Merry & Bright Blog Tour

Four authors from Christmas anthology Merry & Bright share their favorite childhood holiday memories.

Lauren Clark: My favorite childhood Christmas memory would have to be making cookies with my mother and two younger brothers. I adored the process—mixing the ingredients, rolling out dough, choosing cutout shapes, and the delicious scent that floated through the house once the cookies turned golden brown in the oven. I am certain that my brothers and I made a terrible mess, but we loved tinting frosting in shades of bright green and cheery red and decorating cookies in the shape of trees, bells, Santa, and stars. The stars have always been my favorite, and I took extra care to dot them with silver nonpareils, glittery sugar sprinkles, and iced dots and swirls. We enjoyed the treats in our pajamas with cups of cocoa while snowflakes fell outside our front window, covering the lawn with a blanket of white.

Laura Chapman: My family decorates our Christmas tree Thanksgiving weekend, and it’s always a fond memory for me. My mom tells me my love for Christmas trees started early. “When you were eighteen months old, we put you down for a nap, and while you were sleeping, we put up the Christmas tree and decorated it,” she said. “When you woke up, we brought you out and your eyes were as big as saucers. You kept turning around in circles looking at it. You were very amazed and very cute.” I’m still amazed when I see an exceptionally beautiful tree.

Nancy Scrofano: I don’t remember exactly how old I was, but when I was a kid, I desperately wanted a new bicycle for Christmas. I had my eye on a bright yellow “big girl” bike, so I asked Santa for it, and I waited and waited. Finally, Christmas morning arrived. I remember racing down the stairs to the family room, and there in front of our Christmas tree was that yellow bike with a giant red bow on it. I screamed so loud that I woke the rest of my family up. I’ll never forget that exciting moment.

Isabella Louise Anderson: Who doesn’t love presents, especially at Christmastime? Being the eager child that I was, one Christmas Eve, I was too excited to sleep because I knew Santa was coming. After waking my younger brother up, I convinced him to go downstairs with me to see if we had any presents. Seeing nothing yet, we went back to bed, and couldn’t sleep the rest of the night. We stayed up talking about what we hoped we’d get—he wanted a Nintendo Game Boy, and I wanted a cash register. Santa was good to us that year.

Merry & Bright Book Description

Sip your eggnog, linger under the mistletoe, and make a Christmas wish. Merry & Bright brings you six tales of Christmas cheer, featuring stories of budding romances, Southern charm, lost loves, heaps of humor, and lots of pie by authors Isabella Louise Anderson, Cindy Arora, Laura Chapman, Lauren Clark, Libby Mercer, and Nancy Scrofano. From sunny Los Angeles to the Rocky Mountains to the Deep South, Merry & Bright will take you on a heartwarming adventure you’ll love to visit again and again. Wrap yourself in holiday mirth and prepare to be swept off your feet.

Add Merry & Bright to your Goodreads shelf! Follow along with the Merry & Bright Blog Tour via Fictionella! And visit publisher Simon & Fig for more information about the book!