Where Are You Christmas?

"Where are you Christmas, why can't I find you?  Why have you gone away?"

This song has been haunting me.  I haven't been able to feel the spirit of Christmas this year.  We aren't getting a tree, and we are not exchanging presents.  My sister wants us to come for Christmas and money is too tight, but I'm not sure that's the reason I'm feeling out of it.  So I'm focusing on "my favorite" things instead, and try to bring the spirit of the season into my heart and my home.

I love Christmas music.  In fact, I've been listening to it since the end of September.  Now I can listen to it with abandon.  It's playing everywhere and it's so great!  How can anyone feel anything but grateful and blessed and happy when listening to Christmas music?

Kevin and I are planning on doing some baking this week.  Ginger snaps, almond cherry cookies, and Russian tea cakes.  Yum!  The house will smell so good, and we can share the cookies with people we love, and induldge our sweet tooth in the process.  I'm so looking forward to it!

We put our manger scene up on the piano.  This is so special to me.  The Christmas I was preparing for my surgeries, some sweet, good-hearted friend gave this to us.  I don't know who they are, but every day one piece would arrive on our doorstep with a poem or a note about Christmas.  On the last day the stable was delivered.  When we put this together it fills me with such emotion.  That someone loved us, loved me enough to give this gift touches me deeply.  Not only the sweet individual who delivered the creche, but also my Father in Heaven who gave His Son so that I could have this wonderful life that I live.

All the Christmas movies and shows that are on now.  Some, like Charlie Brown, bring back the time when I was a little girl and first watched them, and others I remember sitting and cuddling my own precious babies while watching them.  From the Winter Warlock to the Little Drummer Boy, they each hold memories.

Christmas Light Night!  We pick a night every Christmas to go out and see all the decorated houses we can.  We have a nice dinner, then bundle ourselves up and get into the car and off we go!  We especially love to visit the Church of the Nazarene over off Fountain Avenue which has such an amazing display of music and lights that we never miss it!  When we are done, we stop off at a restaurant for pie and hot chocolate before we go back home.  I am really looking forward to Christmas Light Night this year.

Hopefully everyone else is enjoying the season and feeling the spirit.  I sure hope I can too.

A THOUGHT FOR THE WEEKEND

Christmas gift suggestions:
To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.
Oren Arnold
1900-1980

I Am a Professional!

Today is a red letter day for me!  I received my first check today from Amazon.com for sales from my first book What Would Nancy Do?  I guess that means that I am really a professional novelist now!  Woop Woop!

Part of me doesn't want to cash it.  I just want to sit and look at it.  I guess that would be silly.  But what can I say?  I feel silly with excitement.  I'm so thankful for Stan, AJ, Kevin and all my friends who have supported me and helped to get me here.  I wish it was enough to throw a party for you all!

Just wanted to share .......

I Did It!

Well, I did it!  I finished the novel I was writing for National Novel Writing Month!  I did it with three days to spare, and a few words over the requirement at 51,945.  What a sense of accomplishment!

This is a book that has been ratting around inside my heart for quite a long time.  Participating in NaNoWriMo forced me to sit down and let it out, and I have to admit I'm very pleased with the results.  Don't get me wrong, the book has a LOT of work left to do on it, but the story is one I'm quite happy with.  I plan on spending the next year working on it and hope to be able to publish it next fall.  Since it is set at Christmas time, I would like to have it out so people can enjoy it througout the holidays next year.

I blogged at the beginning of the month how this is a book that is based on some of the experiences my grandfather had when he was a child in Denmark in the early 1900s.  Using both his autobiography as well as doing extensive research on the internet, I was able to gain an appreciation and a deeper love for Grandpa.  He is someone I have always loved and respected, but this experience has given me an insight that goes beyond what I have had so far.

To support NaNoWriMo and their Young Writers Program, I will be offering THE CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER on the Smashwords website for a limited time.  It will sell for 99 cents, and all proceeds will go to the Young Writers Program.   If you choose to read it now, please remember that it is in a very rough draft stage.  I know it needs editing, so please don't send me tons of emails about what is wrong with the book.  I am making it available to help raise a little money for NaNoWriMo.  Just try to enjoy the story.

THE CHRISTMAS TO REMEMBER will be available at http://www.smashwords.com/ from December 1st through January 5th.  I hope you take a look, support a worthy cause, and enjoy a fun story for Christmas.

A THOUGHT FOR THE WEEKEND

Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it.  -- Groucho Marx, 1890-1977

Thanksgiving 2010

Had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my three crazy guys.  Love them all SOOOO much.  We had a great turkey (24 pounds) and all the trimmings.  And I mean all! I didn't get too many pictures cuz my batteries died, but here's a brief glimpse of our day!  Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving too!

