2018 Holiday Blog Tour Stop # 1 A Holiday Memory with Kimberly Rose Johnson plus #Giveaway

October 28, 2018 /

As some of you might know I am hybrid published. Which means I have a publisher, and I publish books myself. My publisher is doing a really fun blog tour this year to help readers get to know their writers. I’m first up on the stop, so here we go.

Welcome to Mountain Brook Ink’s 2018 Holiday Blog Tour! We’re so excited you’ve decided to join us on this journey of family, friends, traditions, and memories over the next month. You as our reader have done so much to pour into our lives, and this season we want to give back to you with insights into our lives AND some giveaways. The more days you follow, share, comment, and engage with us, the more entries you’ll have toward a Kindle Fire Grand Prize (U.S. mailing addresses only) or one of three Amazon Gift Cards!

When I was told we were to post about our lives around the holidays my first thought was of Disney. My husband and I have taken a couple of trips to their properties during the holiday season. Our most recent trip was last year when we went to SoCal to see our son’s junior recital. We stayed near Disneyland. I love the Christmas decorations! This is a picture of my husband and me one evening in Downtown Disney.

Back when I was first published I fulfilled a longtime travel dream and took a trip to Disney World. I’d wanted to go there ever since I was a kid. Being a west coast girl I’d only been to Disneyland. I was astounded at the size of the castle in the Magic Kingdom in Florida.

I think the highlight of the trip for me was the amazing Christmas decorations. I’m not really a picture taker, but I took lots of pics of their decorations. 🙂

I’d love to make Disney a semi-annual holiday tradition. Traditions are important in our family. I’ll never forget the time when as a young girl my family was traveling by car from Oregon to SoCal to visit my grandma. It was Christmas morning and we were stopped at a rest stop. We drove a little Datsun pickup with a canopy and a boot connecting the cab of the pickup with the back where my sister and I sat. My dad had made a really cool base for the bed our of plywood then added padding and carpet. We had beanbags and were set. 🙂 For those of you too young to know, seatbelts didn’t used to be required.

Anyway, we were stopped on Christmas morning and my mom handed my sister and I our stockings. We drew the attention of at least one passerby who stood and watched us open our stockings from the vantage point of the windshield. lol I’ve never forgotten that. To this day stockings are my favorite part of Christmas morning. They are the one thing we never do without, even on those lean years when we couldn’t afford gifts to put under the tree for my husband or myself, we always had our stockings.

Do you have a favorite family tradition?

I’m doing to giveaway a kindle copy of one of my Christmas books, winners choice, to one of my blog subscribers. Open to US Amazon customers only since Amazon won’t let me buy books in other marketplaces. Void where prohibited by law. If you subscribe to this blog you are automatically entered for a chance to win. One winner will be chosen from my subscribers on November 21, 2018–the last day of the MBI blog tour. Be sure to check for the confirmation in your email–it’s probably your spam file if you don’t see it. You must confirm from that link to be subscribed.

The next stop on the Mountain Brook Blog Tour can be found tomorrow at http://mountainbrookink.com/blog/. Christina Coryell will be the featured author. Don’t forget to leave a comment to be entered into the MBI Blog tour giveaway. Void where prohibited by law.

Here’s a little about my most recent published book with MBI.

Two strong-willed sleuths team up to solve a mystery. Can they work together or will their differences pull them apart? Librarian Nancy Daley loves a good mystery and enjoys moonlighting as a consultant for the sheriff’s department. When license plates go missing in Tipton County, she’s on the case. This time things are different—she’s been partnered with the new deputy, and he’s not interested in her help. To make matters worse, she’s angered the wrong person and is now being threatened. Sheriff Deputy Carter Malone expects Tipton, Oregon to be a sleepy small-town, but he miscalculated. He’d come to town for a fresh start with his nephew—one without the issues big cities deal with. Had he made a mistake? To complicate matters, he’s told he must consult with the sheriff’s daughter, who is not in law enforcement. When the minor case they are working morphs into something more, things quickly go from harmless to scary. Can they solve the mystery before it’s too late, and more importantly, what will they do about their growing attraction?

