Yesterday’s ornament was all about good friends. Today’s is about family.
In the past four years my mother-in-law and my father-in-law have both died. Not, thankfully from this ridiculous virus, but from causes of old age, a life of good living, and what the professionals call natural causes.
I miss them. It’s as simple as that. I know my husband’s family mourn the loss of both their parents terribly and I feel for them. But I miss them, too. They were both such influential people in my life. While my father-in-law and I had – at times – a tortured relationship, he was only a handful of people who I have truly admired in my life. He influenced me in so many ways I would need a book to list them all.
My mother-in-law was – without a doubt – the nicest person I have ever had the pleasure to meet, know, and love. She perpetually smiled, was always welcoming to everyone, and never had an unkind word to say. How many people in our lives can we truly say were genuinely kind like that?
So, with their father’s passing this year, my sister-in-law Kathleene gifted her siblings with a lovely remembrance that simply speaks to how wonderful their parents were.
What a wonderful ornament, no? I adore it and it sits in a place of honor on our tree and will for the rest of our lives.
Hug your parents, kids. YOu never know how long you’ll be blessed to have them with you.
Family and friends are two of the most important factors that keep me sane. Admittedly, I don’t have very many close friends and all my family comes to me from my husband, but the people I do hold close I cherish, dearly.
A few years ago one of my good girlfriends gave each of us a special ornament that sits in the very front, top of my tree every year.
You may not know all of us individually, but this ornament is a pretty good depiction of what we look like ( only my hair was longer!)
If the past 20 months have taught us anything it should be that we must cherish those people nearest and dearest to us. You have no idea what tomorrow may bring – loss of life from a ridiculous virus being the most unpredictable. My heart simply aches for all those who have died from this pandemic and those who never go to hold them and say goodbye or tell them how much they meant before they did.
Tell the people who mean the most to you that you love them – EVERY SINGLE DAY and then show it in as many ways as you can.
And if you can, buy them an ornament like this one, hee hee
Sticking with favorite book themes (See yesterday’s post) today’s ornament was one I bought for my daughter when she was three years old and based on one of her favorite books.
If you’ve been around for a while you know the iconic opening to this book, “In an old house in Paris covered with vines, lived twelve little girls in two straight lines.”
MADELINE has been a worldwide favorite of little girls everywhere for decades. At one point we had all nine books of the series in our house. This ornament is loved by every woman and girl who sees my tree. I can assure you, almost 100% of them quote that first line when they see the perfect blue coat and bright yellow hat. The fact Madeline was a redhead like my daughter is sweet, too!
Books with specialty ornaments are an abso favorite of mine. I have twenty book-themed ornaments I’ve been collecting since 1988 and include Dr. Suess, and classics such as Goodnight, Moon.
I know… Hoarder tendencies run in my DNA, hee hee.
Books are, without a doubt, a big factor in my life. Before I ever wrote them, I read them.
A lot of them.
I started reading on my own younger than most kids. My mother tells the story that by the time I went to kindergarten at the age of 5 I was already reading on a second-grade level and the teachers were impressed. My daughter was the same way.
One of the first books I ever remember reading and LOVING is today’s ornament.
This is a replica of Watty Piper’s famous and wonderful book THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD. I think it was originally published about 90 years ago but its simple self motivating message still resounds to this day.
I remember being a kid and reading it and then an adult and reading it to my daughter and I felt the same sense of empowerment both times – this book is one every single child should read. It teaches an extremely valuable lesson on being true to yourself and, in my opinion, reaching for the unattainable, reaching for the stars.
I bought this ornament for myself several years ago and it always claims a visible space on my tree.
I tell you this because of today’s favorite ornament, given to me by Hubby in 1999
If you are a toy connoisseur you recognize this as Rock’Em Sock’Em Robots, a very popular toy in the 1960s. I wanted this toy. Bad! I put it on my list to Santa 3 years running from 1965-68. When the third Christmas morning without finding it under the tree occurred, my mother said, with a cigarette in one hand a cup of black coffee in the other and her hair in pink rollers, “That toy is for boys. Santa doesn’t bring boy toys to girls or vice versa.”
That was a hard lesson for an 8-year-old to learn.
Fast forward 33 years. I am sitting around the dinner table at my inlaw’s house three days before Christmas when my father-in-law asks everyone around the table to tell about their favorite or least favorite present they received as a child. I told the above story and how devastated I was never to get Rock’em sock’em robots.
