December Tea Party - Tamera Lynn Kraft and Dina Sleiman!!!

Hello and welcome to the lovely Shield's Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg. For a glimpse of our town and wonderful Christmas decorations on your way in, please see the previous post by our friend Cynthia. Once inside the tavern, pull up a chair and enjoy some festive Christmas treats along with our normal fare of beef pasty, tarragon chicken salat, potato-leek pye, and wild berry crumble. We also have a special selection of nice warm beverages, since I know most of you will be traveling far in your carriages in this brisk winter weather. So have a mug of mulled cider, chocolate, or coffee. We also have some "fortified beverages" in case you brought your men folk along. And since it is a tea party after all, we can offer some local herbal varieties like mint, lavender, or chamomile, but no imported British tea today!!!!

Our serving maid, Constance Chambers, is adamant on this issue. She is quite the patriot, and has made a real fuss over the issue. We're celebrating the release of two very different novels today, and Constance makes a brief cameo appearance in Dance from Deep Within, a contemporary by Dina Sleiman. But Contance's bold, independent spirit and the backdrop of Colonial Williamsburg inspire a young Muslim (Saracen or Mussulman to those of you from an earlier era) lady in the book to search out her own American identity and to seek true freedom in her life. Here's a little more about it:

Despite her conservative Muslim heritage, Layla Al-Rai longs for a chance to earn her degree in engineering and perhaps even...dare she dream...to choose her own husband. But young women from her background rarely enjoy such freedoms. When she finally talks her parents into letting her attend college, she is drawn to fellow twenty-something students, Allie and Rain, over a class project. Allie, the blonde ballerina, faces her own struggles as she deals with an ex-fiancé and a church she had hoped to leave behind. Rain, the bi-racial hippie chick, longs for something to believe in, but her questioning could cost her the love of her life. When Layla s childhood sweetheart reenters her world, it seems her dreams might become real. Until everything falls apart. When she meets truth face to face, will she find the courage to accept it even if it requires the ultimate sacrifice?

Join these three unlikely friends as they learn to dance to the song of the spirit. You can order Dina's book in print or for one of those new fangled ebooks here. Especially take note of the ebook price of $3.99. Not bad, even by Colonial standards. And Constance says to tell you that they'd make great Christmas presents too!

Our other featured novel today, A Christmas Promise by Tamera Lynn Kraft, is a traditional colonial novel, and perfect for the holiday. The main character, Anna is here from Schoenbrunn Village, Ohio to add her Moravian touches to this Christmas party. She has brought the sweet buns and coffee she’ll serve at the Moravian Christmas Eve Lovefeast. And she brought some wild roast turkey, potatoes, cabbage, turnips, sweet corn bread, and squash pie. 

She’s been boiling syrup for months to make sure she had enough sugar for the Christmas feast. And she decided to decorate the tavern with Moravian traditions such as a Christmas tree and candles and verses to hang on the tree. She brought a putz with a manger and the Bethlehem village to place under the tree. No Moravian Christmas would be complete without them. Here's a little bit about her story.

During colonial times, John and Anna settle in an Ohio village to become Moravian missionaries to the Lenape. When John is called away two days before Christmas to help at another settlement, he promises he’ll be back by Christmas Day. When he doesn't show up, Anna works hard to not fear the worst while she provides her children with a traditional Moravian Christmas. Through it all, she discovers a Christmas promise that will give her the peace she craves.

This title is part of Pelican's Christmas Holiday Extravaganza novella collection. It's also a great price at only $.99, and you can order it here. Be sure to snatch up a copy and curl up by our hearth to read it. We'll provide blankets and a rocker if you like. 

So again, welcome. We are so glad to have you. Please introduce yourselves and share with us where you hale from and what brought you out to Williamsburg on this blustery winter day. Let Constance and Anna know which refreshments you'd like. They'll be happy to serve you. 

Moravian Star ornament

Anna has also brought along some great prizes, so be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win a digital copy of A Christmas Promise and your own Moravian star Christmas ornament.  It looks beautiful!

We also have a lovely mob cap from Colonial Williamsburg for one of our guests! Please leave a comment (in character preferably!) to be entered for the prizes!

White mob cap from Colonial Williamsburg

For more info on today's authors, please visit their websites:
Dina's http://dinasleiman.com
Tamera's http://wordsharpeners.wordpress.com/