12 Days of Keeping Christmas

Days 1-6

For the next six days I will be featuring each individual story, and hopefully other content,  in Keeping Christmas: Volume 1. What better than a collection of stories that take place in castles during Christmas? I think these will be a great way to start the burr-months. 

Grab a mug of something hot and delicious and curl up somewhere comfy. Your literary chariots await to take you on a journey from an early twentieth-century castle overlooking the Mississippi all the way back to the Holy Land at the time of Jesus’ birth. These six novellas, all set in castles real and fictional, celebrate the heart and joy of Christmas.

Day 3

The Cross at Morioka Castle (by Kathleen J. Robison): In the ancient land of shoji screens and tatami mats, Ariko finds the stone ruins of Morioka Castle, and the mysterious cross that holds the secret of a Christian faith extending far deeper than Ariko ever imagined.

About the Author

Kathleen J. Robison is an Okinawan-American, born in Okinawa, and raised in California, Florida, Mississippi, and Singapore. Her travels and her family are the sources of her inspiration for her books. Kathleen and her Pastor husband have eight adult children. Seven are married, blessing them with eighteen grandchildren and counting. Her ethnically diverse background extends to her family of currently thirty-five personalities which provide many opportunities to share God’s amazing love amidst the challenges of real life.

About her Castle

Morioka Castle in Japan is a park of ruins, but what glorious ruins they are. In, 1632, after twenty years of construction, the castle was completed by the Nanbu, a well-known Samurai clan. Sadly, two-hundred and fifty years later, as the age of the Samurai came to a close, the magnificent structure was demolished. Though no structures remain intact, the grounds leave me in serene awe. It’s one of my favorite places in Japan. As I walked throughout the park, the walls spoke. Magnificent, black granite blocks rising to dizzying heights. My story-mind took hold, and I tucked away my thoughts. Now eight years later, I had the opportunity to put my imagination to work, as in modern-day, Ariko discovers the cross in the kitchen, and wonders as to the conflict it may have caused in her ancestral, Japanese family. Take the journey to Japan, where the ancient is no so far away.