Tuesday, December 7, 2021
Attending a Writing Conference Outside Your Genre by Eileen O'Finlan
Sunday, December 5, 2021
Brief History of Christmas Trees by Rosemary Morris
Brief History of Christmas Trees
Prior to bringing a tree indoors, pagans and Christians decorated their homes with holly, ivy and other greenery. During the winter the solstice reminded pagans that spring was near. The Romans brought fir trees into their temple when they celebrated Saturnalia. Christians believed greenery at home and in church represented life everlasting in heaven with God.
It is said that on a night before Christmas day, the sixteenth century preacher, Martin Luther, walked through a forest. When he looked up through the branches, he saw stars shining brightly and wanted to share the experience with his family, so he brought a tree into his house and decorated it with candles.
Germany has the credit for the tradition of bringing Christmas trees indoors and decorating them with delicious gingerbread, gold-painted apples, and little ornaments made by glassmakers.
However, the claim that Queen Victoria, and Albert, the Prince Consort, a German, were the first to install a Christmas tree in England is false. In the 1760’s Victoria’s ancestress, George III’s German wife, Charlotte, decorated a Christmas tree with her family. A tree was also set up in the Queen’s Lodge in Windsor where she held a party for children of noble families. Soon some rich families also installed decorated trees in their houses; and in 1848, the widespread tradition was created after The Illustrated London News published a drawing of the Christmas Tree at Windsor Castle.
In 2004, Pope John Paul declared the Christmas tree is a 'symbol of Christ. He said that “this ancient tradition exalts the value of life and reminds Christians of the 'tree of life', which is found in the Bible's first book, Genesis”.
Whether the trees are real or artificial many 21st century people still take pride in a beautifully decorated one which fills their hearts with joy.
http://bookswelove.net/authors/morris-rosemary
rosemarymorris.co.uk
Saturday, December 4, 2021
Vinegar Pie for the Holidays, Anyone? by S. L. Carlson
I am S. L. Carlson, a proud and grateful BWL Publishing Inc. author. My books can be viewed and purchased by visiting https://www.bookswelove.net/carlson-s-l
Being in the midst of (or between)
holiday cooking and eating, of course, I need to address the issue of food,
both in reality, but also in stories.
Throughout my books, people eat. So
do unicorns and trolls. But what food do they eat, you may wonder? Would it
taste delicious? Bland? Awful? Writing/Reading
about sensory experiences help to remove the reader from their reality and
place the reader into the novel’s presence.
Here is from War Unicorn: The Ring.
Aldric is our hero; Neighbor is the unicorn.
“Aldric, stop.”
“What?”
“Your wish did not come true.”
Aldric froze, thinking about that
for a moment. He released a mighty sigh and dropped cross-legged on the ground,
slapping his palms to his cheeks and elbows to his knees. Neighbor yanked more
grass and chewed it. His own stomach growled. He pulled up some grass himself
and chewed it, spitting it right back out.
“How you can eat that stuff?”
“Carrots taste better,” Neighbor
answered.
“Maybe I should wish for carrots,
then. Is that a wish that would work?”
Neighbor shook her head and neighed
a laugh.
What memory of a taste is vivid
for you? What delicious food would you wish for? For me, it’s my grandmother’s lemon
meringue pie.
Interesting fact: Pre-electricity/refrigeration,
citrus fruits were not available year-round in history, nor, naturally, in fantasy
worlds, if you follow the rule of science/nature. So what did people actually
use in pies when lemons weren’t in season? In case you skimmed over the title
of this post: THEY USED VINEGAR!
Now your first reaction is
probably similar to what my first reaction was -- vinegar: ugh! But in light of
having written vinegar pies into one of my historical novels, I do what I always
do. I make the dish so I can taste it and then describe it better in my novels than
just using my imagination; for my first imagination-thought of vinegar pie was
ugh!
It took me about twelve tries, tweeking
here, tweeking there, to come up with a vinegar pie recipe which I really,
really and actually do like. And today I will share it here with you readers
because I really, really and actually do like you.
If you are brave enough to try
this recipe, let me know if you love the pie or go ugh. I’m counting on the former.
Happy holidays, with wishes for tasty treats.
S. L. CARLSON’S
VINEGAR PIE RECIPE
3/4 cup brown sugar 1 stick melted butter
1 Tbsp cornstarch 2 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract dash
of nutmeg
1 unbaked 9" crust
Preheat oven to 300°. Mix eggs with butter. Add sugars and beat until
light and fluffy. Add and mix in remainder of ingredients. Pour into pie
crust. (Can add meringue.) Bake for about 75 minutes or until firm.
S. L. Carlson Blog & Website: https://authorslcarlson.wordpress.com
BWL Inc. Publisher Author Page: https://www.bookswelove.net/carlson-s-l
Friday, December 3, 2021
Happy National Peppermint Latte Day! ... by Diane Bator
Happy National Peppermint Latte Day!
Sugarwood, Ontario was known for two
things: maple syrup and our Christmas tree lighting festival that
always went off with a variety of creative challenges but never failed to
impress. I just hoped we didn’t end up finding a body on a bench like we had
during the town’s Halloween bash. Since we had four days to go, I’d taken to
crossing my fingers whenever I thought about it.
“Do you think we have enough decorations?”
Merilee Rutherford, my partner both in Stitch’n’Time and crime solving, had circled
November twenty-seven with a fat, red marker weeks ago.
I gazed around our craft shop. Large shiny balls
hung from the ceiling, strands of garland draped over the top of every cupboard
and cabinet, and a four-foot tree glistened in the front window. We’d spent
hours wrapping empty boxes to pile underneath and added a few needlepoint kits,
fabric swatches, and sewing kits to attract customers.
I grinned. “I think Santa would feel right at
home in our workshop. All that’s missing are the milk and cookies.”
Drake, my Golden Retriever-slash-Husky raised
his head.
“How about a peppermint latte and cookies,”
Merilee asked. “I could run up to the bakery and grab lunch complete with
dessert.”
“Santa’s going to have to bring me a whole new wardrobe at this rate.” I tucked a thumb inside the waistband of my pants. They were getting snug already and it wasn’t even December. I started to tell her to hold the latte. No way was I giving up cookies before Christmas. In the end, I kept my mouth shut.
While Merilee was gone, Drake returned his attention
to the heat vent while I finished hanging one last string of lights around the
inside of the front window swaying to the soft Christmas music we’d already
started to play.
Outside the gloom of the day was brightened by
the swirling blue and red lights from a passing police car. Since there was no
way anyone could be speeding on the roads given the current conditions, I had
to assume the police were on their way to an accident.
Drake got up to amble toward the door.
“Do you need to go out?” I asked.
Rather than paw at the glass, he sat and yawned.
“Good to know it’s not an emergency.”
Less than a minute later, Merilee bustled
through the front door carrying a cardboard tray and a paper bag. Drake stood
as a string of drool seeped from the corner of his mouth.
I laughed. “You smelled cookies. What a surprise."
And who says a character has to celebrate a traditional holiday?
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
EBOOK READER GIVE AWAY CONTEST
EBOOK READER GIVE AWAY CONTEST
Visit our website at https://bwlpublishing.ca
FILL OUT THE CONTEST ENTRY FORM AND ENTER OUR CONTEST TO WIN AN EBOOK READER AND 3 HOLIDAY BOOKS
Every
week we will draw three names from our Contest Entry form. Each name drawn will receive one of the three holiday ebooks . Once those three winners have acknowledged receipt of
their ebook prize they will be entered into a Grand Prize Drawing for a
Kindle eBook reader, to be drawn on December 15th.
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