One Story Never Gets Old

We had our Christmas program at our little church tonight. First we had a Candlelight service, one of my favorite services of the year, but I missed half the service because I couldn't leave Mom's until my sister came. But I did get to see the kids act out the first Christmas with a little help from some of the adults. I'm thinking our wise men probably hadn't acted out a part in the Christmas play for many, many years, but as our preacher said Sunday "Wise men still seek Him."

One thing about church Christmas pageants, you never know what might happen next. I took advantage of that when I wrote a scene about a church pageant in my Hollyhill book, Summer of Joy. In the story, twin boys are playing sheep. When their mother worries about the boys wandering off or crawling under the pews, Miss Sally, who is in charge of the play, says there are shepherds to keep the sheep in place.  That's where we pick up the action in my book Summer of Joy.

  Of course the little shepherds tripping on their bathrobes and stumbling over their wooden staffs toward the pretend campfire weren't much older than the little lambs. Two of the little shepherds made it to the fire and sat down without a glance at the sheep milling around behind them. The other little shepherd, Jeremy, shoved at the towel that had slipped down over his eyes and fell right over top of one of the twins who was doing some kind of spinning sheep moves in the middle of the aisle with a full chorus of baas. Jeremy fell into the campfire. He jumped back as though the construction paper flames were real, and the towel fell off his head. The other two shepherds tried to help him put it back on, because it was a well known fact that nobody could be a shepherd without a towel on his head.

   Meanwhile the sheep, seeing their chance, took off crawling up the center aisle. One of the little shepherds looked around at the escaping sheep, put his hands on his hips, and announced, "I told Miss Sally we should've had cows instead of sheep."  

Kids and Christmas pageants are always good for a few smiles. Tonight at Goshen was no different with our Mary getting a sudden case of stage fright and retreating to the back room where she stayed the rest of the pageant. So our final manger scene lacked an important person - the mother of Jesus. Then the angel had some problems with her wings and must have decided flying was overrated since she yanked them off and threw them in the manger on top of Baby Jesus. Luckily the little shepherd grabbed them off before any harm was done. A smile a minute.

Many of you who have entered my giveaway have talked about Christmas programs and especially the Christmas Eve candlelight services being one of your favorite ways to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Here are a few of your comments. 

 

Judy B says  - I love attending Christmas Eve Candlelight services. With the lights in the sanctuary turned off and candles glowing with lighted Christmas trees in the background, soft music the only sound being made. I feel the spirit of God all around. It is so peaceful and stress free. It is like God is reassuring me that everything will be o.k., if I only put my complete faith and trust in Him. The tears silently flow down my face and I am one with God.

Kelli Jo says - Besides giving, what I love about Christmas time is all the activities that take place at my Church – including Midnight Mass!

Lois says - My favorite  thing about Christmas is going to Church on Christmas Eve with my family and then spending time with family on Christmas Day and celebrating Jesus' Birthday.

 

 Sandra says - Memories are another favorite thing that Christmas brings!  My grandmother never actually gave us things for Christmas, but she would have all the family together and have a huge feast!  And she was a wonderful cook.  She would have us read the Christmas story in the Bible.  We would take turns with all the different verses. 

And, our church used to have a live nativity.  When we were old enough, we would brave the cold and stand as still as possible on the church lawn dressed as shepherds, kings or whatever part we got that year.  I remember one year when we had a live goat, sheep and donkey.  The manger got a little noisy that year!

And, I remember one year I sang a solo of "O, Come All Ye Faithful" in the church choir.  My grandmother's friends told my mom that I was an angel.  She didn't exactly agree. 

I LOVE Christmas, and it's fun to think about Christmas past! 

                                  ********

My name is Annette and what I like best about Christmas is all the joy and the feeling that everyone knows everyone else, even if you don't and it is only for a short time. It shows that no matter what our differences are, we are still able to get along and be that one big universal  family and make sure that all of us have that hope, joy, love and that we have some peace versus none.

Thanks for stopping by during this busy time of the year. Hope you are enjoying the shared stories and feeling that hope and peace Annette talked about. If you haven't already entered my Christmas giveaway, you still can by leaving a comment here or sending me an e-mail from my website. What memories of joy do you have from Christmases past?

