A new tradition? by J. S. Marlo

 

 

 

 

The Red Quilt

"a sweet & uplifting Christmas story"

is now available 

click here

J. S. Marlo's BWL Books

For as long as I remember, Christmas and the Holiday Season have blended together to describe the two weeks between from Dec 20 to Jan 3. This is a festive time when the younger kids are mostly off-school, when the older college kids drive or fly home to enjoy home-cooked meal and free laundry services, and when family and friends get together for indoor or outdoor activities. This is also the time when I get to clean and decorate the house from top to bottom, inside and outside, and to cook and bake my kids' favorite food.

 This year was different. Yes, I did say "was", because this year, Christmas and Holiday Season don't go hand to hand.

I have a daughter who lives oversea. I hadn't seen her in two years, but even before Covid-19, flying to Canada during the holiday season was a long, expensive, and not always pleasant adventure, especially when Mother Nature threw snowstorms in her path, cancellations lit up the airport boards in red, and her suitcase stayed behind. I also have another daughter with a husband and seven-year-old daughter who live ten minutes away, and a son with a new wife who live in a different province. Spending festive time with both sides of respective their families and working shifts is a juggling act for all of them.

So this year, we decided to have an early Christmas on the first weekend of December. It allowed the kids to fly at a more reasonable price before the holiday rush, it made scheduling time off and time with their in-laws easier on them, and it gave my daughter and new daughter-in-law a chance to meet in person for the first time.

Mother Nature outdid herself. She dumped more snow in the last two weeks in November than I wanted to shovel. That's usually my husband's job, but he fell on the ice coaching our granddaughter's hockey team and broke his elbow. No shoveling for him until January.

For three wonderful days, they were all here in town. It also happened that my granddaughter had a hockey game and a one-day swim meet last weekend. So, lots of catching up done in the bleachers, board games and puzzles at home, walks in the snowy trails, favourite meals ready to heat or reheat, gift exchange, and lots of new memories made during the weekend.

 Now the house is empty and all the kids are back where they belong. Yes,  Christmas and the Holiday Season are still approaching, but now hubby and I will just relax. We already had our Christmas. It was early and unconventional, but it was also wonderful, and I'm hoping this is the beginning of a new tradition.

Enjoy time with your family, whenever you can, because those precious moments are timeless.

Happy Holiday & Stay Safe!

JS

 

 

J. S. Marlo's Website

 

My Favorite Christmas - in a hospital cafeteria, by Diane Scott Lewis

All holidays share different memories with family and friends, close or remote.

We spent one in Puerto Rico, in steaming hot weather, our little, fake tree, just my husband and I and our new baby. I felt alone without extended family, but now see I should have rejoiced in a First, with my firstborn son.

My youngest son was born on that island. Many years later, while my oldest remains single, my younger son married and started a family.

Christmas was thrilling again with our first grandchild. 

Below our oldest granddaughter at Christmas 2011 when we lived in Virginia. If you look close you can see our dog Fritzie behind her, trying to sneak into the gifts.

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Nearly eight years ago, we'd just moved from Virginia to Pennsylvania. My husband had retired from the government in D. C. and we moved north to be closer to my son and his family. A colder climate for this California girl, when it dropped to 7 degrees, I was in shock. I invested in plenty of long underwear.

A few days before Christmas, my very pregnant daughter in law had to travel two hours away to take care of family business. Her mom was in the hospital. Her father had recently died. My son and their three year old joined her.

My daughter in law wasn't due until the first week of January. But in the middle of Christmas Eve night, the roads icy, with all the stress, she'd gone into labor. The doctor advised her to stay where she was, near Pittsburgh, and have the baby.

Early Christmas morning, we drove down in an ice storm to meet our second grandchild, a little girl stuffed in a stocking.

Later that day, my husband, son, and I, with his three year old, ate Christmas dinner in the hospital cafeteria. The usual fare, nothing fancy, but we laughed and talked, and I thought this is a great Christmas dinner. My family close, a new, healthy baby upstairs. What more could I ask for? I savored the moment.

 

My beautiful granddaughters

In this time of a pandemic, I realize how the simplest things should be cherished, and those closest to you--even if you can't be physically near them--must be held in your heart, especially family.

I wish I had a Christmas novel to throw in here, but let's celebrate more family adventure and turmoil in my American Revolution story, Her Vanquished Land.

Long and Short Reviews says: Her Vanquished Land "Espionage and intrigue keep these pages turning. This is an exciting historical novel well worth the read." 

A Revolutionary War Gone with the Wind. Rowena Marsh fights for king and country, but the ruthless rebels are winning. Where can her family escape to, and will the mysterious Welshman, a man she shouldn't love, search for her? 

To purchase my novels, and my other BWL books: BWL

Find out more about me and my writing on my website: Dianescottlewis

Diane Scott Lewis lives in Western Pennsylvania with her husband and one naughty puppy.

