Tag: Christmas

Christmas Decorations and Cooking

I’m not decorating for the holidays as I have in the past. It’s not because I have lost my Christmas spirit, but because it will be just hubby and I here, and our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will be spent at my daughter’s place in Phoenix. Our grandson is there and the celebrating will go on in her house.

My son and his wife are in Florida so they are also doing their own thing as they wait for the arrival of my second grandson.

“A Christmas Carol”

If we were going to host a gathering I would jump on the decorating bandwagon, but it’s just not worth it to me. I have a few special things I love that I will set up: my Byers Choice “A Christmas Carol” carolers. I asked hubby to put up a few lights around the front porch, and I put out my holiday dishware and serving ware.

The Family Tree

Since I wrote the previous, my husband found a few boxes of Christmas decorations that belonged to his parents. After their passing we went to Reno and cleared out a storage area of things of theirs. This Christmas tree and these decorations were part of it. We now have a precious little tree decorated with ornaments gathered over their 50+ year marriage.

An important part of the holidays of southern Arizona is the making of tamales. One thing to note about Mexican food is the food is distinct to the region. It is my personal opinion – but there is no better Mexican food than Sonoran. You may have a different opinion but you are wrong.

REAL food doesn’t have orange cheese, it is only white crumbled cows cheese that comes from Sonora, Mexico. It is always fresh, and the ingredients blend well, not disguised by cumin and chili powder! Also our Christmas tamales have a green pimento olive inside that represent the baby Jesus.

So, when you enter a grocery store anywhere in southern Arizona at Christmas you will find a display like this:

Cheers!

-N

 

What I Get from Story Research

Because I try to infuse authenticity into my writing I end up spending plenty of time on research. I am creating a fictional town in Coastal Maine so I needed to know a few things other than what I personally experienced and observed when I spent time in Ogunquit and Perkins Cove.

  • Does my town have a police department or is it manned by a sheriff substation?
  • What does it take to transfer out of state junior college credits to University of Southern Maine?
  • What does the job look like for my local part-time harbor master?

The research can tease out local vernacular, slang, and regional expressions. Something else I discover in this research process is friendliness, open and forthcoming are the residents of my fictional town.

The story has a wide age and gender demographic that takes some social media and You Tube research to get the feel for preteen, high school or college student conversations.

My story also features transplanted people, a mother, daughter, and son. They are from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. That one I’ve got lots of experience with since I have dozens of relatives and friends in east Texas “ya’ll”.

Maine, well that one I am developing, “ya see”.

Making a sharp right – anyone else have family or friends who are putting up Christmas decorations? I just can’t do it yet. A decorated house starts to feel extremely cluttered after about three weeks. I’ve contemplated not putting up as many decorations as I usually do, for this reason. My decoration theme is Santa and Nativity: I cover the Christian and the secular. I have a big pre-lit tree (don’t judge me real tree purists) and haven’t added to my collection of decorations other than a new tree ornament.

One of my most treasured Christmas items are my Byer’s Choice Carolers. If you haven’t seen the I suggest you check them out. https://www.byerschoice.com They are beautiful, collectable, and hand made top market items. My collection is “A Christmas Carol” because this is my absolute favorite Christmas story. They are so precious to me I have identified who gets them in my will. So I don’t want to tire of them.

Another right turn – this Saturday, 14 November, NASA is launching the first manned Space-X crew on a mission. The crew of four, Crew-1, will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon ‘Resilience’ spacecraft. The crew arrived to the Astronaut Crew Quarters at Kennedy Space Center Monday. As a space geek I dig this stuff.

So back to work. I hope the rest of your week is spectacular.

Cheers!

-N

 

 

 

A modern Christmas Carol.

 

Any story that uses my most favorite holiday story Dickens, A Christmas Carol is bound to be good.

This wonderful story uses this theme of past, present and future to weave a story of redemption (sort of.) Verity is her longsuffering self where Ellis’ mother is concerned, but she reaches her breaking point when she is insulted for the last time.

This leads to the discovery (with the help of few family ghosts) of the anamosity and apathy in his family, and why his mother is the witch she is. Frankie stirs things up, a friend who gave Verity her pet skunk Lucy shows up but in not so fleshly form.

It’s fast, funny, and gives readers a great holiday treat.

 

I received this as an advanced reading company for an unbiased review.

 

Cheers!

-N

Getting Holiday Motivated

It’s three weeks until Thanksgiving and about six weeks until Christmas.

