HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL FROM THE QUILLS

Back now to "Blogging Light" mode until after the holidays. Some of us will no doubt be popping in to wish all of you the best of the season and a couple of us have books coming out at the end of December which we will want to tell you about, but we will not return to our regularly scheduled programming until Monday, Jan. 4

Thank you all for making the RWQ community such a great place to hang out. We couldn't do this without you.

Warmest holiday wishes to all and a Happy New Year!

See you in 2010.

On happy holidays and feeling thankful...

When I checked the calendar and saw where I was scheduled to blog on Christmas Day, my first thought was, nah...ain't gonna happen. Then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this would give me a chance to thank everyone--my fellow Quills and you, the readers--for the gift of your friendship. It's a friendship that isn't merely a holiday thing, but instead sustains me throughout the entire year.

This past couple of weeks reminded me of the importance of the online community--my email quit working. I felt like I'd been cast adrift from all of humanity--well, other than the folks in the real world who still occasionally pop in and out of my life. So much of my social life is through the Internet that it really did feel like being marooned somewhere. Of course, the email going belly up wasn't the only thing that happened. I honestly think I used up a year's worth of bad karma in December alone!

I transferred my Christmas money into my checking account, and the bank lost it. ALL my shopping funds, gone. Since I'd written a check to move the money from one bank to another, and neither bank was willing to promise me that even a "stop payment" on it might actually STOP THE PAYMENT (go figure?) I wasn't about to write another check and risk having the money taken out twice! Thank goodness I had the deposit slip as proof of the deposit, but it still took them almost two weeks to find the deposit and make it right.

Of course, this put a bit of a wrinkle into my Christmas shopping, as I wasn't comfortable spending funds until I had them, so there was a last minute rush to get everything done once the money magically appeared in my account. In the meantime, my email had quit and, unbeknown to me, my editor was trying to reach me (What? I'm BOUNCING?) and finally resorted to a phone call to request some material she needed NOW. More scrambling...but I honestly thought things were under control and I was ready to get into the Christmas spirit.

Then, while I was upstairs in my office, peacefully wrapping gifts, my husband shouted at me to call 911.

Trust me--when a normally unflappable male suddenly "flaps" and the smoke alarm suddenly goes off, you truly understand the expression "adrenaline rush!" I looked out my office door and over the balcony, directly at the stove pipe to the woodstove--it was glowing red hot from the fire rushing up the flue. Doug said he could see flames in the attic--not a good thing. I got on the phone and dialed. The dispatcher transferred me to the local CDF (California Department of Forestry) fire station, I gave the information and directions to the house and we waited. Doug had shut down the air vents and the fire, starved for oxygen, went out, but we were still concerned about the possibility of embers smoldering in the attic.

The firetrucks arrived and the firemen did their job, crawled up into the attic and checked for hot spots, made sure everything was cool and nothing left to combust, made their report and left. Doug and I sat here for a minute while our heart rates settled back to normal. He'd just cleaned the flue a few weeks earlier and we couldn't figure out what could have caused the fire.

As it turned out, he discovered that the brush he uses is a few feet too short to reach all the way to the stove, and the creosote had built up in the lower part of the flue. We'd had a 3.9 earthquake a few days earlier that really rattled the house, and it must have knocked some of that flammable stuff down into the firebox, where it ignited and set the rest of the crud on fire. It's now VERY clean, all the way from the box on top of the roof to the woodstove, but it was a good lesson in chimney cleaning. You have to get ALL of it.

I stopped by the fire station yesterday and left a donation in their "coffee fund" as a thank you to the wonderful guys who showed up and took care of everything, but I can't quit thinking of what could have happened that didn't. We'd been gone most of the morning, and the chimney fire could so easily have happened then, while we were away. Luckily we were both home and able to stop the fire before it got rolling.

So, our house didn't burn down, the Christmas check was found, the email works and all's right with my world, but this last week as a reminder of how quickly things can change, and how much we depend on our friends, our community and our family. Not a bad thing to be reminded of this time of year, when it's so easy to get caught up in the rush and bustle of shopping and the stress and worry about the details.

I hope each and every one of you has a moment of peace where you can take the time to think of all those good things in your life--small things, big things, special things and special people. Without channeling Mr. Rodgers, I want to say that you are all special to me. This day is special, this season, this end of one year and beginning of the next. It's a time for gentle endings and wonderful beginnings.

I wish you health and happiness and time to reflect, and if you have a moment, please share something you're thankful for this holiday season.