The Christmas Spirit Goes On

T

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis

Sometimes I have a good idea and having readers share favorite Christmas memories with me was a very good idea. I have enjoyed the stories so much as I read about the things and events that have meant the most to my reading friends. One thing that dominated the stories was the memory of times with family. That's what made Christmas special for so many. A grandmother's or father's gift that shone with love. And isn't that what Christmas should show? "For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son..." Christmas is when we celebrate that first gift of love to us. 

I couldn't share all the stories, but please be sure I did read all of them and felt the joy in the telling. Since we are still in Christmas week I wanted to share forward a few more. First from Denise. " My husband and I were married in 1992. Only one of my grandmas was able to come. My other grandma was older and lived 500 miles away. She sent me a beautiful quilt for Christmas. Not everyone would think it was beautiful; Grandma always made-do with whatever fabric was on hand. I guess you could call that quilt a " quilt of many colors"  like Jacob's coat. Grandma never had much, but if you needed something, she'd give you all she had. Love was always in abundance."" 

I know about the love shown in quilts. The quilt my aunt made for me the year I was born is one of my most treasured possessions. It's good to receive great presents that show love, but it's also good to give gifts of love the way Gina and her son did on one special Christmas.

My favorite adult memory is from the first year I had a job where I made " good"  money. My son and I had so much fun buying my sisters and parents gifts that year. We didn't have to worry about money. Since my son's father had died when he was a baby, and my dad had been such a great grandfather to him, my son picked out a gold " Dad"  ring for my father and I bought my mother a beautiful music box from Neiman Marcus. It was the most expensive gift I had ever purchased for anyone, and she was so tickled by it she cried. It made our Christmas complete to know that our specially chosen gifts meant that much more because they were appreciated. My son still recalls that Christmas now and it's over 10 years later, so I know it was special to him too!

Last, let's hear from Beth who had a Christmas that didn't go quite as she planned. " My favorite Christmas gift is a diamond pendant that my husband bought for me when I wasn't really expecting anything that grand on that year because things were very tight money wise and then I ended up in the hospital on Christmas eve with kidney stones. So I say that year I received some rocks I wanted and some I didn’t."  

It's good that Beth can smile about something that couldn't have been fun at the time. I've had some Christmases like that. One when my youngest was almost two and I had so anticipated his fun opening his presents. Then he had a virus and was too sick to care what was under the tree. Another time I had the flu and couldn't take part in the festivities. But those are little things - disappointing, but not all that hard. The really hard times are those first Christmases after a loved one dies. Christmas and all the special memories of times together make the hurt of the loss keener. So thank you all for the happy, fun memories, but if you're one who had to get through a Christmas that couldn't live up to expectations because of a missing loved one or financial problems or sickness, then you are in my prayers. May the coming year ease your heart, fill it with memories of love and bring back the joy of Christmas in 2012. 

I'll draw for the winners of my giveaway before the year is out. Wish I could give you all a gift because you truly have given me a gift by sharing your stories. Happy New Year!! I'll talk to you in 2012.

And the Christmas Memories Keep Going

A ribbon memory

Christmas is a time for memories. A time when so many memories are made. Sometimes it's the little things we remember with the most affection. I had a very dear aunt who always made Christmases and birthdays special for me and my sisters. She never married or had children of her own, so she spend a lot of love on us. She would get a skinny little cedar tree out of the field - skinny because it had to fit in the corner behind the door. Then we would decorate it with some ornaments that had been around for longer than I had. Last we sprinkled icicles and dabbed a few pieces of angel hair close to the lights to give them a special glow. 

You know about angel hair, don't you? One of my readers found out the hard way and shared her memory. Linda says her earliest memory was sneaking under her aunt's tree to peek at her gifts and getting her first introduction to angel hair. She figures she was about 4, but she's never forgotten how itchy the stuff was. Not what you would imagine for angel hair at all!!

My aunt would let us wrap our own presents if we promised not to peek. That was always fun and believe it or not I never peeked. Mostly because she had the boxes taped up! Wendie has a story about wrapping presents and how that turned into a Christmas tradition with a duck box.

Wendie's Duck Box

Wendie says that one year she decided to wrap a box top in window pane duck paper for her dad's birthday so it could be reused. Her mother thought it was clever and said they could use the box again. So they did. Every Christmas. Here's the rest of the story in Wendie's own words.