Amazon buy link

Here is the full tour schedule:

Stop #1: October 28 – Kimberly Rose Johnson
Stop #2: October 29 – Christina Coryell
Stop #3: October 30 – Mary Davis
Stop #4: October 31 – Angela Ruth Strong
Stop #5: November 1 – Susan Paige Davis
Stop #6: November 2 – Amy K. Rognlie
Stop #7: November 3 – Gayla K. Hiss
Stop #8: November 4 – Christa MacDonald
Stop #9: November 5 – Linda Hanna & Deborah Dulworth
Stop #10: November 6 – Richard Spillman
Stop #11: November 7 – Annette M. Irby
Stop #12: November 8 – Miralee Ferrell
Stop #13: November 9 – Jeanette-Marie Mirich
Stop #14: November 10 – Anna Zogg
Stop #15: November 11 – Teresa H. Morgan
Stop #16: November 12 – Kelsey Norman
Stop #17: November 13 – Barbara J. Scott
Stop #18: November 14 – Patricia Lee
Stop #19: November 15 – Linda Thompson
Stop #20: November 16 – Janalyn Voigt
Stop #21: November 17 – Cynthia Herron
Stop #22: November 18 – Trish Perry
Stop #23: November 19 – Heather L.L. Fitzgerald
Stop #24: November 20 – Sara Davison
Stop #25: November 21 – Taylor Bennett

A Rafflecopter giveaway

81 Comments

  • Maria Dalmau

    October 28, 2018 at 2:34 am

    I live near Florida Disney and it’s absolutely beautiful for the holidays the fireworks are awesome.

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 28, 2018 at 7:10 am

      I’m looking forward to seeing all the decorations again. I can’t believe how many pictures I took of just decorations the last time I was there. LOL

  • Sonnetta Jones

    October 28, 2018 at 3:13 am

    Every Christmas we have the same breakfast. It is garlic pork and /or pepperpot with freshly baked bread. It is something from childhood that brings back so many memories. We do not exchange gifts like we used to but we will still listen to Jim Reeves and Johnny Mathis. It is not the season without listening to them.

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 28, 2018 at 7:09 am

      I love those kind of traditions, Sonnetta. Even scents can bring up fond memories for me. 🙂

  • Monica

    October 28, 2018 at 10:14 am

    Every year on Christmas my family has cinnamon rolls, then we go to church. Afterwards we go home and open presents. I like to watch everyone else open theirs first.
    Thanks for the giveaway. As a librarian myself and a lover of mysteries, I am really interested in your newest book. 🙂

  • Monica

    October 28, 2018 at 10:29 am

    Cinnamon rolls for breakfast Christmas morning, then we go to church. Afterward, the whole family comes for presents and dinner.
    Your new book sounds awesome. I am a librarian myself and I love reading mysteries, but I wouldn’t be any good at solving them!

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 28, 2018 at 2:29 pm

      I love cinnamon rolls. I used to make them from a can for my boys, but they don’t like them anymore. That’s cool that you’re a librarian. 🙂

  • Edward Arrington

    October 28, 2018 at 12:16 pm

    I think our only “tradition ” is trying to get the family together for a meal sometime around Christmas.

  • Linda R Orr

    October 28, 2018 at 1:30 pm

    I still hang up stockings too and fill my 22-year old daughter’s. We also bake sugar cookies and put out cookies and milk for Santa and my daughter has a jar of reindeer food she made one year in her homeschool co-op class.

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 28, 2018 at 2:25 pm

      I love your traditions. I have a 23 year old and a 21 year old and still do stockings for them as well. 🙂 As long as they are single and home on Christmas morning, I think I will do that.

  • Marilyn

    October 28, 2018 at 1:53 pm

    Thank You for this fun giveaway. We have a tradition of going for a live tree that must reach the ceiling.
    Marilyn

  • Renate

    October 28, 2018 at 3:10 pm

    I enjoy visiting the Christkindlmarkt in Chicago. A bit of Germany close to home. No passport required. Plus a drive down the Magnificient Mile. Now that the kids are grown I like to surprise them with fun T-shirts, crazy socks, gingerbread house competition. Keep them guessing.

