is a cherished Christmas display.

I did not need this little Christmas tree farm display at all – the only way to make room for it was to pack up some of my books and store them under my bed. But I could not resist the charm of it

The first piece depicts a family out on a snowy day buying their Christmas tree. Who doesn’t have lovely memories of that? The little lights actually light up and blink, making the piece extra cheerful, but I can’t seem to get a good pic with it lit up.

The second piece is a little hot cocoa stand. It also lights up

They added this piece this year. I had to have it!

These things were all in the first tote I came to. I will put up more posts as I unpack more things. I’d love to hear about your favorite holiday decorations and why they are special to you

Anyone ever done a round puzzle before? This one has been hanging out in my closet for quite awhile. I loved the picture, just wasn’t sure about the shape. I’ve been focused on puzzles with fall scenes lately, but a few days ago I pulled this one out and decided to give it a go. If I had known how much fun it would be I never would have let it gather dust for so long!

This little 500-piece puzzle has so much going on. I love the bold colors and the flowers and of course the little kitten peeping from behind the house plants

Today was my day off. With flu season in full swing and the holiday season ramping up, it’s been quite hectic at the store lately. I would have loved to have stayed in my jammies, read Christmas stories, and start a new puzzle today. As it was, I had to spend part of the day at the dentist’s office having some much needed dental work. I have round two to look forward to in two weeks.

So I came home well into the afternoon with a mouth full of Novocaine and did this instead.

I’ll start getting out my Caroler collection, the manger scene and snowmen and the little Christmas tree farm a little later in the month. For today, the tree is enough. I know, I know, it’s not even Thanksgiving yet. But I put up my tree anyway.

Some years I just need the joy of it