Sometime after 1985, the Duck Box resurfaced. Of course, Mom put Christmas paper over it and sent it to my house. Not to be outsmarted, I returned it the following Christmas. That began the "Duck Box"  tradition. You never knew when it would appear since it was a standard size - like a dress shirt box. Some years, it held unexciting things like underwear, but other years, it contained the big present. The one you never expected and loved the best.

As the years progressed, the Duck Box took on personality. We couldn't be happy with plain old ducks. Mom got out markers and added festive Santa hats and holly. The next year, I put on sunglass stickers. Mom decided they needed polish on their web toes. One even laid a golden egg. And we didn't stop with the cover. Inside was tissue paper - with Christmas mail stickers, return address labels from our different houses, the original yellowed wrinkled tissue and a few Styrofoam packing peanuts thrown in for good measure. At some point, on the back of the box, we began marking the years with our initials. Somehow, we always remembered who had The Duck Box. I loved it.

The Duck Box is gone now. It made its last trip over 3 years ago. It was my turn to send it to Mom. If I could have wrapped up a cure for cancer, it would have been the best gift ever hidden inside that tissue. Somehow, I knew I'd never see it again, so I carefully clicked pictures. I guess I knew that there would come a time when I'd tell a story about a silly old box full of love. Yep - I just wrapped my own present, Mom. Thanks for the memories. (excerpted from Wendie's blog after she sent me the link. http://kitchenkid.blogspot.com/

A lovely story, Wendie. Thanks for sharing it with us. And the picture of my gift up above has a similar story although not nearly as touching or full of memories. The first year I reused the funky yellow bow, the kids made fun of it. I'm sure I reused it to begin with. I can't imagine actually buying the bow myself. LOL. But since they all thought it was so weird, I kept the bow and used it again the next year and the next. For many years, somebody always got the funky yellow bow. I stopped using it a couple of years ago when the grandkids began to think the one who got it was more favored than the others. But I haven't thrown it away and who knows that funky bow may show up again some Christmas day. 

Thanks for all the memories. If you want you can still share a memory with us. I won't do the drawing for the giveaway winners until after Christmas. And I still have some neat memories to share. On Christmas or the day after, I'm going to share a very touching memory of someone who got the greatest gift - a new church family and a real awareness of the love of Christ. 

Thanks for reading and may you have the very merriest Christmas!

Christmas Memories 3 - Simple Pleasures

Grandbaby opening a first year present

  In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed. ~Kahlil Girbran

I'm still getting entries in my Christmas giveaway where people are sharing favorite memories. In so many of the shared memories, love echoes through every word. It's the simple things that made the writers feel loved and cherished that often stick in the memory the longest. Not necessarily the big things. Nobody has mentioned getting a truckload of presents. It's usually the visits home. The grandparents and aunts and uncles. The family. But I do have three stories about gifts to share today.

The first shows that it's sometimes the little things that mean the most. Nicole shares her story. "My favorite Christmas memory was the first Christmas after I married. We went to my husband's mom and dad's house and before opening gifts, his mom handed out stockings. Everyone pulled the items out of theirs, took a quick look and re-stuffed their stockings. Never having gotten a stocking as a child, I, on the other hand, carefully pulled out each out item, taking time to admire the small gifts and just as carefully, replaced the gifts back into the red stocking with my name written in gold glitter. Family members were getting rather frustrated at the time that it was taking for me to look at what was just a "simple stocking" to them; a tradition that they had known every Christmas. What they didn't know, not only how very special the stocking was to me; but finally, I was sharing in a tradition that I had only wished for as a child...a "simple stocking". Every Christmas, I enjoyed listening to my grandparents talk of getting pieces of fruit and candy in their stockings and how much they looked forward to this as much as they did their gifts. This "simple stocking" took me back to simpler times and a family tradition that I knew would be a lasting part of mine. Needless, to say, my family wakes up every Christmas with stockings!! However, I think I enjoy mine the most!!"

And now from Phyllis a gift that didn't want to wait until Christmas morning and a special night shared with a grandmothers. "  One favorite story of mine is about the Christmas I was about 11. I had asked my grandmother for a portable radio, new to the times! She bought one for me and had it wrapped under her tree. I spent the night with her and during the night the "' gift"  began to play. I woke her and told her I could hear radio music playing in her house. She tried to divert my attention to keep the gift secret. Because the music didn't stop, I could not let it go. We went to the tree and opened the gift that night; after playing with it for a while, she rewrapped the radio to keep until Christmas Day. I love her memory to this day and I will soon be 65." 

