happy christmas adam.

My. Word. You people have some sweet traditions. And funny traditions. All of them sound positively wonderful. I read every single comment. In fact, I just read the comments again with my mom and we both agreed that 1.) you people are most definitely kindred spirits. And 2.) you are too stinking adorable. Thanks so much for having fun with this giveaway. I loved seeing some new faces (and new names!) in the comments. I adore you regulars too. You make this place so fun. I hope you always feel welcome here.

I wish I could give every single one of you a copy of Paperdoll. I don't get free copies of the book either, but I'll try to come up with a few more so we can do some giveaways next year. (Note: My publisher was kind enough to send some free copies when the book first came out. But my long-suffering friends and family -who buy me coffee and take me to concerts and listen to me whine and don't get mad when I dissappear into the cave of solititude for weeks on end -called dibs on those. For what they put up with ... they truly deserved them ;) Thanks for showing so much interest in the book. You make my heart go flippity.

Tonight is the night my oh-so-punny family refers to as Christmas Adam (because it comes before Christmas Eve ... zing!). Sorry it took me until Christmas Adam to fire the blog up and announce a winner.

The winner of A Pink Christmas (a pank and pank Christmas... ;) is ....Natalie W!

This was Natalie's favorite tradition:

"At Christmastime, my house is full magic and good madness. I love the way my mom bakes too many gingerbread cookies. I love my dad's sneaky grin as he hangs tacky ornaments on the tree (when my mom's back is turned, of course.) I love when Charlie Brown comes on TV and the rendition of "Silent Night" at the end. I love everything about celebrating the holidays, but this year, I am especially excited about giving Jesus the extravagant praise he deserves- on His "birthday" and every day."

So sweet. I'm a big fan of A Charlie Brown Christmas too. That movie gets to me. And, like your dad, my brother is all about tacky Christmas ornaments. Last year he added an ornament to the tree that he refers to as "Paddy O'Claus." I posted a picture last year, didn't I? That ornament is mostly hideous. I worry about The Rogue Accountant.Congrats, Natalie! (... I feel like I'm talking to myself now ... ) Email me your mailing address at nat.lloyd (at) yahoo.com and I'll get your pink package in the mail next week. I'm super excited to ship it your direction!

And, again, thank you all so much for entering! I've read these comments so many times that I've taken to name-dropping you in conversation. I've been talking about how Frannie gets Dr. Pepper in her stocking. And I showed my mom Sandy H.'s comment (so fun about the socks! My mom always put an obligatory piece of fruit in our stockings. It balanced out all the chocolate ...).

I talked about how Erin and her husband exchange stockings together (that's just too adorable). And how Diana made me teary, because I feel the same way about my family. And about Alyssa's sister giving Jesus jelly beans (because, seriously, how cute is that?). And, as I've tried for years to convince my family we should eat tacos for Christmas dinner, I'm totally been talking up Janae's family as an example. I've been like HELLO Janae's family eats tamales on Christmas! We should eat tacos! (My fam won't cave. But I think I'm wearing them down.)

You get new pajamas. You play Bunco. You listen to Kenny Rogers. You look at lights. You watch fabulous movies. You bake cakes. You bake cookies. And eat them. (I think this is why we get along so well ...). You volunteer and buy gifts for kids who, otherwise, won't have any. And on and on and on. Seriously. You all are way too fun. Thus, I've been talking about you people all weekend. Talking about you in a good way. In an awesome way. Thanks for being so awesome. I feel so blessed to be part of this blog community. Your hearts spin for all the right reasons this time of year. The way you love so fearlessly rocks my world all to pieces.

Happy Christmas to you :)