My best to all of you. Be safe and be well.
Kate

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL FROM THE QUILLS

A quick note to let you know that the Quills will be going into "Blogging Light" mode until after the holidays. Some of us will no doubt be popping in to wish all of you the best of the season and a couple of us have books coming out at the end of December which we will want to tell you about but we will not return to our regularly scheduled programming until Monday, Jan. 4

Thank you all for making the RWQ community such a great place to hang out. We couldn't do this without you.

Warmest holiday wishes to all and a Happy New Year!

See you in 2010.

The Truth About Cats and Dogs... and other critters

Those oh-so-adorable (to me anyway) Chihuahuas up above are my little fur babies, Tootsie and Brock. Brock, my little male, is the smallest at just under 5lbs, and Tootsie is a voluptuous 8lbs. (Brock likes a woman with a little meat on her bones. ;-)

Brock is ailing. He gets medicine in his eyes 4x a day, but he's fast going blind anyway. And thanks to congestive heart failure, he gets pills 3x a day. For the most part he's comfortable, as long as he's on my lap and there isn't too much confusion.

Christmas counts as confusion.

He gets plenty grouchy with all the fanfare of this very special holiday. So what do my husband and I do? We baby him even more. He has a heating pad in his bed to help keep him warm at night, and he gets chopped chicken from the deli to eat, and he gets rubbed and stroked and cradled by everyone that he'll allow to touch him. LOL. Tootsie's way of dealing with the holidays is to hide. A lot. She loves Brock and she loves me - everyone else is suspect.

And then we have the 3 cats who enjoy hiding under the tree and taking down decorations to better examine them. Mixed with holly and garland and glass beads is lots and lots of cat fur. I swear it multiplies on its own. No amount of dusting and vacuuming will remove it all.
Visitors beware - you WILL leave with cat fur.

But I love the animals, so what the heck? I got to thinking about everyone else and their pets, too. Did you know that 56 percent of Americans sing holiday carols to their pets? And 2 out of 5 pet owners include a picture of their furry best friends in the holiday cards they send?
We are a nation of animal lovers! Yay!

What follows are some fun pet stories from authors that I hope you'll enjoy. And after you're done reading, let me know what YOUR pet is up to during the Holiday fun!

Holly Winters

I have two cats and their philosophy is “what goes up must come down.” This includes my Christmas tree, any ornaments I put on it and anything I might try to put in the window, whether lights or decorations. The first year I had the two of them, my poor artificial tree got knocked over so many times that by Christmas Day it was nearly flattened on one side and the garland was lopsided. The ornaments…OMG…they knock them off and bat them around on the floor. I finally found unbreakable ornaments and that is what I use now. This year, I put up a fiber optic tree on Thanksgiving Day. Immediately, Holly, my younger cat, started chewing on the branches despite my telling her to not do so. I chased her away, but then I had to leave to head to my brother’s for dinner. When I came home that evening, I found my tree knocked over and on the floor. Oddly, since then, neither cat has touched it. But every time I put up something new for decoration, they have to inspect it and see if it’s something that needs to come down. LOL


D. McEntire

My husband, two children and I decided to try a new place to cut down a Christmas tree. After we told the man who greeted us we wanted to hunt for a tree, he told us to wait there. After disappearing into the barn, he returned with a llama. We looked at each other with raised eyebrows, wondering what we were supposed to do with the animal besides jump out of the way when it decided to hock a luggy. The man told us to go on out, cut down a tree, attach it to the llama's harness and he'll know what to do. We found our tree and did as instructed. Sure enough, once the tree was attached, the llama turned and headed straight for the barn. Though we didn't have a camera with us that day, that was one holiday memory we are sure never to forget.


Susan Andersen

Lori, this didn't happen to one of my cat's but to one of my friend Martha's.
She looked over and saw an inch of flat red ribbon sticking out of her kitty's mouth.
So she pulled it out before the cat could choke on it.
Or that was the plan. But like one of those multicolored magician's scarves, she pulled it out
and pulled it out
and pulled it out.
The cat had managed to unravel an entire ribbon wrapped ornament and Martha retrieved about 13 inches of the ribbon.
It was probably lucky it didn't kill the cat.
Happily my cats aren't as adventurous of the ornaments. But they like to sleep under the tree.