  • Richard Spillman

    October 28, 2018 at 3:36 pm

    I’ve always wanted to go to Disney World myself. So last year Bonnie and I took our two daughters and there families to Orlando for the best 10 day vacation we’ve ever had.

  • Rose

    October 28, 2018 at 4:55 pm

    Our favorite Christmas tradion is going to a Christmas Eve service at out church,having dinner, and opening presents.We like to ride around and look at Christmas lights.

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 28, 2018 at 5:09 pm

      Rose, when our boys were little we used to drive around the “rich” neighborhood to see the lights. Such fun memories.

  • Beverly Duell-Moore

    October 28, 2018 at 5:04 pm

    I’ve been to Disney World a couple times, but never at Christmas. Love it! I love to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior!

  • Becky Lewis

    October 28, 2018 at 5:19 pm

    Love your pics of DisneyWorld at Christmas.
    We still have three single twenty-something kids home on Christmas. So we open stockings on Christmas Eve and presents on Christmas morning, after my husband reads out of Luke 2.

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 28, 2018 at 5:39 pm

      It sounds like we have similar Christmases, but we always do stockings in the morning. 🙂

  • Cynthia Herron

    October 28, 2018 at 7:12 pm

    What a fun blog post!

    Ooh! I love traditions! We usually watch It’s a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve and have special snacks. Our church has a candlelit service that evening, as well.

    When our kids were little, we let them open one gift a piece on Christmas Eve. Now, they’re no longer little, but we still fondly remember those Christmases past.

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 28, 2018 at 7:35 pm

      I love your traditions. We used to watch A White Christmas together as a family, but now the boys are older and not around so much. My younger son introduced the movie to several friends at his college. 🙂

  • Linda Marie Finn

    October 28, 2018 at 9:24 pm

    We usually do dinner together, I love to make fudge and cookies, pies, cheesecake!
    I allow the children to each have one gift, Christmas Eve.
    Linda Marie Finn
    Faithful Acres Books

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 29, 2018 at 6:51 am

      Those sounds like wonderful traditions, Linda. When we were kids we were allowed to open one present as well and carried that tradition on with our boys. I’m so glad they still come home for Christmas. It’s the only holiday the entire family is together.

  • Kaethe Pittman

    October 29, 2018 at 3:58 am

    Ooh, we went to Disney World during Christmas break when our daughter was eleven. The tickets were the last gift she opened Christmas morning, with our whole family there. Every adult in the room already knew what was in that little package!! Our princess spent the days in the parks collecting “autographs” from the Disney characters and was so tickled when Cinderella’s mouse attendants greeted her in sign language when they say her hearing aids. We also went to the Epcot Center’s Festival of Lessons and Carols, narrated by LeVar Burton, with music from various high school choirs. That trip is one of our best family memories!

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 29, 2018 at 6:49 am

      I’m so impressed that the mouse attendants spoke to your daughter in sign language! What a special trip.

  • Brandi

    October 29, 2018 at 5:14 am

    I love Disney at Christmastime. I started reading Christmas stories a few weeks ago. 😊 We have so many traditions but one of my favorites is making homemade pizzas on Christmas Eve and the kids opening one special gift.

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 29, 2018 at 6:47 am

      I love hearing about meal traditions. I think you’re the first I’ve heard for homemade pizza. That’s a tradition I would really enjoy. 🙂

  • Carrie Gould

    October 29, 2018 at 5:37 am

    Hello! Thanks for your stop on the tour. My boys and I pick out a live tree every year for Christmas. I am especially excited about this year because we should be in our new house by Christmas.

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 29, 2018 at 6:46 am

      A new house, how exciting! What do you do with the tree after Christmas? Do you plant it in your yard?

      • Tracy Fritts

        October 30, 2018 at 12:32 am

        Thank you! Yes I think so to. We was talking about traditions one day and that is what we came up with. It is really nice.

  • Sarah Snider

    October 29, 2018 at 1:50 pm

    I can only imagine how spectacular Disney would be at Christmastime! I enjoy quiet Christmases, preferably cold with snow so that we can have a fire in the fireplace.