It's That Time Again by Victoria Chatham

 

AVAILABLE HERE

Dear Reader, 

So much has changed in our world this year, but one thing that hasn't is the will to connect with friends and family for Christmas.

Hey, you might think. It's still a month away. That's all well and good, but with me in one country and many of the aforementioned friends and family in other countries, I need to have my Christmas cards and letters prepared well in advance and this year I would like to include you.

My usual Christmas letter is a bit like the old 'what I did in my summer holidays' exercise in school. It is a round up of the highlights of my year for those with whom I am not in regular contact. I try to personalize each letter, to acknowledge each individual for who they are and what they mean to me. 

Do you still get letters? Real, honest-to-goodness letters? I love receiving them even if many of them are no longer handwritten. I remember watching my mother's handwriting deteriorate over the years. Then receiving cards written in another hand and simply signed 'Eve' once she slid into the grip of Altzheimer's. My handwriting is no longer as legible as it once was after a page or two, so now I type to save the recipient the effort of having to decipher the loops and swirls that spread like cobwebs across a page.

This year has been the maddest of mad years, but there is still so much to appreciate and enjoy. I was lucky enough to have managed to get away to Mexico before the lockdown and have the memories of fun in the sun, tequila tasting and the company of friends. Once back home, I had my own writing to come back to but kept up my social activities where I could. I walked and rode horses during the summer, found places to go where I either hadn't been for a long time or never been before. I had the choice of writing or reading, or some of each and discovered many new authors. My to-be-read list has grown exponentially. 

The Skype and Zoom platforms have enabled me to keep in touch with writer friends, to have taken workshops and webinars with my own writing group and others. In a year that could have been written-off as abysmal I have strengthened friendships, shared experiences, and learnt so much. I am rounding up my year participating in National Novel Writing Month, something I tried once before and failed miserably! This time I focused on the target and know I'm going to make it.

So how was your year? Haveyou  managed to stay in touch with friends and family? Have you been able to rise above the doom and gloom and sense that this too shall pass? What is your hope for next year and beyond? Whatever it is, be kind to yourself and others.

I wish you all the compliments of the Season and a happy, healthy New Year.

All the best, Victoria

My Best Job Ever by Victoria Chatham

 

AVAILABLE HERE

Apart from a love of writing, many authors have come from a background of teaching, and specifically teaching English, or working in some capacity with publishing or books. So, it is no wonder that from August 1972 until August 1985, I worked for Alan and Joan Tucker, owners of The Bookshop, in Station Road, Stroud, Gloucestershire, England.

During those years I have no idea of the number of books I handled. I sometimes unpacked stock for 

the children’s shop, the adult shop and, very exciting as you never knew what treasures you might find, the second-hand shop. These dedicated shops were all managed from the hub of operations, the old Station Master’s House. Here, in a room with large windows and bare board floor, surrounded by bookshelves (what else) and that dry-as-dust smell peculiar to old books, I unpacked, re-invoiced, and repacked school textbooks for over two hundred school accounts.   

 

I was fortunate enough to get the job as, the first time around, I turned it down. I was looking for something that would not interfere with my family life and I thought this would fit the bill. Invoicing schoolbooks sounded like just the thing. I’d get school holidays off, right? Wrong. That was when the school supply department of the business was busiest. Teachers submitted their book orders right at the end of the summer term or crammed them in (we neeeeed them now!) before the autumn term began. The timing did not work for me. I thanked Mr. Tucker for the opportunity and went home.

Two weeks later everything changed. I received a letter from Tucker’s offering me the position. Would I be interested in going to the office to discuss my hours? As I had just hired a new child-minder, I phoned to make an appointment for a second interview. How could I be so lucky? My hours during the school holidays were from 9 am to 1 pm, Monday to Friday, ideal for me and my child-minder who was also looking for more hours. During term-time, I worked from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm, perfect for dropping my kids off and picking them up from school. There was never a problem with making up hours on the weekend if we needed time off in the week because a kid was sick or we needed to make an appointment for the doctor, dentist, or whatever.

The Bookshop, Station Road, Stroud
Photo credit: Sylvia Giles

Those were golden years. My bosses and my colleagues, as a group we were nicknamed the Tuckers’ Angels, were more like family. We could do each other’s work when necessary, knew each other’s ups and downs, knew each other’s children who all came to work with us at some time or another, and all the while the businesses hummed along like clockwork. Most importantly for me, I had a dedicated group with whom I could discuss my writing ambitions.

Alan and Joan Tucker are now deceased, Joan in 2013 and Alan in 2017 at the grand age of 83 years old. The Station Master’s House became a funeral director’s premises. For a while, the children’s bookshop was an estate agent’s office and the adult bookshop has long been a taxi business. The business may be long gone, but those years were special and will always be lodged in my memory.

Victoria Chatham

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