My daughter and grandson live in Phoenix. My son and daughter in law live in Orlando. Hallmark channel is not helping.

I love the scenes of family gatherings depicted in these programs but they also make me miss having my kids with me. My daughter is a very manageable distance and I will be spending Thanksgiving with her. She and my grandson will be with us for a few days at Christmas.  Lots of cooking, laughing, pampering, and fun will happen.

I am grateful for that time with them.

I hope and pray that one day my son will be in the place in life and job he can spend some holiday time with us. He and his wife are so much fun, and our times together are fantastic.

So I sit, looking through cookbooks,  trying new recipes, thinking of decorating and having my babies with me.

It will be okay and the love will pass easily between us this season.

Cheers!

-N

 

 

Do you believe?

I was that little girl who utterly believed in Santa, and the magic of Christmas. To this day the feelings and joy of belief in Santa enchants me. I adore stories that validate my childish memories and build my depth of belief in the Christmas spirit.

Like many children I discovered the painful truth by accident. One morning I was looking for my father, and stumbled across him in the neighbors garage. I saw he and our neighbor were putting together one of those little play kitchens and before he could see me I ran off. You can imagine what I realized when that very toy kitchen was sitting next to our tree on Christmas morning.

I never told him what I knew, but by the next year my Santa connection sadly was over. Yet, I still wanted to believe.

This blog was prompted by me watching Hallmark Christmas in Summer movies. What can I say?

What are your memories, feelings, and  emotions that fill your heart for the upcoming season?

Share…

Cheers!

-N

The New Year is Here!

Today Christmas left the building. One thing I really wanted to do was organize all of my Christmas decorations into better groupings of items and themes. It was fun, and hubby helped, with no arguments!! His help made it go so fast I can honestly say we whittled it down significantly in the number of Christmas storage tubs. Also the tree ornaments were separated by type, and packed by theme. Next year I want to have a small real tree to compliment our big artificial one. The small one will be angels, stars, and snowflakes. The big tree will be all of the rest of them. I may get a small table top artificial one for the non-sparkly decorations. I am considering it.

Charlie spent Christmas with us, then he came back for New Years so his mother could finish last minute stuff without him underfoot (you can imagine the havoc an almost four year old can wreak) and also get a break before the school year starts.

Christmas was fun with Charlie. He was very patient while waiting to open his presents. When we said it was time to open gifts he celebrated. He did pretty well this Christmas and then when he came back to our house for second time it snowed on New Years day. And he loved it!

He discovered he could eat snow, and throwing a snowball at me makes me jump. (Insert him laughing hysterically.)

So, we are four days into 2019 and the best I can say is it feels like winter here in southern Arizona, and my house is Christmas free 😁👍 .

I hope to upgrade my blog by the end of the month. My Twitter and Instagram pages will stay the sames. Facebook will have a big change for my current author page. It is connected to my personal page and I cannot separate it. Instead I will set up a whole new one and move everything over to that page. This will take some fancy footwork on my part but it is part of making a more professional footprint of my internet presence.

Good luck all and I hope 2019 will be stellar for all!

Cheers!

-N

 

 

 

Are Christmas Cards Passé?

I have a collection of Christmas cards that come from several years. They were the last one or two left in the box, unused. I have counted them and I found I have no need to purchase cards this year. The leftovers will take care of my needs. I don’t send out nearly as many I did in the past. It seems cards aren’t the thing they once were.

My mother-in-law, like many of her generation sent out dozens of cards often with school photos, a Christmas letter or both.  They kept track of friends who have moved away, family in distant places, and acquaintances who were now only “Christmas card friends.”  Do you read the Christmas letters when you get one?

This Saturday hubby and I will be meeting our daughter to take a photo with our grandson. This photo will be included in our Christmas cards for close friends and family. My daughter was teasing that instead of being in the picture she will be taking it! We will, however, be taking photos of her and Charlie for her own Christmas greetings.

When we get photo cards (I never get around to getting those made😜) I save them. They are precious records of people I care about. One day I plan to put them in a scrap book showing how families have grown up.

I remember mailing fifty cards (hubby and I each signed them,) hoping the addresses were correct and if returned would include a forwarding address. Now most of these have been replaced with Facebook and Instagram holiday greetings.

Will the actual cards become a thing of the past?

What will USPS do with all those holiday themed stamps?

Cheers!🍸🍷

-N

Holiday insanity is over

My life is finally coming under my own control. Beginning the first of December I felt as though I was being let loose in a maze with no direction and doubtful resolution.

