Another Christmas, Another Year
I love listening to Christmas music and watching holiday movies. There is something special about bells ringing, twinkling lights, and decorated trees to mark the end of another year. I feel a little melancholy to see the year end, but I am also filled with hope for the new year. I don’t like to look back and see that the year has passed in a foggy blur (been there, done that) so I now try to give each year a theme. For instance, 2007 and 2008 were filled with positive thoughts and gratefulness. Very exciting years for me. 2009 was about change, scary at times, but all good. I want 2010 to be about adventure…learning, exploring, taking risks. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?
How about you? Can you sum up the last year or two? What did you do? What did you accomplish? Or did you focus on family and your home? Are you looking forward to the new year?Pictures: My house in Sacramento after it SNOWED!!! And cute snowman my husband made for me. Labels: Another year, christmas, themes
Light up the Holidays with Lee
Looking for some extra decorating ideas for the holidays? Need a last-minute hostess gift? Try making a festive little candle lamp from a wine glass.
This has my holiday DIY project and it’s turned out to be a lot of fun. I bought a bunch of thrift store wineglasses ranging in price from twenty-five to ninety-nine cents, sheets of vellum and semi-transparent holiday giftwrap, a package of tealight candles and a glue stick—and I was set.
I also have some decorative scissors and a cherub hole punch, and now for fun I’ve started to add some trim to the base of the wine glasses. It’s also a great way to use up stray beads and scraps of ribbon.
Want to try making some of your own? You’ll find lampshade templates
here,
here and
here. Most shades can be cut from an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper, although you’ll need to adjust the depth of shade to accommodate a taller glass.
Let’s light up the holidays together!
xoxo
Lee
PS: To celebrate the holidays and the July 2010 release of
Firefighter Daddy, my next Harlequin American Romance, I’m running a December contest on my blog,
The Writer Side of Life. The prize is an autographed 2010 firefighter calendar and other goodies to be determined.
Labels: christmas, Harlequin American Romance, holiday craft, Lee McKenzie
Christmas cards
by
Terry McLaughlin
Whenever I hear the words "Christmas cards," two things come to mind. The first is the beautiful written greetings friends and family mail to each other at this time of year. The second involves memories of my family's favorite activity during the school holidays.
The game of Hearts was serious, cutthroat business. We rarely played it on weekends; we reserved it for summer and Christmas vacations, for long stretches of lazy days when rivalries could simmer and conspiracies could ferment. Two decks of cards made the play twice as complicated and doubled the fun. Another source of entertainment was my parents. They'd played highly competitive card games throughout their courtship; now they skipped proper parental examples and got down to our level.
Cheating was difficult but not impossible. I still remember the afternoon my sister and I stacked those two decks so that every seventh card would be dealt to one particular brother in a combination that would tempt him to shoot the moon but end in inevitable, crushing disaster. And there was always the agony of the dealer's choice of passing combinations before the beginning of play. Two to the right, twice. Or one to the left, followed by three to the right. Or the deadliest decree of all: play the cards you're dealt.
I developed an early and serious love–hate relationship with the Queen of Spades.
Another Christmas memory I treasure is a weekend-long Hearts tournament with some high school friends at a family ski cabin. One chaperone refused to play, at first, and his son told us to quit inviting him. Finally we convinced him to join our game...and then our friend's father proceeded to shoot the moon with every hand, just as his son had warned us he'd do. I still wonder how he managed that trick.
Does your family enjoy games of Christmas cards? What are your favorites?
Terry McLaughlin is celebrating her first Christmas-time release: A Small-Town Reunion.
She's still bemused–and amused–by the Christmas décor on the cover of a story set in July.Labels: cards, christmas, games, hearts, Terry McLaughlin, vacations
Favorite Christmas Reads
Last week I started my Christmas reading. My grandmother loved reading holiday romances, and she got me into it. Now, every year from Thanksgiving vacation to Christmas, I read Christmas themed books.
Last week I read the new Silhouette Romantic Suspense, with three novellas. The second one, about an undercover cop working as a mall Santa, was my favorite.
Now I’m reading a Superromance, Home for the Holidays by Sarah Mayberry, about a single dad who moves in next to a female mechanic after his wife died. So far not very Christmasy, though, and I’m halfway through.
Next I have Moonlight and Mistletoe by Dawn Temple, about a woman who’s the illegitimate daughter of a famous television personality and the lawyer who tries to get her to sign an agreement, only to become trapped at her cabin. So far, I love it.
Then there’s Silent Night, a collection of romantic suspense by Dee Davis, Evelyn Rogers and Claudia Dane. I have to say I have no idea what it’s about, but I love Evelyn Rogers, so I bought it.