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 29, 2018 at 2:01 pm

      You just described my dream Christmas, Sarah. 🙂 Though technically I’m not a fan of snow, I don’t mind it if I don’t have to go anywhere.

  • Paula Shreckhise

    October 29, 2018 at 4:48 pm

    I never wanted to go to Disneyland or Disneyworld.

    Our goal this Thanksgiving is for our four kids to get together. That hasn’t happened since our oldest granddaughter was born 10 years ago.

    This looks like a great book.

  • Carol Luciano

    October 30, 2018 at 6:56 am

    Great post. I love the holidays. Many traditions but one is Christmas Stockings for the adult kids & grandkids. As well as a family dinner on Christmas eve.

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 30, 2018 at 7:24 am

      Thanks, Carol. It’s nice to see that people other than me still do stockings for their adult kids. 🙂

  • Stephanie H.

    October 30, 2018 at 7:16 am

    Someday, I hope to take my family to Disney World. It seems like it would be a magical and fun place to go for Christmas!

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 30, 2018 at 7:23 am

      It is certainly pretty at Christmastime. I don’t like huge crowds, which I experience every time I go to Disneyland. I’ve only been to Disney World once and it was nice–not too crowded the week we were there.

  • Suzannah Clark

    October 30, 2018 at 11:01 am

    Christmas has been tough the past year. We lost our daughter Anna (23) shortly after her wedding in July 2017. She was the one who decorated our tree and helped decorate cookies. Last year (our first one without her) we bought a tiny tree in memory of her.. Its been tough. Not sure how we will cope this year However we are planning a trip to make new memories. We will be visiting a wonderful little town by the ocean called Carmel by the Sea.

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 30, 2018 at 3:35 pm

      I’m so sorry, Suzannah. I have a 23 year old son, and I can’t imagine the pain. Praying you are blessed with new memories.

  • Debora Wilder

    October 31, 2018 at 10:20 am

    I haven’t been to any of the Disney properties for years but I have very happy memories of both Disneyland and Disney World. I haven’t been to either during the holidays though. I love your story about the Christmas stockings. Thanks for sharing you memories with us.

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      October 31, 2018 at 1:35 pm

      Hi Debora, it’s great to see you here. Thanks for stopping by! That was certainly a memorable year. 🙂

  • Jennifer Hibdon

    October 31, 2018 at 1:54 pm

    My family went to Disney World for Christmas 1972. It was something! It was a lot of walking!!! Looking at photos from today, Disney has really changed their celebrations. Much more over the top now. One of our traditions is an Advent calendar, with nativity scences, not Santa.

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      November 1, 2018 at 7:01 am

      Yes, Disney is a lot different that it was in the 70s. I miss the way things used to be. I have very fond memories of Disneyland as a child–we lived about 20 minutes away from the park.

  • Stephanie F

    November 5, 2018 at 11:42 am

    I love Disney World!! I went with my husband’s family back in 2007 when we were still dating, and I’m dying to go back again. This giveaway is a terrific idea for the holidays!

  • Sparksofember

    November 5, 2018 at 12:46 pm

    Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love the decorations, the smells, the food, the music.
    We always got to have our stockings first thing and then gifts would be done a little later. Breakfast is waffles with whipped cream and strawberries.
    I come from a large family and we have the tradition of opening presents one at a time and the person who just opened a gift picks out someone else’s gift under the tree to pass the baton. It really helps each gift and giver be appreciated and my husband and I have continued the tradition in our family.

    • Kimberly Rose Johnson

      November 6, 2018 at 9:17 pm

      Your breakfast is making me hungry lol. I love waffles with whipped cream and strawberries. 🙂 It sounds like you have wonderful Christmases.

  • Shara Bueler-Repka

    November 5, 2018 at 7:55 pm

    Love the photos! Thank you for sharing your memories. Loved your stocking memory! I can relate to that simpler time! Also, my stocking, even now, is my favorite “present” to open. A few years back, my mother-in-law made personalized stockings for all of us. We’re in our 50s and we transform into little kids when the stockings come out!