The last story tonight (more on Sunday) is about a gift to the writer's mother from Evelyn. "When I was a child, Christmas was a big deal in our little school. (Evelyn is 90 plus.) There would be a huge tree and every child would have a present on it. Everybody in the community would go to the Christmas program and then each child would hope to hear his/her name called, receiving a gift as they were taken off the tree. In this particular year, we kids were aghast when we heard our mother's name called. We stood in awe as Mom opened her gift. It was a wedding ring from my dad. I don't remember if Mom cried, but I feel sure she did. I suppose Dad didn't have the money to buy her a ring when they married but here it was, a beautiful wedding band given to her after all these year. This is a memory I cherish and will never forget.


Thanks so much for sharing your memories. I'll share forward some more on Sunday. One you will have a hard time believing, but it will just go to prove that kids can do the darnedest things. And bring us lots of simple pleasures at Christmas time. Thanks for reading and remember it's not too late to share your Christmas memory or to throw your name in the my giveaway hat.

 " Happiness consists more in the small conveniences of pleasure that occur every day, than in great pieces of good fortune that happen but seldom to a man in the course of his life."  ~Benjamin Franklin

Christmas Memories Part 2 - Bob Hope & More

"When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things - not the great occasions - give off the greatest glow of happiness." ~Bob Hope

I put this quote in my newsletter last week and then because Christmas is for giving, I threw open a giveaway opportunity to all my reading friends.  One of the ways to get your name in a drawing (for a music box and one of my autographed books) is to share a Christmas memory with me. I have been so blessed reading the stories I've received so far.

Your stories have made me smile and they've brought a few tears. Best of all, I've seen the Christmas spirit shining brightly through so many of your memories and that it is the simple things a lot of you remember with the most love. So thank you for sharing and for letting me share forward by printing some of the stories here (with the writers' permission) on One Writer's Journal between now and Christmas.

Here's one from a J.D., a Vietnam War veteran.
"I have a fond memory from when I was in the Army in Viet Nam, back in 1966-67. I was 19 and feeling quite homesick during the Holiday season, but my spirits, along with many others, were uplifted when I had the terrific opportunity to see a 'Bob Hope Christmas Show.' Mr. Hope was wonderful, as usual, with his great comedic style. And, it was terrific seeing Vic Damone & Joey Heatherton. It indeed made for a special memory."

I remember watching those Bob Hope specials with all the soldiers hanging from whatever they could to get a better view. Bob always came out on stage with his golf club and there were always pretty girls who made the soldiers cheer and whistle. While J.D. doesn't mention the Golddiggers, this group did accompany Bob on several of his U.S.O. tours in Vietnam.

While looking for more information about the U.S.O. visits, I came across the Golddiggers Website where one of the girls, Suzy Cadham shares a poignant memory of a time on Freedom Hill in Da Nang. "We were all on stage closing the show and as far as I could see there were Marines, 20,000 of them, hanging from trees, poles, anything to catch a glimpse of the girls from back home. We looked out on the first rows in front of us, where the patients always sat, with their makeshift IV’s, gurneys, bandages and casts; the wounded, for a precious brief time, laughing and having a good time. As always, Bob closed the show with everyone singing ‘Silent Night’. That day it was raining and we had slickers on over our costumes. Singing that Christmas carol under those conditions, far from home, well, believe me, everyone was crying, not just on stage. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house."

Bob knew the soldiers needed to laugh and to see some pretty girls from home. He'd done the same thing during WW II, taking a bit of home to the soldiers when they couldn't come home to their families. And so to all of you who have shared memories (and I'll share more of them here and on my Facebook writer's page too before Christmas) as Bob Hope would say, "Thanks for the memories."

I won't be drawing for the winners until the week after Christmas, so you still have time to join in the fun if you want. All you have to do is send an e-mail from my website or leave a comment or story here with a way to contact you if you win. I've got four prizes. One for those who share a Christmas memory. Another for someone who has never won anything before from me - you have to tell me that to get your name in that drawing. And two more for everybody who enters. So you could have four chances to win. No big prizes - mostly books (for details see my my website Events Page), but you can have fun sharing your memories. And maybe see them here if you're willing to share forward.