Christmas morning comes and we are all opening presents when I find a big box with my name on it under the tree. There’s a note on it that says, “To Peg, from Santa. Sorry this is so late.” I open the box and yup, there it is, the toy of my dreams, Rock’Em Sock’Em robots.
My very own Santa, aka Hubby, sent my brother-in-law to ToysRUs after he heard that story to get me the toy. Best Christmas evah!
It’s no secret I love me a good Christmas tree ornament. At last count ( a week ago!) I have almost 500.
I know… can you spell H-O-A-R-D-E-R?? Lol
Anyhoo…
I’m done decorating this year and I only put up two trees instead of my usual 4-5 because I just don’t have tit time to go all out. I decorated the main tree with my favorite, all-around family and friend ornaments and decided to show you all some of the best of the best, so for the next 25 days I’ll be posting a picture a day with an explanation of the ornament.
Today’s is from 1987.
My hubby-to-be moved to Superior, WI for work six months before we got married. We were getting hitched on 12/26 and I was moving back with him the next day. He knew how much I loved the holidays and decorating and wanted to have a tree set up for me when I arrived back to what was now going to be our first home together. He happened to pass a GOODWILL box every day on his way to work and right before he left to come back to NYC to get married, he noticed that someone had “donated” a Christmas tree into the box. So he did what every self-respecting frugal young man would do and “gifted” the tree to me. By that I mean he brought the tree home, bought a stand and some tinsel for it, and then had it all ready for when I arrived on 12.27.
When his work friends heard about what he’d done they were hysterical. One of them made this ornament for him to put on the tree and it’s stood in a place of honor every holiday season since then.
Is it any wonder I’ve loved this man for almost 40 years??!!
Join me each day for the next 25 days to see some more of my favorite ornaments.
Hey, peeps. Come join me and 150+ authors this Friday, December 3rd, over on DangerouslyDarkDarlings on Facebook for a Secret Santa party. We’ll be there all day chatting about the upcoming holidays, giving away prizes, and generally having a fun time.
In addition to EVERYTHING else I’m currently doing with my writing career, I’ve begun the process of converting my first KindleVella story into book form. I hope to have the completed work ( it’s 32 chapters Yikes) ready to publish in KU on January 1. That’s a bit of a daunting date, but I seem to thrive well under pressure these days.
The episodic story did so well in KindleVella and continues to do so, I felt I wanted to offer it to a wider reading audience, so, the process begins.
Here’s a little tease from the book for today’s Tuesday Teaser:
Since first learning of their assignment, a question had been burning inside her. Anna finally gave it a voice. “Can she really be as good as we’ve been lead to believe? I mean, she’s been stuck out here in the sticks for ten years. Can she still have that edge?”
None of the current members of the SPCD, aside from Tucker, had been FBI agents when Kella was a major member of the unit.
“From everything I’ve read in her bio, she’s one smart chick,” Diego said. “Three doctorates before the age of twenty-three; tenth-degree black belt. She was the choice of the Director to head the unit after her old man was killed. She passed, so it went to Petrie.”
“And he’s never looked back,” Jemson said, a flash of humor crossing his face. In the next instant, he grew serious again. “Petrie told me a story once a few years ago when we worked on the Bordello Butcher. Remember that one?”
“I heard about it,” Diego said. “One sick dude.”
“Yeah. Petrie figured out who the perp really was because of something he remembered Kella said when she was just a kid. Seems she was always at the Bureau or Quantico with her old man after her mother died. They were working a case where the guy strangled his little boy vics and then tied a big red bow around their necks as a calling card.”
“I remember that one,” Anna said. “Required reading during training because of the age-specific profile.”
“Yeah. Well, it seems Carson O’Brien was the one who wrote the profile, but it was little Miss O’Brien who nailed the guy. She was twelve.”
“How?” Diego asked, keeping his eyes on the car in front of him as it turned off the main street.
“The team liked a coupla guys for the do-er, but couldn’t finger any of them with the limited evidence. The kid comes into the conference room one day, sees the pictures of the crime scenes all over the bulletin board, spots the bows, and tells her old man the guy’s left-handed.”
“How did she figure that?” Anna asked.
“Well, they’d all been staring at the pictures for days, and Petrie and O’Brien felt something wasn’t right about the way the victims were laid out. They thought the positioning was wrong or something. Anyway, she comes in, looks at the pictures, tells her old man the perp’s left-handed and then demonstrates it by tying her shoes first right-handed and then left. Seems she’s ambidextrous as well as brilliant.”