Dianne Castell

Cats and Christmas are a bad mix. Oh, I know you see the pics of the sweet cat sleeping by the hearth with the Christmas tree in the background...except those aren’t my cats.
Pixel and Spooky (what else would you name a cat you find on Halloween in the Kroger parking lot) are the anti-Christmas cats. They eat the tinsel then puke it up on the white rug.
And whereas Lori’s cats sleep peacefully under the Christmas tree, Pixel and Spooky have deemed it the Christmas litter box. That smell in the air is NOT pine!
I put little stuffed birds on a Poinsettia and the daring-duo attacked leaving a war zone of feathers, red leaves and dirt. My first Christmas tree died and I think it was out of fear or that the cats peed in the tree stand.
Of course both little darlings are sleeping next to my computer as I type this and are looking oh so angelic and sweet. Coal or Fancy Feast? Tough decision.


Donna MacMeans

Many, many years ago, when my husband and I couldn't afford ornaments to fully decorate the tree, I decided to bake gingerbread boys and girls, painstakingly decorate them, then run a red ribbon through holes made with a straw to hang on the tree.
I must have made about one hundred cookies.
The house smelled wonderful, the tree smelled fabulous. My husband and I and our Irish setter, Rusty Scrupper, gathered around the tree in awe of what our labor produced.
I seem to recall comments that we should do this every year. The next morning we got up, went into the living room, and noted that from the waistline down, the tree was bare. All that remained were the red ribbon hangers.
Rusty slept contently beneath.
In hindsight, we should have known that the temptation was too great to resist, but what can I say? We were dumb (smile). But I'll never forget the sight of that half-dressed tree.


Jules Bennet

Molly is my Beagle/St. Bernard mix that we rescued from the pound 9 years ago.

I cannot count how many Christmas presents this dog has "done her business on." The dog NEVER uses the bathroom in the house, except on Christmas presents.
And, the kicker is she only does it on my husband's gifts!

Here's a picture of Molly!

Stella Cameron

We have one very shy cat, Mango, who is now really old. She is also so shy it almost hurts. After friends brought their dog over when they visited us for an evening we couldn't find Mango and we were so frightened. We couldn't find her the next day either and started calling shelters although she has always been an indoor cat.

That afternoon, I assume when hunger became too much to bear, weak cries came from the direction of the tree. Mango had hidden, very carefully, inside a gift bag with the gift, a cashmere sweater. It was only later that I got upset about the condition of the sweater.

Kate Douglas

All I can offer is this little photo that we keep of Rufus—when he’s acting up I remind him I still have the negatives...

We haven’t put up a tree for years (allergies), and that’s generally the place where critters get into trouble, and because of Doug’s allergies, we don’t have cats...’nuff said! Pretty boring, critter-wise, around here!

(But hey, that's a mighty cute photo of Rufus!)

So... what's YOUR story!? If you have a pet that enjoys the holidays, or in some way causes havoc, please share it with us.

Merry Christmas everyone!
I hope this Holiday Season finds you healthy, happy, warm, filled with peace and surrounded by good friends and family.

LORI
aka
L.L. FOSTER

http://www.lorifoster.com/

Favorite Things

I've been a bit under the weather, finishing a book and scrambling with the holidays -- so over the weekend I dug out my sheet music, sat at the piano and took some time to play some lively, cheerful tunes. Hey, I have fun and the neighbors haven't complained. :-)

Never mind Beethoven sonatas (which I love), I was in the mood for Christmas carols and even my yellowed copy of "The Sound of Music." For the first time in ages, I played "My Favorite Things." I'd practiced it so many times as a kid that muscle memory kicked in and my fingers got with the program. It's a sentimental song that Julie Andrews uses to get the kids through a raging thunderstorm. Instead of thinking about the thunder and lightening...they think about their favorite things.

If you were singing with Julie Andrews on that stormy night at the mansion...what would be some of your "favorite things" -- the little things in your life that you appreciate when you're feeling overwhelmed, sad, frightened or just want to count your blessings? Not the big things. The little things.

I jotted down a few of my "favorite things" -- I didn't stop to think, just wrote:

1. Watching the birds on our hilltop: woodpeckers, robins, sparrows, wild turkeys, hawks, owls...so much entertainment!

2. A walk along the river. If it's above zero, I'm ready to go.

3. Finding a pink lady slipper in the woods.

4. Playing Christmas carols on the piano.

5. Listening to Beethoven's Ninth on December 16, his birthday. That's today!

6. Spring flowers. (That won't be for a while but just thinking about them makes me smile.)

7. Babies. Never hesitate to show me baby pictures!

8. Wandering through a bookstore...any bookstore.

9. Golden retriever puppies.

10. Snowshoeing during the quiet of winter.

I don't think I'd have any trouble of coming up with 10 more! What a reminder that some of the best things in life are free. We're in the heart of the holiday and flu season...I would so love for you to share some of your "favorite things" with us!

