We are pleased to announce our first-ever Giveaway. Here’s how it works:

At the request of my publisher and readers, I am currently writing a sequel to Drinking with the Saints. The new book, entitled Drinking with Your Patron Saint, will offer a wide array of drink suggestions for celebrating the holy patrons and patronesses of places, things, occupations, maladies, and the like. But because patron saints do not need to be determined by the Magisterium (most of them were chosen by folk custom), I would like to make the final chapter a list of new ideas for patron saints.

The new suggestions can range from the serious to the silly. An example of the serious: St. Louis Martin (the father of Therese of Lisieux) suffered from mental illness at the end of his life and can therefore be a patron saint of those similarly afflicted. An example of the silly: St. James the Less as the patron saint of light beer.

But I need your help in coming up with new saintly patronages, and the more the merrier! You can propose a connection based on the life of a saint, or you can simply make a bad pun on the sound of their name, like St. Isidore as the patron saint of entryways (get it?) or St. Peter Chanel as the patron saint of good smells.

There are only two rules:
1) The idea has to be your own—no cribbing from the internet.
2) The proposed patron has been duly canonized or beatified by the Church—Sorry, but we can’t name Bear Bryant the patron saint of Alabama football.

Best of all, you could win a prize! We will be giving away a “Gold Package” for the Greatest Number of Helpful Entries and a “Silver Package” for the Most Creative. The winner of the Gold Package will receive a signed copy of Drinking with the Saints and the complete line up of DWTS merchandise: an apron, a mixing glass, a wine charm set, a pair of cufflinks, and a set of coasters, with a total retail value of over $100! (see our new Facebook shop).  The winner of the Silver Package will receive a signed copy of Drinking with the Saints and a DWTS wine charm set, pair of cufflinks, and coasters, with a total retail value of $60.

And, we will also be giving away lots of consolation prizes, based on merchandise availability at the time. Finally, all winners great and small will be formally acknowledged for their contribution in the front matter of the new book.

To enter, just submit your ideas on the DWTS Facebook page, and feel free to like or react to the entries of others as well.

But hurry: the contest ends in three weeks—December 16, 2016, to be precise. We want you to receive your prizes in time for Christmas Day.

So now you have something fun to think about during Thanksgiving and Advent with your friends and family and to pick up some great gifts for under the tree!