Christmas Memories 4 - Kids Do the Darndest Things

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out. (Art Linkletter) 

Those of you of a certain age will notice I sort of borrowed my title from Art Linkletter. He had such fun interviewing kids on his show "Kids Say the Darndest Things." Well, these Christmas memories I'm sharing tonight from a couple of readers prove that kids can do the darndest things too. Of course you mothers and fathers out there already knew that, didn't you? 

The picture up above shows one of my own fun Christmas memories. A couple of years ago, this little granddaughter loved Spider-Man. Everything was Spider-Man. She dressed up as Spider-Man at Halloween and played being him all the time. So come Christmas time, I decided I'd buy her something to wear with Spider-Man on it. Of course I had to shop in the boys' department. You're not going to find a cute little ruffled pink top with Spider-Man on it. Trust me on that. I lucked up and found pajamas with Spider-Man all over them. Pajamas for little boys and little girls are made pretty much the same. She opened the present and a few minutes later disappeared from the gift opening scene. Then here she comes running back, wearing the new pjs. I love the look on her face in this picture. You don't often hit the the gift jackpot giving clothes to kids her age, but I think I did with those Spider-Man pjs. 

Tisha shares this story with us about a time when the gift maybe didn't go over as well.  "The Christmas I remember so well I was about 5 or 6 and my mother bought me a doll. No, not for me she should have known better. I was a tomboy my entire life and never played with dolls. She thought it would be nice for me but I saw things different. My mother said she could not find me right after we had opened our presents and she started looking for me. She found me in the bathroom. I had cut the doll's hair and painted the face with lipstick and made the doll look like an Indian. Course my parents were ready to hang me out to dry. The doll had cost $20 and back then that was a great deal of money to spend on a toy, especially one that lasted a whole 5 minutes before being recreated into something different. This was always the one story my parents loved to tell about me. Did bring some good laugh times though.  Oh yes, by the way, that was the last doll Santa left for me. After that was my usual tomboy toys. Softballs, glove and softball bats and such. "

And then we have a story from Sue about one of her granddaughters. This story takes the cake - or maybe that should be "the brick." "I will tell you one of the funniest Christmas stories you have ever heard. In 2003 my granddaughter (then 5) would not even pretend to be good, so we told her that she would not get any gifts for Christmas. She evidently either did not get the message, or simply did not care. So everything we bought for her, we hid. On Christmas morning, the only thing under the tree for her was one great big box. When she opened it,(all nicely packed in peanuts and tissue) she found a brick. She wasn't too happy, but played with that brick all day, even took it to bed with her. The next day, we gave her her presents. she opened them all, but wasn't really interested. She just wanted to get back to her brick. She drug that thing, a regular sized red building brick, around with her everywhere she went for many, many months. The laugh was on us. But the haha is on the other foot now, when everybody in the family tells the story of the girl and her brick every chance we get."

Thanks, Tisha and Sue, for letting me share your stories. You could say both of these kids figured a way to get things to turn out pretty good for them. And thank all of you who have shared a story. Some of them have made me smile. Some of them have brought a tear. Some of them make me remember my own special memories. I'll keep sharing memories until Christmas. And I'll draw for the four giveaway winners the week after Christmas. You still have time to throw your name in the hat. And share your Christmas memory too. I got a memory today about making snow cream - complete with recipe. May have to share that one for sure.

Hope the true Spirit of Christmas is wrapping loving arms around you and the good elves are helping you get everything ready. If they are, send some of their friends my way. I could use the help. Thanks for reading.  

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.

Community on Parade

To read the papers and to listen to the news...one would think the country is in terrible trouble. You do not get that impression when you travel the back roads. The small towns do care about their country and wish it well. ~Charles Kuralt

This is a view of my town's Main Street from one of the floats during Saturday's Christmas parade. I wasn't there, so I missed seeing my granddaughter's Girl Scout troop's float win 2nd place. Instead I was in another small town, Perryville, KY. They had a Christmas parade too with sirens blaring and bands drumming and floats scooting along. I was signing my books along with a number of other authors in the midst of a craft bazaar. 

That worked for me. Writing is a craft. A little different from the dolls and jewelry one of the ladies made or the soap and herbal ointments at another table. One lady was making Christmas wreaths. Another had fans and feather looking earrings made out of denim. Yet another had hair ribbons and ponytail holders. Two other women had brooms for sale - raised some of their own broom straw - and an 80 plus gentleman was selling honey. The organizers set the authors up in the midst of all the other crafts. I loved it. And I brought some of their wonderful handwork home with me. A boxwood wreath for my door. A jar of honey for my hubby. Hairbows for one of the grandkids. Cute little skirt purses for some more of the grandkids. Soap and some herbal cures. I did shut my eyes and walk fast past the homemade fudge. The divinity called to me, but I didn't listen. I'd already pigged out on a bag of kettle corn. They were selling that too.    

The man next to me was the Gears & Glass guy, David from Danville, KY. He makes jewelry from old watch pieces and keys. Very unique. He was pretty unique himself with an outfit to catch the eye. A retired teacher, he's now having a good time beginning a new enterprise. If you want to get a closer look at his creations, he has a Facebook page. Just search for the Gears & Glass Guy and you can see some close-ups of his jewelry or as he has on his business card "steampunk accouterments." 


