{"id":22395,"date":"2017-09-24T22:44:28","date_gmt":"2017-09-25T03:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=22395"},"modified":"2017-09-24T22:44:28","modified_gmt":"2017-09-25T03:44:28","slug":"the-christmas-blessing-by-melody-carlson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=22395","title":{"rendered":"The Christmas Blessing by Melody Carlson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-22396\" src=\"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/The-Christmas-Blessing.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"932\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/The-Christmas-Blessing.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/The-Christmas-Blessing-97x150.jpg 97w, https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/The-Christmas-Blessing-150x233.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>MY REVIEW:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I always look forward to Melody Carlson&#8217;s Christmas book each year. It has become such a tradition for me that Christmas just wouldn&#8217;t be the same without them. This year&#8217;s book &#8220;The Christmas Blessing&#8221; is a historical one that takes place during the World War 2 years.<\/p>\n<p>As is often the case, the story is a poignant one that pulls at the reader&#8217;s heartstrings. It is also filled with hope and joy and comes complete with a glorious surprise or two before its end.Although the story is short and character development is limited, the author still manages to make her readers care about what happens to Amelia and her baby.<\/p>\n<p>This small hardback can easily be read in an evening or two which is a perfect break from the hustle and bustle of the winter holidays. So grab a hot drink and a warm throw and take a short break with this lovely little novel. I may just join you be reading it again closer to Christmas.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/divider2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10857\" title=\"divider2\" src=\"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/divider2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"317\" height=\"61\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/divider2.png 317w, https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/divider2-150x28.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 317px) 100vw, 317px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book provided by Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group. A favorable review was not required. All views expressed are my own.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>ABOUT THE BOOK:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><i>Although Amelia would be on the train only until tomorrow morning, she unpacked a few things with the goal of making Jimmy and herself as comfortable as possible. To her delight, this cozy sleeping car felt just right for the two of them. Not only that, but as the train began to move, Jimmy relaxed and settled in. Almost as if he were glad they were finally on their way. Maybe he instinctively knew that life was about to get better for them. Perhaps he would enjoy meeting his paternal grandparents. At the moment the train pulled out of the station, anything seemed possible.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>She&#8217;s determined to give her baby a better life.<br \/>\nCould a Christmas miracle make it possible?<br \/>\n<\/b><br \/>\nNot long after she receives the news in 1944 that her baby&#8217;s father was shot down in the South Pacific, Amelia Richards loses hope. Jobless and broke, she has nowhere to turn for help but her infant&#8217;s paternal grandparents. The only problem is, they don&#8217;t know that she&#8211;or their grandson&#8211;exists.<\/p>\n<p>When Amelia discovers the family is wealthy and influential, dare she disclose the truth of her relationship with their son? Or could the celebration of the arrival of another unexpected baby nearly two thousand years ago be the answer to her dilemma?<\/p>\n<p><strong>ABOUT THE AUTHOR:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-18921 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Melody-Carlson-150x187.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"187\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Melody-Carlson-150x187.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Melody-Carlson-120x150.jpg 120w, https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Melody-Carlson.jpg 290w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/>Melody Carlson<\/b> is the award-winning author of over two hundred books with combined sales of more than six million. She is the author of several Christmas books, including the bestselling <i>The Christmas Bus<\/i>, <i>The Christmas Dog<\/i>, <i>Christmas at Harrington&#8217;s<\/i>, <i>The Christmas Cat<\/i>, <i>The Christmas Joy Ride<\/i>, and <i>The Christmas Angel Project<\/i>. She received a <i>Romantic Times <\/i>Career Achievement Award in the inspirational market for her many books, including the Diary of a Teenage Girl series and <i>Finding Alice<\/i>. She and her husband live in central Oregon. Learn more at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.melodycarlson.com\">www.melodycarlson.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"border-radius: 2px; text-indent: 20px; width: auto; padding: 0px 4px 0px 0px; text-align: center; font: bold 11px\/20px 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,sans-serif; color: #ffffff; background: #bd081c  no-repeat scroll 3px 50% \/ 14px 14px; position: absolute; opacity: 1; z-index: 8675309; display: none; cursor: pointer; top: 36px; left: 410px;\">Save<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MY REVIEW: I always look forward to Melody Carlson&#8217;s Christmas book each year. It has become such a tradition for me that Christmas just wouldn&#8217;t be the same without them. This year&#8217;s book &#8220;The Christmas Blessing&#8221; is a historical one that takes place during the World War 2 years. As is often the case, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,57,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-christmas","category-historical"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22395"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22399,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22395\/revisions\/22399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}