Have a great day, everyone,

Carla

The Staring Time

Good morning, my flowers:



This is what I call my "staring time." Usually only to myself, of course.



I've been staring at shiny palm crowns against a pale blue sky and listening to birds squabbling. They squabble because they're supposed to; there's no shortage of bird food in Kauai. Have you noticed how palm fronds click together, the sound they make?



All of this is background to the serious stuff of "staring time." My mind is open and racing along, picking up this piece of a story, taking a look and setting it aside--hopping into a character's head to see how it feels and how drawn I am to telling his or her story.



Between books doesn't last long for most of us, just long enough for the fire to start sparking and the excitement at the prospect of a new adventure to become too unsettling to ignore.



There is definitely a big place for guided invention. I do sometimes think, "What shall I write about and who will I write about?" And I scribble and mull and throw away lots of crumpled paper. But all of the filling in and fleshing out happens in a place I will never actually see or touch.



Magicville, maybe? Nope, don't think so--stories are part idea, part development (large part) and a lot of hard work that happens to be mostly a pleasure to me.



I think I'm going to go ahead with another Court of Angels book after OUT OF BODY, OUT OF MIND and OUT OF SIGHT. I am not even close to being finished with these people and, as tends to happen when writing a series of books, they are gathering some very interesting personalities along the way.



All of this adds up to the truth about "Staring Time" for me. I don't do well if I'm not writing. I'm a vessel without a rudder unless I have a place to go no matter where I am or what I'm doing. I'm on the case, folks and I'd better really get cracking.



We have a tiny silver Christmas tree on a table by the window and tomorrow I intend to decorate this little place. I'll put lights on when it's dark. The tree has always been the center of everything Christmas for me and I shall miss a big green tree smothered with everything our children ever made, multi-colored lights, glittery butterflies, sprays of sparkling ladybugs and anything and everything I have in all those basement boxes. But I'll walk barefoot through the village and look at other people's trees and listen to carols played on ukuleles and sung by some of the best voices in the world.



On Christmas Day we'll walk down to the beach to see all the local families having their luaus with children playing, dogs dashing about and people laughing, eating and singing. And there will be guitar and ukulele music, there is always that everywhere.



Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and may God bless us every one!



Stella

Finding that Holiday Spirit

Well? Are you ready for the holidays? Cards all done? Decorations up, gifts bought and wrapped and...no! Don't hit me. I'm sorry...I know. It's not funny, is it? I was looking at Lori's blog post from a few days ago with her beautiful tree and the wrapped gifts all around, and then at Susan's with a perfect tree and the ornaments in place and my first thought was huh? It's DECEMBER?

I am SO not ready, even though I do love this time of year. My husband actually has the lights up on our blue spruce out in the front yard and I've got twinkly lights in houseplants all around the house, but I haven't bought a single gift and the only cards I've sent are the ones to a few of my fellow authors and business associates. I've got address labels printed for the family and friends cards, but haven't got the cards yet. I decided not to enclose a picture this year, which will make it easier. I figure we look the same--just a year older. I need to start thinking about the menu for the big dinner I'll be cooking, but that's still a couple weeks away, and I'm the queen of procrastination.

I think that once our son and his family arrive here next week from their home in Hawaii, it'll start feeling more like Christmas.

There's something about getting the family together that makes the holidays come to life. I remember the year our daughter was nineteen and had just gotten out of Air Force boot camp. Sarah got shipped off to Germany four days before Christmas. That was the hardest Christmas ever--the very first one when one of our children wasn't home, and it makes my heart go out to all of the people across the country who have loved ones serving overseas right now, because I know the holidays just aren't the same for you. It's like a big hole in your world when one is missing. I can't imagine ever getting used to it.
One thing today definitely nudged me closer to the season--my author copies of Wolf Tales 9 showed up on the doorstep! I didn't expect them for a couple of weeks, so the FedEx delivery was a wonderful surprise. I love the cover of this book--it's got a satiny finish that makes it feel alive, and since there's an almost naked guy on the cover, I keep catching myself stroking that gloriously sleek back of his. Luckily my husband is very understanding, though he does keep looking at me as if I've lost a marble or two.