Last year I’d read the Virgin River books and was excited about the Virgin River Christmas book, but honestly, this year I couldn’t tell you what it was about.
I read A Town Called Christmas by Carrie Alexander, I think, and I remember the heroine being a part of a family who had a Christmas business. I don’t remember who the hero was, but it was a sweet story.
My favorite—and I hope I have time to reread it this year—is Santa’s Angel, about a man doing community service (that’s not exactly right, but I don’t remember the details, something like that) as a store Santa and a woman who is Santa’s elf. She finds herself falling for the Santa, but doesn’t know he’s also the man who she finds arrogant in real life. He goes to great extents to hide his true identity and I love watching the two of them fall in love.
What are some of your favorite Christmas reads?
Labels: books, christmas, MJ Fredrick
Christmas Shows
My Tivo to-do list is longer than usual this time of year, because of all the Christmas shows. There are the classic must-sees:
(My son watched The Grinch so much when he was little that I know it by heart. Except for the descriptions of the toys…)
I watched MERRY MADAGASCAR because I love King Julian and also the bush baby. Not as funny as I hoped.
I also love all the movies on Hallmark and ABC Family right now, especially the romances (duh.) Did you know there’s a Debbie Macomber one called MRS. MIRACLE? How awesome! The one I really loved last year was called The Christmas Card, about a woman who sends a Christmas card to a soldier and he comes to find her. Moonlight and Mistletoe was good, too.
What about the classic movies, you ask? Christmas Vacation is my favorite, and A Christmas Story (almost have that one memorized, too.) I like Elf and Miracle on 34th Street, but can take a pass on It’s a Wonderful Life. I LOVE A Muppet’s Christmas Carol, so much that I hunted it down on VHS to show my class (we only have VCRs). I’m looking forward to seeing Four Christmases, too.
What are your favorite Christmas shows/movies? And does anyone besides me remember the show THE NIGHT THE ANIMALS TALKED? I loved that as a kid, but never see it anymore.
Labels: christmas, MJ Fredrick, TV
The Season of Giving by Debra Holland
Christmas is the season of the year when people are the most generous. They not only give gifts to family and friends, but also to strangers and charitable organizations.
Unfortunately, due to the economy, charitable giving is down at the very time more people are in need. Perhaps you are one of those people. Or perhaps you aren’t able to give in the way you have in the past.
When I was in the fifth grade at Hope Lutheran School, we had to attend chapel every Wednesday. I remember one of the teachers delivered a sermon, using the analogy of a shovel. He said, when you give to God, God gives back. Only, he uses a bigger shovel. Meaning, the more you give to those in need, the more you receive in return.
I know I have lived a life that’s richly blessed. I’ve always had abundance, although some years I had financial difficulites. But through it all, I continued to support my favorite charities. And what I noticed was that my income often reflected my giving.
This principle of abundance has reflected strongly in my life in the last three years. I joined a church and made a committment to give a fixed amount every week. I’ve also continued to support charities such as Habitat For Humanity, Covenant House, and Orange County Mission.
What I found was that the shovel principle has definitely applied to me. Since I’ve been giving regularly, I’ve had so much work that I’ve had to turn away clients. And in this economy, with so much suffering around me, I don’t take my good fortune for granted.
If you’re thinking of cutting back on your charitable gifts this year, I’m going to urge you to rethink that decision. I’m going to ask you to think creatively about the ways you can give.
I remember hearing a sermon when I was young, where the minister outlined the three ways to tithe: time, talent, and treasure. If you don’t have much financially to give, you can still contribute something, even if it means tossing a few coins into the kettle of the Salvation Army bell ringer. It’s the gift from your heart that really matters, even more than the amount.
If you’re out of work, use some of your free time to volunteer. In addition to the help you give others, the satisfaction you receive from being of service will bring important meaning to your life, especially if you’re struggling with low spirits. Plus, you’ll find that there are always those who are worse off. Their troubles will put yours in perspective.
Think about the talents you have to offer. For example, many charitable organizations are in desperate need of someone with good writing and copyediting skills. Writing stories, articles, blurbs, and other copy could fill an important need.
Get your children involved with helping. Younger children can pick a name off a “giving tree” located at churches, malls, and hospitals. (I suggest you pick a child of a similar age and the same gender as your own.) Let the children choose the toys and/or clothes for the person and also help wrap and deliver the gift.
Older children can serve at soup kitchens, organize food or clothing drives at their schools, or donate part of their allowance to charity. Many times older children will gravitate towards a charity that feels meaningful to them or one that their friends are involved in.
And don’t forget to spread peace and good will to all. Being patient with a haried sales clerk, smiling at the shoppers around you, giving up your place in line to someone with cranky children are all ways to increase your Christmas cheer.