I started the month with a colonoscopy. Ugh, nasty thing, but I got a good report and don’t have to do it again for ten years! The prep is the worst, the procedure is no big deal since you are asleep. Wish I was asleep for a lot of other things. Then it was the eye doc and mammogram. I hate to admit this stuff because it’s old people crap.

Chuck started plans for a new deck on the north side of the house, running the length of the house, and will incorporate our spa. It is quite the undertaking, and as usual the two of us had “discussions” about what we wanted. Most of these things are done in sections since the construction budget is based on what we can afford when the bills are paid!

We also started working on rearranging the inside of the house, moving furniture and putting the television in the living room, installing in the old tv room large bookshelves that need sanding, wood filler, painting and molding. It’s lots of work to make it look rather like a built in. We are about halfway done with it. Also are planning to put in a wood stove in the same area, it will be a den filled with my beloved books.

We were very busy making Christmas gifts, two of which had to be mailed so the rush was on to finish them in time. We were also preparing the guest room for Melissa and Charlie who were coming for the holiday. I was trying to work on my newest book during all of this and feeling frustrated when I couldn’t spend time on it. I had about twenty pages of corrections, edits, new scenes and rewrites I had to finish. Also needed chapter numbers before I set up the format for publishing.

We planned to set Charlie’s pack & play in the sewing room/office giving Melissa her own digs but before they left for Catalina he got really sick with bronchitis. He was on the mend when they arrived but he did not want to be away from momma, so we moved his bed in the room with her. It was an interesting visit with a coughing, snuffy little man who moves constantly.

During her visit there was a lot of running around seeing people, shopping, having visitors at home and watching Charlie enjoy Christmas. It did take three of us to corral him! He is an amazing little guy, very bright, a bit mischievous, but we love him to bits.

During their time with us Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds passed away. I will admit it made me feel very strange. Especially just after Alan Thicke passing, I felt very mortal.

The day after they returned to LA I came down with a stomach bug that hung around for three days. It was hellacious. Chuck and I managed to stay awake on New Years Eve long enough for 2017 to show up on the east coast. As far as the book, I did manage to finish the cover, format the text, so now I just need to submit for my proof.

I don’t know what to expect from this year, but I hope and pray for success, happiness, prosperity, and health for my family.

Cheers!

-N

 

Christmas wishes

I shared on Facebook something a friend had posted about what she wanted for Christmas from her kids. It spoke to me profoundly. She said she just wanted them.

I miss my kids. They live on opposite coasts and in different states from me. When my daughter Melissa started at the University of Arizona she moved out and never moved home again. After graduation in 1997 she moved from Tucson to Los Angeles and is in California still.

My son Aaron left for Northern Arizona University in 2001 and spent a couple of summer breaks at home, then moved to California to attend school there. He met his wife there and after about a year they moved to Oklahoma, then Texas and now will be living in  Florida.

I admit I am envious of mothers who live near their grown children. It would be wonderful to have them over for Sunday dinners, be able to share birthdays with them, and plan holidays together. Just being able to spontaneously go to a football game together or share a bonfire party would give me such pleasure.

So my Christmas wish is time with my children. To laugh, love, and spend precious moments together.

Cheers!

-N

December prep

December 2016 started with me dropping a couple of pounds thanks to a bowel prep for a colonoscopy. I don’t really mind the procedure itself since I’m in a propofol dream world when it is happening but its that nasty day before thing I hate. I sat in the bathroom watching Netfilx on my tablet. I have a whole new feeling for Ernest Saves Christmas! At least I got a good report and don’t need to revist this particular humiliation for ten years. It is an old people thing to have happen, one more thing to remind me I’m ageing and I hate it.

Christmas has arrived in my house!

We are decorated. christmas-tree-2016It was so special to take the entire Saturday, to cover my home with lights and color, listening to Christmas music, and making the house look festive. As I removed items from the storage tubs the memories associated with that particular piece filled my heart, they are occasionally bittersweet, but worth taking the time to remember the story for each one.

I have so many things to complete this month. Beside the natural holiday shopping, cooking, and gift wrapping, I am finishing my second book this month! Finishing it has been delayed thanks to a ten day trip to Florida, spending several weeks helping my sister prepare for a disability hearing, several pages of critical edits and so on.

This morning blogging and writing are the first items on my to do list.

Now I am looking forward to sharing the season with our soon to be grandson (hopefully the adoption will be done by March) and welcoming a new year which I hope will have many new adventures and new friends.

I’ll be in touch.

Cheers!

-N