“I am, too,” Anna said. “Ambidextrous, I mean,” she added, her face turning color.
“You shoot both hands?” Diego asked, eyeing her in the rearview mirror.
“Yeah. My Dad taught me how to use both.”
“Well, then you should know there really is a difference in how the bow falls if you tie it left-handed,” Peter said. “Only one of their suspects was, so the team zeroed in on him and actually caught him, under surveillance, pick up his last victim.”
“Pretty smart kid,” Diego said.
“To hear Petrie talk her up, she’s the best thing that ever happened to profiling. The Director offered her anything she wanted to stay on as head of the unit. She’d had enough, though, when her old man bought it. The killer almost did her in as well. The way I heard it, she was an ounce of blood away from dying when she killed the guy.”
“I heard that story at the Academy,” Diego said. “When we took Weapons and Firearms. The instructor drilled into us how important it is to practice shooting from every imaginable angle, no matter what physical condition we’re in. That kind of training saved Kella O’Brien’s butt.”
Intrigued? I’ll keep you posted and if you subscribe to KU you’ll be able to read it.
Ever notice how most of my post titles come in threes? LOL
Anyhoo…
Today is – commercially – referred to as CYBER MONDAY, the Monday after Thanksgiving.
The experts tell us this is the most heavily shopped day on the Internet during the holiday season. I don’t know if I agree with that because I know people who are still online, shopping, on Christmas Eve with the thought the gift will be delivered December 25th morning.
With the advent of a spike in Covid cases recently, I wonder if people are going to take advantage this year – as they did last year – by doing a great deal of their shopping online instead of having to brave the outside, infected, world. Shipping and the supply chain issues are also currently problematic, so it may be easier to find that perfect gift online.
It’s said this day is predicted to be the best of the year for retailers who offer online shopping this year. As someone who sells her books, for the most part, through digital means, I hope this is true.
If you are shopping the Internet today and have a book lover and/or romance reader/women’s fiction reader on your gift list, I hope you’ll consider my newest Holiday RomCom,FIXING CHRISTMAS, as a gift. It’s on sale digitally for the next few days at only 99cents at all major online booksellers ( not only Amazon!).
Christmas has never filled writer Abra Charles with undiluted pleasure. If you’d been left on a doorstep on Christmas Eve morning, you might have a few issues with the holiday as well.
Abra’s avoided her hometown of Dickens for the past twenty Christmas seasons, but now she’s returned in an attempt to get her writing mojo back. Twice-divorced and with her third engagement ending in heartbreak, anger, and blackmail, Abra is now six months behind on submitting her current book. She hopes renting Copperfield House and immersing herself in solitude will cure her writer’s block and get her life back on track. The house she rents isn’t helping her achieve her goal, though, as one thing after another breaks, collapses, or floods.
Colton Bree, Dickens’ very own Mr. FixIt, can’t help but wonder if the new resident of Copperfield House is cursed. After being called to repair a broken window, he’s then needed to fix an exploding coffeepot, an overrunning toilet, and a washing machine that has a mind of its own. Bree doesn’t mind all the unexpected repair jobs, though, because the sexy renter is something to look at despite being a little neurotic and a whole lot of snarky.
Can Abra get her book done with all the distractions and craziness of her life, the biggest distraction being the flannelled hunk with the bedroom eyes and scowling yet oh-so-kissable mouth? Or will Dickens’ Mr FixIt have to step in and save the day and in so doing, fix Christmas for Abra forever?
It’s no secret I live in a small town. It’s also no secret I am a big supporter of small-town businesses.
The TOADSTOOL BOOKSHOP, for instance, is an indie book retailer in my town and they have been uber-supportive of my publishing career from the get-go. I had a book signing with them yesterday and they went all-out for me.
Living in a small town where you see and know the owners of local businesses at church, or out dining, or at the local YMCA, it’s easy to want to support them. After all, if their businesses thrive, your little town does too, because they give back to the community.
So today, on SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY, I encourage you all shop locally owned and operated stores for your holiday gifs.
And as an aside, did you know that every writer is considered a small business owner, indie authors most of all? We have a product ( our books) that we market to the public ( readers) for a price. So, please, if you know any indie authors who are your favorite writers and they sell their books from their website, support them as well. I’m included in this group because I have an online store attached to my website here: BOOKSTORE If you want to order any books directly from here, use this order form.
Support your local businesses, peeps. It’s a good thing.