Stan making his famous gravy.  YUMMMMM!

 Who are these crazy guys??

 Hey, I recognize them now!  They're mine!  Yay!

 This turkey is HUGE!  But we were able to handle him just fine!

Twenty-two years and counting .......

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  When my kids were little they couldn't understand why Christmas wasn't at the top of my holiday list but I think they get it now.  It's the only holiday that doesn't have an extra agenda to it, like buying candy (although you can do that) or give gifts, or shoot fireworks.  We just have a wonderful meal with those who mean the most to us to take stock of all we have rather than what we lack.  That makes me so happy!  Here are some things I am grateful for this year.

I am grateful for a family (of men) who support and love me no matter what.  They give me space to write, they hug me when I'm tired, they cook dinner when I'm too pooped to move.  I feel like a queen much of the time, and it's a dandy thing!

I'm grateful to be able to walk.  I sometimes curse the arthritis that plagues me, but I can still walk and get around pretty well, and that means a lot to me.

I'm grateful for my little razor that keeps my chin from making me look like that train guy on Polar Express.  Believe me, I sometimes think my chin hairs grow faster than my husbands!  But I gots the jump on the little suckers with that thing.

I'm grateful for chocolate.  There are many things in this world that testify to me of a Heavenly Father's love, and chocolate is one of them!  It's a lovely treat that makes me feel good when I need it.  One of His best inventions!

Dogs.  I love dogs.  I am not a cat person.  I am thankful for dogs in a world where there seems to be so much conditional love and to have a creature that will love you simply because you are there is a blessing.

I am grateful for music.  To have a way to express yourself when you don't have the right words is so cool!  That you can tell your friend, "Listen to this song," and they can get what you're feeling is so fabulous!  Or when something inside you is too big to keep in, you can burst into song and let it out in the best way possible, although I suggest you don't do this in Safeway. 

I am thankful for AJ who has such empathy in his being.  He is someone I never have to explain anything to, he just understands.  What an amazing gift to be his mother.

I'm grateful for Kevin who makes me laugh. He has such a good sense of humor and comes up with these things that just crack me up. So fun to have him for my son!

I am thankful for Stan who is always there for me.  He has changed my life in ways I cannot explain, even to him.  It scares me to think where I might be if not for him.

And mostly, I am grateful for a Father in Heaven and a Savior who give me more than chocolate and dogs, a husband and sons.  They have given me me a heart to feel gratitude, faith to guide me, love to fill me, music to bring me joy and my family to make it all worthwhile.

What are you thankful for?

We Have a Winner!

Congratulations Shelby!  You are the winner of a free copy of my e-book WHAT WOULD NANCY DO?
I'll be sending you a message on facebook with the details of how to claim your free copy.

Thanks for showing interest in my book!  Have a great weekend!

My Baby Turns 19!

This is a big day in our house.  My youngest, Kevin, is now 19 years old.  This will be the last year we have a teenager in the house!  Aack!  I'm not sure what to do....

It's been such a blessing to be his mother.  It was a loooong pregnancy.  I was on bedrest the entire nine months, with an eighteen-month-old boy to take care of.  With the help of family and friends we made it through, and moved from our condo into a house in the process as well.  Whew!

And to be perfectly honest, as difficult as that pregnancy was, it was worth every minute of it!  All the monitors, tests, checkups.  Must have had a dozen ultra sounds too ... plus gestatianal diabetes so I had to take injections three times a day .... yup.  When I look at him I would do it again in a heartbeat if I could get Kevin as my reward.

Here are some pictures.  We went to Empire Asian Buffet for dinner (his favorite), saw the movie "Mega Mind," and then came home to homemade tres leches cake and A&W rootbeer.  What a celebration.

Happy Birthday Kevin!!!

Win a Copy of WHAT WOULD NANCY DO?

I'm giving away a free copy of my ebook WHAT WOULD NANCY DO? to one of my commentors!

Christmas is coming and you can give yourself an early present! Just leave a comment on this post and check back at the end of the week to see if you've won!

Here's a brief synopsis of the book:

WHAT WOULD NANCY DO? is the story of childhood friends Maeve Haile and Kate Hanson, who are now in their fifties. As young girls they shared a love for the Nancy Drew mystery books often looking for mysteries of their own to solve.

When a woman in their small town is killed they take on the case asking "what would Nancy do?" Kate as a therapist and Maeve a stay-at-home mother and volunteer at the library, they pull in all their resources and friends to help them solve the case. They learn they can rely on each other in ways their friendship has never been tested before as they race to find the killer before he strikes again.

It is a novel filled with intrigue, humor, love and an interesting set of characters that tell how life can lead you down interesting paths and sometimes starts at fifty.

Good luck and I'll see you on Friday!