The Last And Most Festive of the "Ber" Months...

Happy December!

We're nearly halfway through December and I just realized I hadn't put up a blog post for this month. OOPS! But, to be fair, I've had plenty going on.

Personally: We are still minus a Christmas tree. No, we haven't gotten it up, yet. But I'm hoping this weekend it will happen! We don't usually take this long, but we've had some things going on. One of those things was that we had to replace our washing machine. Our previous one decided that it had enough of our household and no, thank you it would not work properly any longer. Poor thing limped along until it wouldn't drain out the water in the clothes (I had to squeeze them the best I could and pop them in the dryer for longer). But that's at an end since we now have a brand new washer, which we've had for about a week and it's doing okay so far.

Not long ago, Averie Cat (that's his social media nickname) had some health issues that made me quite concerned about him. Fortunately, he seems to have gotten past them and the vet was wonderful. Averie Cat is 7 years old, and therefore, I expect to see more health stuff than I did when he was younger. The vet switched him to a prescription diet and he actually seems to like the food pretty well, which is a blessing.

Professionally:  I continue to query Sugar & Frost. I love, love, love this story and I do so hope it gets out to you, darling readers, one day. I really do. I had so much fun writing it and I also enjoyed editing it.

Christmas/Holiday: My shopping is not done. Nor have I sent out ANY Christmas cards, but I'm hoping to remedy that in the next few days to the next week. I had thought I'd write a Christmas letter this year, but I'm not sure that will happen.

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays (I know there are several this month) and Happy New Year. 

I hope December is a lovely month for you.

Have a Fantastically Festive Friday!

Christmas Is Coming...Are You Ready?

Happy Monday All,

First of all, congratulations to Kimberly L (edited last initial, because originally I had it wrong). for winning the signed copy of Melissa Ohnoutka's Faithful Deceptions. Melissa will get that to you, soon.

Now...tomorrow is special for several reasons:

1.  Release day of Christie Craig's e-book, Murder, Mayhem & Mama.


2.  It's the last day of the December Days Blog Giveaway.


3.  The giveaway author? Christie Craig! She'll be giving away a signed copy of one of her in-print novels. (I'll announce which one tomorrow when I put up the giveaway post).


We finally got our tree decorated and it looks very pretty. I need to get some more red bead garland for the bottom half, but the store didn't have anymore, so right now it's just the top half has red bed garland. The tree is decorated in white lights, ornaments, and tinsel. I have an artificial tree, so I don't have to worry about watering or anything like that.


Are you all ready for Christmas/Holidays?


Have A Merry Monday!

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Happy St. Nicholas Day / Tuesday Everybody!

In my background, I have Flemish (Lowland Dutch) and German, and from what I understand, both backgrounds celebrate St. Nicholas Day.

St. Nicholas is who Santa Claus is based on. He was a real person. Unfortunately, not a lot is known about him, other than the fact that he would often provide for the poor and needy.

There's a story that there was a girl whose father was too poor to provide a dowry (which was extremely important back then, not as much now). So at night, St. Nicholas dropped off money so that the girl could get married.

He was a bishop and tried very hard to help all those in need.

I heard that the Dutch put out wooden shoes. They place hay in the shoes for St. Nicholas' horse.

Growing up, we'd put out a shoe downstairs the night before St. Nicholas Day. In the morning we'd have  presents in and under our shoes, and sweet treats in our shoes. It was great fun, and not many people I know celebrated St. Nicholas Day, so it felt like something special.

My husband and I carry on the tradition to our offspring, who have enjoyed it. This morning there was joyful shouts as St. Nicholas gifts were fawned over.

Today, I think we're finally getting out our Christmas Tree, and I'm hoping husband will get out the lights for outside the house. We're a little behind this year, but I did put some garland over the mantelpiece. I also found some fun wall decorations and they're up. So now we just have to put up the rest.

I started wrapping presents, out of necessity. Husband and my father have a similar gift and I didn't want husband coming across it on accident, so I wrapped it up last night. I still have some shopping to do, and I expect when husband gets back from his doc appointment (he seems to have some kind of a cold) he'll want to take care of some of his own shopping.

What fun Christmas/December Traditions do you have in your family?

Have A Tinsel-Filled Tuesday!

Looks Like Christmas

Happy Tuesday All,

If you've been around Christmas shopping and all that, you've probably seen Christmas decorations up. I love seeing them--but then again, this is probably my favorite time of year. Texas isn't so hot, carols are in the air, hot drinks, warm blankets, good books, parties, family, the Christmas Church readings, all of it. I'm a big fan! 

I think the evergreen wreaths are so pretty. I don't know what it is, but when I see them hanging off of buildings it just makes me think the buildings are prettier.

This weekend I told my husband I wanted to put some lights up on the house. So, I think me and my son are going to help decorate this weekend--maybe even get the tree up!

So, do you decorate for Christmas? Are you started/finished/almost done Christmas shopping? What have you got going on?

Happy writing and hope your season is "Merry and bright"!

Have A Terrific Tuesday!