What are your favorite ways to give?Labels: christmas, giving, the season of giving
When Snoopy Knocked Down the Christmas Tree by Diane Gaston
About now I'm willing to bet most of us are worried about our gift selections for Christmas. Did we buy enough? Did we spend too much or too little? Can we afford those last minute gifts we still have to buy? Will our Christmas be as fine as the last few years when we had so much more money to spend?
These are all questions I'm asking myself this year. I want to make this Christmas memorable for my family, as memorable as other Christmases.
But then I remember the year Snoopy knocked down the Christmas tree.
It wasn't Christmas exactly, but New Year's eve and my parents were getting ready to go to the neighbor's for their annual New Year's eve party. It meant my older sisters and I would have the house to ourselves and could stay up as long as we liked. We had a plate of shrimp and cocktail sauce just like my parents took to the party as well as Coca Cola and other snacks. Just as they were ready to leave there was a crash.
Our cat Snoopy, who liked to drink from the tree water, put his paws on the reservoir and knocked the whole tree over. There were glass ornaments to clean up and a traumatized kitty to be comforted (my job).
Eventually the tree was righted, the reservoir refilled and the tiny glass chards and the tinsel and pine needles all vacuumed up. My parents left for the party and my sisters and I watched Zero Mostel in The Boys From Syracuse and later The Best of Ernie Kovacs and we had the very best of Christmas seasons.
And then there was the Christmas Eve when my Aunt Loraine and I took the bus to downtown Washington DC. It was snowing, unusual for DC. I was home from college, my dad was stationed in Korea and the rest of the family were all living in an apt in DC. It should have been a forgettable Christmas, but my aunt and I decided to buy my sisters, my mother and each other extra gifts costing no more than $5.00 each. That was the most fun Christmas shopping I ever had in my life.
Later that night we walked down 16th Street NW in DC with the street hushed with snow to attend Midnight Mass at the church a couple of blocks away. I still remember that walk.
In more recent years, I remember the Christmas my husband and son refurbished two old bicycles to give to a poor family. They were those old banana bikes, but they made them new again. To a kid with no hope for a new bicycle, they were a dream come true.
So what does this have to do with this year's worry about buying presents and trying to economize and worrying if Christmas will be nice enough?
None of these treasured memories has anything to do with specific gifts given or received. So don't worry! Pay attention to the little things that really make Christmas time memorable.
Like when Snoopy knocked down the Christmas tree.
Come visit me at Risky Regencies today and share my Regency Christmas!Labels: christmas, Diane Gaston
Let's Make Some Cookies!
It’s never too late to start a new Christmas tradition! Three years ago, one of my sisters asked me if I wanted to go to Mom’s and bake Christmas cookies. The three of us baked and sipped wine from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m. At the end of the evening, we divided the cookies up and filled up tins to give to the neighbors and friends. Getting together to bake cookies is now a Christmas tradition shared by all of my sisters and Mom. Everyone brings two or three of their favorite recipes, the ingredients needed to make three dozen cookies, and some cookie sheets. Here are a couple of my favorite cookie recipes:
DEATH BY CHOCOLATE COOKIES 2 pkg. (16 squares) semisweet baking chocolate divided
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
2 cups chopped nuts (optional)
Heat oven to 350°F
Coarsely chop 8 squares of chocolate, set aside.
Microwave remaining 8 squares of chocolate in large bowl on high 1-2 minutes, stir until chocolate is melted and smooth.
Stir in sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla.
Stir in flour and baking powder.
Stir in reserved chopped chocolate and nuts.
Drop by 1/4 cupfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 12-13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and feel set to the touch.
Cool on cookie sheet 1 minute then transfer to wire rack.
Makes about 1 1/2 dozen cookies
GINGERBREAD MEN COOKIES2 ¾ c. flour
½ tsp. soda
1 tsp. ginger
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
½ c. shortening
¼ c. brown sugar
¾ c. molasses
1 beaten egg
1 tsp. hot water
1 tsp. vinegar
Mix all ingredients. Roll onto well floured surface. Cut into gingerbread men. Place on greased cookie sheets dusted with flour. Bake at 350 degrees until brown. About 8 to 10 minutes. Decorate as desired!
Do you have a favorite cookie recipe or Christmas tradition to share?Labels: christmas, cookies
I love listening to Christmas music and watching holiday movies. There is something special about bells ringing, twinkling lights, and decorated trees to mark the end of another year. I feel a little melancholy to see the year end, but I am also filled with hope for the new year. I don’t like to look back and see that the year has passed in a foggy blur (been there, done that) so I now try to give each year a theme. For instance, 2007 and 2008 were filled with positive thoughts and gratefulness. Very exciting years for me. 2009 was about change, scary at times, but all good. I want 2010 to be about adventure…learning, exploring, taking risks. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?