Thanks for reading. I'm so blessed with you as reading friends.

Favorite Christmas Memories - Part 1

Christmas is coming and that means sending out greetings to friends. I sent out my Merry Christmas newslettter last week. Of course I had a picture of the grandkids and of course, I threw out a new giveaway. Well, four chances to win. Last year I asked readers to tell me their favorite Christmas gift to make them eligible for a special drawing. That was such fun, I decided to do it again. Only this time it's a favorite Christmas memory.


The stories are pouring in. Beautiful stories that bring a tear and great memories of times when laughs were in order. I'm going to share some of those stories on here before Christmas - with the permission of the storytellers, of course. As one reader said when giving me permission to share her story with you, memories are for sharing.


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Some giveaway prizes

Some of you might not be on my newsletter e-mail list, so in case you'd like to join my Christmas giveaway fun, here's the info on what to do to get your name in the hat and what you might win. Send me an e-mail from my website or leave a comment here with a way to get in touch with you in case you win. If you want to join in the fun of sharing a favorite Christmas memory, please do. I'll draw one winner from those of you who do share a favorite story to win a lovely music box that plays "How Great Thou Art" along with your choice of one of my books. Then I always have one drawing for those who have never won anything in my giveaways. (Be sure to tell me that in your e-mail or comment to get your name in that special drawing.)The never won before winner will get Startling Joy, a book of Christmas stories and your choice of my books. The last two chances to win go to anybody who throws his or her name in the hat for the drawings. Those two winners will get one of my books and a copy of The Dog Next Door, a collection of dog stories. My story in the book is titled "A Gift of Love." That has to make a good Christmas giveaway.


So now on to the good part. Here's a story from C.E. about the "Santa beagle" to make you smile. 
 

"My most memorable Christmas was about 22 years ago. My two sons, one was 10 and the other one was 4. We had a dog named Beaner and when he was a puppy, we taught him how to open Christmas presents with his teeth and paws. He always thought the Santa Beagle was coming at Christmas for him. So one Christmas morning he snuck out into the living room before everyone was up. He must have thought the Santa Beagle had brought every gift for him. When we got up, all the presents had been opened by Beaner. My kids starting crying because they had no presents to open. Beaner had already taken care of that. It just goes to show that Beaner was part of the family and wanted to open presents as much as everyone else. Beaner went to heaven 3 years ago, but he left a sister (Schatzie) who is 6 years old and got to spend 2 years with Beaner and he taught her everything he knew about opening presents from the Santa Beagle. She continues the Christmas tradition. I miss Beaner so much but his memories will last a lifetime. Merry Christmas!"

Then here's one from Vi. that's a lot like one of my own fun Christmas memories. "When I was a kid, there was an older gentleman that would decorate his house (over the top) and dress as Santa for all the kids who used to love it and I was only 3 or 4 and still remember."

My similar memory is a time when we were getting ready to eat on Christmas Eve at my mother's house. We heard a knock on the door and lo and behold, when we opened it up, there was Santa straight from the North Pole. The kids were amazed. The adults knew it was a neighbor, but it was still fun. We laughed and laughed at the looks on the kids' faces"

And finally here's a story from P.C. that made me tear up and remember why every town has Angel trees to try to make sure all our children have a good Christmas.

"Hi, I wanted to share my favorite Christmas memory and that was years ago when I was 7. A social worker came to visit my foster brother and she always had this big warm smile on her face that mometarily made me forget all the problems that were going on . Well, on this day she had a big bag and she pulled a Christmas stocking out of it for each of us with our name printed on it. It was the most unexpected, beautiful present and one of the only ones that all of us got. I still have that stocking and every year I hang it and remember that social worker and how special she made every Christmas from that one and now 49 years later. Thank you for asking and have a Happy Holiday."


Thank you for sharing, P.C. And thank all of you for reading. May each of you have an over abundance of Christmas Spirit. More stories to come on Sunday. And don't forget to share your stories with us too.