So I had a good day in Perryville. I enjoyed talking to some people about my books and seeing them carry a few of them home with them. Many of the readers were interested in my book, The Seeker, since part of the historical background is the Civil War Battle of Perryville. They celebrate their history in Perryville and host a re-enactment of that Civil War battle every year.  They have community. 


That's one of the best things about small towns - that sense of community. While it was spilling over in Perryville, it was also happening in my town and in hundreds of other little towns all across the country. Christmas parades with floats carrying girl and boy scouts. Brownie troops and Cub Scouts walking the parade route. The local high school bands - in our case just one band. The horseback riders with red ribbons tied to their horses' bridles. The homecoming queen shivering in a fancy dress as she sits on the top of the back seat in an open convertible. The town officials in a car borrowed from one of the car dealers. Senior citizens waving from their van or maybe wrapped in quilts in rocking chairs on a float. The football team on a wagon. And Santa bringing up the rear riding on the fire truck with the siren blasting. With neighbors lining the street, waving at their kids and grandkids in the parade. Community on parade.

Do you live in a little town that has a Christmas parade? What do you like best about your community at Christmas time? 

Thanks for reading. I'll be sending out a newsletter tonight or tomorrow with a new giveaway. If you're not on my newsletter list and want to be, just let me know. I'll tell you all about my Christmas giveaway on Wednesday and post it on my website before the week is gone. Hope you're counting the days down to Christmas with anticipation instead of like me and thinking I'll never get ready. Truth is I don't ever get ready. Christmas just comes and then it's time to enjoy whatever part I managed to get done. 

The Storytelling Gift

The storytelling gift is innate: one has it or one doesn't. But style is at least partly a learned thing: one refines it by looking and listening and reading and practice - by work.  - Donna Tartt

I was once called a storyteller by a person I respected. I think it was one of the nicest things anybody has ever told me to my face. I want to be a storyteller. I have always wanted to be a storyteller. I like stories whether I'm telling them or I'm listening to them or reading them. In the photo above is my husband and his aunt who has many stories to tell. Not the kind I tell. Her stories are about things she's done, times she's lived through, people she's known. Her father, my husband's grandfather, was an entertaining storyteller. His stories had a basis in fact, but I'm thinking he could embellish with the best of them to make his tales entertaining. Aunt Annie doesn't embellish. She shares from what she's seen in her ninety plus years. My mother was good at doing that too before age related dementia robbed her memory. If only I'd known the right questions to ask sooner. 

The right questions - that's what I'm trying to find the answers to now as I research for my work in progress. Where am I going to take my characters? What was life like in that time? What would they have done, thought, seen? So much to find out. So much to imagine. I've already stumbled upon one major "bridge out" sign. One thing I planned for my character to do wasn't something a person her age was allowed to do. Should I bend the rules and not be totally true to the history of the time? After all, I am writing fiction. But I like to make the historical background of my books as accurate as I can as I look back in time. It was a discouraging discovery that my planned happenings probably couldn't have happened. So now I'm going to have to find a detour, a new way to cross my storytelling river. 

In this picture is one of the next generation of storytellers in the family. Several of my grandchildren show a love of stories. This one's stories spring from the imagination unlike her great aunt's telling of the truth she's lived. Perhaps we all have stories to tell if we can only get someone to listen. Or to read. 

I'm listening and reading and hearing the stories of the past. Now to shape those stories into a past and present for my characters. That is the challenge of storytelling. Fiction with truth in the background.

Thanks for reading. I hope you have a storytelling couch at your house and you can ask the right questions to bring the past of your family to life and to help your young ones dream their future.

Every Rock has a Story

"There is no rule on how to write. Sometimes it comes easily and perfectly;sometimes it's like drilling rock and then blasting it out with charges." ~Ernest Hemingway

I'm writing a new book. The beginning hasn't been easy. The necessary time for working has been hard to squeeze out of my schedule. That's always true during the holiday season. There are always so many things to do - shopping and cooking and wrapping and decorating and cards and Christmas programs and parades and ...well, you get the idea. I'm sure it's the same for you. December brings us many good things to anticipate but it also slams us with lots of expectations. We have to do this or we have to do that. I mean, haven't we always made a fruit cake or a dozen kinds of candy or whatever tradition you want to keep going?

I love traditions at Christmas time. But I've lived enough years to know the best traditions are the fluid ones. The kind that can be adapted and bent to a family's ever changing life. Of course, it's not a tradition that I have to write a story in December. Often that's the month I've had to put my stories on hold for a few weeks. This year my plan was to keep writing, keep pushing out words, give myself a quota of so many pages a day, keep working while squeezing in as many traditions for Christmas as possible.

That's still my plan, but plans have a way of running off track at times. Especially when the words are stubborn, embedded in rock and I'm out of blasting powder. But every rock has a story and with patience and determination, I've chiseled out quite a few stories in my time.

This story is growing in my thoughts, developing even while I'm not thinking about it in that mysterious subconscious. My characters are beckoning me along their story road although I don't think they're quite sure where they're headed. Right now they seem to be hesitating, a bit confused, at every fork in their story road. But isn't that the way life is for all of us? Unknown turns ahead of us. At times we may want to linger in some grassy meadow of pleasure along our life's road, but always we eventually must go on down the road to the next destination. My characters don't have time to linger. They have a story to live and I have to find the words to tell it. And I will. If I have to chisel those words out of the rock of imagination or dip them up out of the well of experience, I will. I am a storyteller. That's what I do.

I hope you have time for all your traditions and to enjoy the wonder of the Christmas season. Thank you for reading.