What is it that makes you finally accept the fact that the holidays are coming and it's time to get into the spirit? The change in the weather? Lights going up on the neighbor's house, or is it all the decorations suddenly popping up in stores? (They were up before Halloween around here...just a bit too early for my taste!) I made fudge this week and suddenly realized I was humming Jingle Bells...it had to have been a subliminal reaction to all that chocolate!

And, by the way, this is the world's easiest recipe--melt a package of chocolate chips in the microwave, mix in a tub of that pre-made chocolate frosting, add a cup of chopped nuts and press it into a square baking pan lined with foil or plastic wrap. Chill it, cut it, and you can't tell the difference from the real thing! Try it--if nothing else has you finding your Christmas spirit, this is bound to do the trick!

Susan finds the perfect tree

Every year at Christmas time I say the same thing. "This is the prettiest tree we've ever had."

This time I really mean it.

Okay, I always mean it. But back in the 70s, when we first bought our house, I used to pick Christmas trees to fit the 9 foot ceilings. The problem was, they had a correspondingly giant circumference that took up half of the living room. Not to mention that in those days I had about 12 ornaments. It wasn't a happy marriage of circumstances and eventually I discovered Frasier firs and started getting beautiful little trees around 6 feet tall.

I didn't head out for the annual Christmas Tree Slaughter last Saturday with a new agenda in mind. The soul mate and I make a game of finding a tree with a yellow tag size that sports a red tag, which is less expensive. (Hey, have you seen the prices of fresh trees these days?) And the selection at the tree farm was outstanding this year. I guess closing a field for a year really pays off because I'm telling ya, every tree looked prettier than the last. I liked the first one I saw, but of course you can't just buy that without looking at a selection.

And I'm so glad I did. Our tree was nine feet tall before S cut five inches off the trunk, and it's full without taking up every inch of space. My ornament collection has grown over the years and with the smaller trees I usually have quite a few that I leave in the box. This tree took every single one and I could have used some bigger models.

At first I feared it was too big, but as I looked at the proportions I realized it was...perfect. And this really is the prettiest tree we've ever had.

Lights and trees are a couple of my favorite parts of the holiday season. That, and my copy of A Cup of Christmas Tea that my auntie Jean gave me in '88 and which I always put under the tree once it's decorated.

How about you? Do you have a favorite aspect of the holiday or decoration, ornament or book?

Happy holidays, from my family to yours. I'm taking a little hiatus but will be back the first part of the new year.

JAYNE brings you the FIRED UP video

As most of you know, FIRED UP, Book One of the Dreamlight Trilogy, goes on sale Dec. 29th. This is the first volume in a "Trilogy within Arcane" that will cross all three of my timelines and pen names. Book Two, BURNING LAMP (under my Amanda Quick name) will be out in April and Book III, MIDNIGHT CRYSTAL (under my Jayne Castle name) arrives next August. (Yes, keeping the plot threads and characters straight was a real high-wire act!).

I'm really excited about these books and I couldn't wait to show you the cool video that Writerspace and Paula Graves (who, in another life writes romantic-suspense) created for it. I hope you enjoy it and the trilogy.

Now back to wrapping presents!

Sincerely,

Jayne

It's beginning to look a lot like...

Are you scooting right along with the holiday spirit, or are you resisting it in a big way?

I went to the hairdressers a few days ago - way overdue by the way - and my stylist was not in the holiday mood. LOL. Like many of us, she had divided-family issues, too many places to visit, too much indecision, and too many responsibilities to too many people. In other words, lots of STRESS. I felt bad for her, and we ended up laughing about a lot of holiday snafus and how to remedy them.

For years now I've tried to set up my contracts to leave me free for December. The few times I've had a book due in late December or January, I've about gone nuts.

You see, there's a whole lotta stuff I do just because I want to. For instance, I LOVE to decorate the outside of the house, and the inside! And now I also decorate the pond.

My pictures are a little dark and don't show details well, but here's how much of it looks:


House first, and then the pond... it looks really pretty from the street. :-)

Do you like to decorate? Is it inside and out, or something else?

This year has been funny because of the "helpers" I've had. My four-year old (very adorable!) grandson helped me decorate inside. I'd put 4 ornaments on the tree, and he'd take off 3 to examine them more closely.
I'd put a snowman on a shelf, and he'd take it down to sit it by another snowman so it wouldn't be lonely. :-) We did finally get it done, but he's over-using all the holidays gadgets that sing and play music. I think I might have to hide some of them!

Oh, and the animals! The cats crawl beneath the Christmas tree and pretend they're in the jungle... or something. Even after the presents went under there, they didn't give up. They just crush things. Which is okay, since there's nothing breakable at risk, and honestly, I enjoy their antics just like I enjoy my grandson.