A Time for Stories

~The holiday season is such a great time for families to get together and share stories - some old and heard dozens of times and some others new and never heard before. Here my little granddaughter is sharing one of the never heard before stories. She's been making up stories since before she was two, so maybe someday she'll be like her grammy and want to write them down. I don't remember ever telling too many stories back when I was a kid. I would have been much too shy to take center stage like that.

~Several of my grandchildren show a flair for the dramatic and they all love stories and books. The littlest ones just want to chew on their books, but that will change when they realize there's magic in those words.

~There's magic in family stories too. I love to hear my mom talk about how things were when she grew up during the depression years. Her mama never put up a Christmas tree and so their presents were placed on a rocking chair. Nothing like the presents kids get these days. She said they'd maybe get a doll, an orange and some candy. Then when I was a kid, we did our Santa shopping in the "wish book." That's what we called the Sears Roebuck catalogue. We were given an amount and then we could mark what we wished for that was at or below that price. I remember almost wearing out the pages of those catalogues wishing. One toy I wished for and got from Santa was a Betsy Wetsy doll. Why in the world anyone would want a doll that wet, I don't know now, but I wanted it then. I also got paper dolls and games and chocolate candy that I hoarded like it was more valuable than gold. My kids have their own Christmas memories of getting up early and running to see what might be under the tree. And now my grandkids are making their Christmas memories that they may turn into family stories someday.

~To me that's the sort of thing that makes the best family stories. Memories of the little things in life that can forever warm your heart. One of those warm heart memories for me is how I spent Christmas Eve day at my aunt's house waiting for my mother and father to finally get there so the good times could begin. The tree lights would be blinking. Sparks would fly up the chimney when my granddad poked the coal in the fireplace. Brightly wrapped presents beckoned from under the tree. Delicious scents drifted out from the kitchen. The candy dishes were full of homemade goodies. The afternoon would drag along, surely the longest day of the year. But finally my parents would come in bringing with them the brisk smell of the winter air and then the magic of Christmas would begin.

~Now I wish I had been smart enough to ask the older members of my family to tell me more stories about when they were growing up. About their average, ordinary days and what their mothers and fathers or grandmothers and grandfathers were like. Some of the stories I heard. Many of the stories I can only imagine now. And yet all of that, the real and the imagined is stuffed down in a pot pushed to the back of the stove in my creative center where it's bubbling in a nice simmering stew. Ever so often something in that pot pops out and lands in a story. That's why, for a writer, the more stories she hears the better. That pot of creative stew is very greedy and constantly in need of being fed if you want it to keep popping. Sort of like that Betsy Wetsy doll I had. I had to keep pumping in the water if I wanted her to perform as promised in the advertisements.

~Hope your creative stew gets fed some wonderful family memories and stories this Christmas holiday.

Christmas Memories

Well, the Christmas tree is up. And decorated. A few of the lights don't work, but if you squint your eyes a little, you don't notice it much. It's one of those trees where the lights are already wrapped around the branches. That's great, but whoever decided to put the kind of light strands on it where if one bulb is messed up the whole strand goes out needs to be sentenced to two weeks straight of pulling out those little bulbs and trying new ones to see if that's the bad light. I never did find the bad light, but my thumbnail is ready to fall off. ;o)

Somebody said I should check the fuse, but I haven't tried that yet. I just turned the tree around so the non-lighted part isn't exactly in the front. And with all the decorations on, you hardly miss those lights. Hardly. Anyway the tree's up and that's the important thing. I said it would be up this weekend and it is. My sisters and I even put up my mom's tree today. Hers is a short tabletop tree that we just put in a garbage bag and set in the corner of the garage in between Christmases that are definitely coming closer and closer together. I mean when I was a kid, Christmas Eves lasted longer than the whole year between Christmases now.

Christmas Eve was always a fun time for us when we were kids. That's when we went to my aunt's house. She spoiled us girls with a whole pile of presents, mostly clothes, but it was still fun to have that stack of brightly wrapped gifts to tear into. We had to eat the delicious supper first and she always had fruit punch spiked with gingerale. She was Christmas for me and the first Christmas after she died was lonely and sad and oh so different. I think that's true for everybody who's lost loved ones in the past year. Those empty spots around the Christmas tree are hard and reason for a few tears. But I hope you have good Christmas memories to keep the joy and the echo of their love in your heart.