Can you see the kitty under there? That's KiKi, the only female.
Look right above the green box.

And there's Liger, the 23lb cat. All you see sometimes are pairs of glowing eyes!

Kiki and Liger have golden yellow eyes, but Gremlin, the only cat not interested in the tree, has the most amazing emerald eyes that, even though this has nothing to do with the holidays, I have to share a funny photo of him.


Like a true Scrooge, he's giving raspberries to all holiday fanfare. :-)

Ages ago, my husband and I decided to have Christmas Eve at our house. I'm a control freak, and if I'm doing things, then they get done how and when I want. When I send out Christmas cards to family (mine are going out today) I include info on what time we'll celebrate Christmas Eve. I make it early - around 3pm - every year, which leaves everyone free to attend the more traditional, later plans with other family. But for anyone who wants to stay, we keep the fun going for hours. On average we get between 40 and 60 people.

Do you have a regular place you go, or like me, do you have everyone to your house?

The last few years we've cooked lasagna, pork roast (with sauerkraut and without) and ham. We also supply fruit salad, mac & cheese, rolls, mashed potatoes, and deviled eggs. Some family members bring assorted desserts, and my wonderful Mother in law always brings potato salad, baked beans and green beans.

Do you have a regular holiday meal that you cook, or that you eat at someone else's house?

Christmas Day is open for people to visit us and for us to visit them. Easy-peezy, right? Well, it is now that our kids are grown. When they were young, hubby worked 3rd shift and by the end of Christmas he would have been without sleep for days. He did it, but it sure wore on him.

These days, Christmas is relaxed compared to the chaos of young kids. I love it.

My cards are going out today.

My gifts are all bought and, other than a few things that haven't yet arrived by mail, everything is wrapped and under the tree (or on the living room couch, so I can keep it sorted.)

My Christmas CDs are getting plenty of play time.

Everything is decorated.

So tell me, are you scrambling, taking it easy, making solid headway, or ignorning it all? LOL

***As one of those things that I did "just because," I wrote a FREE Holiday story for my readers - my gift to you! The info went out in my newsletter, but I'll dish here too. If you want to read it, go to either of my websites for a link on the home page. It's called CHRISTMAS CANDI and I had a blast writing it, so I hope you enjoy reading it.

Whatever your holiday plans, I wish you health, happiness and peace this holiday season!

Lori
aka
L.L. Foster
http://www.lorifoster.com/

Happy December, everyone! I still have the Pilgrims and pumpkin candles out, but it's a busy time. I did several radio interviews for COLD RIVER. I love radio…I don't have to worry about my hair, and the hosts inevitably are very skilled at focusing questions and keeping the conversation moving. One asked me if I was going to shoot a wild turkey for Thanksgiving. (I said no!) We had a lot of fun.

The best part of Thanksgiving was being together with family. Our daughter and son-in-law were here with baby Leo. He just turned six months old. (The photo's of him as a newborn.) We were in Ireland, just getting over jet-lag, when we got word that he was coming a little early. We rushed home, of course, and all's well. He's much adored. He laughs at his sneezes!

While I'm thinking about it...I want to be sure to mention that the COLD RIVER "dream adventure" contest went "live" the day before Thanksgiving. Just go to www.coldrivercontest.com for details on how to win $1000. You can also read Chapter 1!

I started my Christmas shopping with my annual amaryllis order from White Flower Farm. It's the perfect gift for my 95-year-old father-in-law, who was Grand Marshal of his Tennessee hometown's Veterans' Day parade.

Of course, I also give books. Paperbacks make great stocking stuffers! That's how I discovered Agatha Christie as a kid.

And I love to cook for the holidays. My husband's aunt, who died two years ago, made the best boiled custard. I will always think of her when I dip my spoon into this treat—it's like a cross between eggnog and pudding…

Aunt Bettye's Boiled Custard

1 gallon whole milk

12-14 eggs

3 cups sugar

1 T. vanilla (after cooking)

Beat milk, eggs and sugar with electric mixer. Cook mixture in batches a double-boiler for 45 minutes; or use a large pan inside another larger pan filled with water. Remove from stove, add vanilla, beat with mixer again, strain, allow to cool and then chill.

Serves 12-14

Do you have any goodies you love to slip into a Christmas stocking or want to see slipped into yours? Do you enjoy any special treats during the holidays that remind you of loved ones? Let us know!

Have a great day,

Carla