I have lots of great Christmas memories. How about you? What about a favorite Christmas gift? My very favorite gift, well, I have two. One was a fountain pen and a bottle of blue black ink when I was thirteen or so. I had to have blue black ink. And the second was a desk. Writer-to-be gifts. Actually that desk was replaced by another Christmas gift several years later when my husband bought an old secretarial desk and had it refinished for me. That desk has held my typewriters and then computers while I've written a lot of books. The drawers groan when they are opened, but that just makes it all that much better. It has personality. And I still have the first Christmas present desk too.

One of my fun Christmas memories is the year when my daughter, Tarasa, was three or four and when anybody asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she would say "A candy apple." In those days about the only place you ever saw candy apples for sale was at the county or state fair in the summer time. So no candy apples were to be found in December. I wonder now why I didn't just put an apple on a stick and dip it in caramel. But I didn't, and Tarasa was more than happy with the candy apple substitute toys under the tree on Christmas morning. Years later I bought a chocolate covered apple, wrapped it up, and told her sometimes Santa was slow reading his list, but eventually he always came through.

As a Christmas treat for myself, I met Jan Watson, author of Troublesome Creek, Willow Springs, and Torrent Falls, for lunch last Thursday. We talked until the waitress was surely ready to throw us out. We weren't getting the offer of any more water in our glasses. That's for sure. But it's always so much fun comparing notes with a fellow writer that we had a lot to talk about. That's why you see writers gabbing nonstop to one another at book fairs. After weeks and months locked away in their private space trying to dig words out of their strained brains, writers need to talk. On top of all that Jan is a super person and writer. Her books are very popular and good reads.

That's what I aim for in my own books. For the stories to be good reads. Hope if you get one to read, you'll think I've been successful. Don't forget. If you want to enter my book-giveaway drawing, send me an e-mail from my website, www.annhgabhart.com. I'd love to hear from you, and thanks to everybody who comments here. I'll enter your names in the drawing too. Just be sure to tune in after the first of the year to see if you won.

I hope you have lots of great Christmas memories and that this month you'll be adding to your collection by taking time to do some things you enjoy this Christmas season. Talk to you Wednesday.

Christmas Tree Memories

Here it is Wednesday night again and I'm getting the pleasure of sending a few words out to my friends. Hi, everybody.

By the way, I'm still tripping over that box of tree ornaments, but I'll drag that tree up from the basement this weekend for sure. I admire people who put up multiple trees. One of my daughters-in-law puts up a tree in every room and the trees all look great. But me, I guess I take after my grandmother. Mom said Mama Rose never wanted to bother with a tree in the house so they used to just hang their stockings on the rocking chair. They didn't have a Christmas tree until her youngest sister talked their dad into bringing in a cedar when Mom was a teenager.

I'm not that bad. I want a tree and so far I've always gotten the tree decorated before Christmas day. So far. I used to go out with my kids and cut down a cedar tree. We always picked one that was way too big. Those trees just look smaller out there in the field. And greener and not so lopsided. As you can probably tell, I wasn't the best tree picker, so most of the time Darrell took care of that chore. Thank goodness. He was definitely better at it.

Cedars smell good sitting in your living room, but they are sticky. Not so bad when you decorate them, but very prickly when you take the ornaments off after Christmas. Especially those foil icicles. Any of you remember those? Plus cedars dry out fast even if you set them in a bucket of water and that makes you have to worry about them being fire hazards. I've gotten modern now with an artificial tree, but I sometimes think how my dad would frown if he knew I paid good money for a fake tree when the fields were full of cedars that need to be cut down.

Dad didn't overflow with Christmas spirit, but sometimes he'd go to Louisville and buy us something at a warehouse or secondhand shop that we weren't expecting. One Christmas he brought in a turntable record player. It didn't have a case, but since it played LPs and 45's and had a stack 'em on spindle, we were happy. So he wasn't exactly a Scrooge. He just left most of the merry preparations up to Mom and his sister. They made Christmas fun.

Hope you have many great Christmas memories. Share your favorite with me if you want. That would be fun. And here are some Christmas quotes to make your day brighter.

• There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child. - Erma Bombeck
• Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it 'white'. - Bing Crosby
• My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that? -Bob Hope
• When we recall Christmas past, we usually find that the simplest things -- not the great occasions -- give off the greatest glow of happiness. -Bob Hope

Wishing you much happiness and joy. Always joy.