Mom's last Christmas Gift

As of 7:30pm tonight we’d had 2.7” of snow. Why is this a big deal? We live just outside of Atlanta. Georgia. In the Deep South. According to a local news source, Atlanta hasn’t had snow that stuck since the 1880s. This winter we had a trackable snow on the 12^th and now a full scale snow fall on Christmas Day. The first white Christmas in over 100 years. My son has been excited all day and nearly vibrating with interest in the cold white stuff.

Growing up in Illinois, you would think that white Christmases were the norm. They aren’t. Central Illinois doesn’t normally see more than a faint trackable snow in December. Trackable refers to the fact that if a rabbit ran through it, it would leave tracks you could follow. Our real snows don’t generally fall until January and especially February. So white Christmases were special for us, especially for my mother.

My mom loved all things Christmas. The weeks from Halloween to New Years were her favorite time of the year, culminating in Christmas. As a family, we women went shopping on Black Friday and it kicked things off for us. Christmas was very much about family and all things traditional Christmas. The tree went up on the Friday after Thanksgiving and came down New Years. Lights bedecked the house, indoors and out. Old movies such as Miracle on 34^th Street were playing in the background on a continuous loop. And snowmen were everywhere. She loved and collected Frosty in all his incarnations.

My mom loved snow. She always dreamed of taking a horse-drawn sleigh ride through the falling snow. Each year she watched for all the folksy indicators and focused on the nightly weather report waiting to see if we would have a white Christmas. When I moved south she would call every time they had snow to ask if we were coming up any time soon. Once my son was born she was especially interested to know if we were planning on coming up for the holidays and even more vigilant about the weather to see if he would have snow for our visits.

My mom passed away a few weeks ago. It snowed heavily the day she died and we had five inches of snow in Illinois for her funeral. The flowers that were sent by those who knew her all shared the Christmas theme in honor of her love of the season. The topiary we picked out from the grandchildren was adorned with a stuffed snowman. I didn’t take my son. He’d just turned two and we felt he was too young for the 9 hour trip plus he was too young to sit through the funeral and all the planning we would have to do.

Today is Christmas and I honestly believe we all received her last Christmas gift. All of her children and grand children (except the ones who live in Florida) have had a white Christmas. My son played in more snow than he’s ever seen and there will be even more on the ground for him in the morning. So tomorrow, along with all his other Christmas gifts, my son will get to play again with his grandma’s last Christmas present—something that will make all future white Christmases, rare or not, even more precious.

***Update Even the grandkids in Florida saw flurries. Mom must have been working hard.

Saddness among beauty

We recently took our son, Z, up to north Georgia to the lovely area around Helen. Helen is a tourist trap, but it’s a clean, nice place to be a tourist trap. We head up each year more to visit the stands that pop up along the roadside. They sell ciders of all types, apple, peach, muscadine, blackberry and many, many others. There are homemade apple fritters, apple butter, hand crafts and boiled peanuts K loves these, I detest them, even the smell makes me nauseous. Z watched the horses in the fields, the farm cats and dogs running about with wide eyes while we shopped and tasted.

Helen itself is a picturesque little Alpine style village in the North Georgia mountains. There are shops selling every little whatnot you can imagine, shirts, “old-time” pictures, real estate (buy or rent your own mountain cabin) and homespun art. One of our favorite places is Hansel and Gretel’s Candy Kitchen. They make the best goodies –salt water taffy, turtles, caramels, candied apples and more flavors of fudge than you could begin to imagine. The alpine feeling is enhanced by the horse drawn carriages that give rides to visitors. Z got to ride in his first carriage and feed the horse, Nelly, carrots.

While up there, we stopped at a place that purported to be a bear nature center, The Black Forest Bear Park. We expected to see one or two black bears (Georgia’s native species) in a nice tended area. We were horrified by what we saw. In this small building set off of Main Street, there are 16 adult bears in an enclosure that is smaller than half a football field. There are eight cement enclosures where half the bears are allowed out at a time. They look like the bottom of an empty swimming pool. We heard the guy on duty tell someone that the rest of the bears were in “dens” under the floor of the walkway that we were on. The walk way couldn’t have been 30 feet across.

Z was fascinated, but we couldn’t help look at each other in horror of how these bears were being treated. It was horribly sad to see these beautiful creatures humbled and humiliated into begging food from the visitors who tossed apples and slices of French bread. Sadly, the place isn’t breaking any laws. I can’t help but think that one day humanity will pay for it’s arrogance.

Creativity

A friend of mine made a statement on her blog that got me thinking. She said there is very little room for practicality in a creative person’s life. Now there’s not a lot that Jenn and I disagree on, oh a few things here and there that make each of us roll our eyes and shake our heads at the other, but this one stood out for me today in a big way.

I just finished my first “paper” for the class I’m taking to get my master’s degree. It has been a struggle this week to find the time to do homework and work and family and me. I’m not sure I managed all of it with any kind of finesse, but it all has gotten done…almost, we won’t look at the big pile of laundry or the stack of tests I still need to grade.

So did I do anything creative? Yes. I planned out the performance tasks and lesson sequences for the next section my students will be working on. I squeezed in some reading for leisure around the edges. My mind has been making changes to a manuscript I have in the works, nothing written, but it’s in my head. I took my son to a football game that required a car ride of 45 minutes.

What? These don’t seem creative to you? They are, I assure you. Let’s start with the first. I had to develop and outline the real-life task my students will perform to show that they understand and can utilize the information in the upcoming expository and persuasive units of study. Go on, try it. What is the goal, the role the student will fill, the audience, the real life situation the student will be experiencing and what is the actual performance task outline? Got one for understanding expository texts? Okay, now do it again for persuasive texts. Now figure out how to maintain the attention of 150 7^th and 8^th graders while you present the information. See what I mean yet?

No? Try the next one. Reading for leisure. This is an easy one, right? The story fills your head and you transport yourself into the situation and you live, breath and move with the characters in the story. You feel as they feel, you experience what they experience…no? Then you don’t really know how to read.

But let’s try again. Come up with a way to entertain a 21 month old in the backseat of a car while you drive in the front seat of a car for 45 minutes…each way. No, videos aren’t an option. Getting it yet?

It is my belief that we need to learn to see our creativity differently. I know this isn’t the point that Jenn was making, but it got me thinking. Instead of bemoaning the unfinished painting, manuscript, sculpture, composition, etc. that you have, begin celebrating and recognizing all the ways you do exercise your creativity on a daily basis. By doing that, and adding a bit of creative time management, you just may find yourself motivated to finish that project that has you feeling like a creative failure.

The beauty of candles

My sister-in-law has started a small home business making candles. You see, my sister-in-law was diagnosed some years ago with MS. She's a young mother with four small children and over the past few years the MS has eroded her ability to work at any structured job to help her husband support the family. So with her fledgling home business, she can work at her own time and pace.

I encourage you to drop by the facebook page or blog to see what they have to offer.

Cliches and Contrivances

Cliches are cliches because they are fall backs because they were good ideas and fit with the genre they appear in. Cliches are not bad in and of themselves, they are only bad when they are a substitute for creativity and become trite and boring. A clever writer can take what appears to be a cliche on the surface and turn it around with a clever dealing.

One book I recall included every cliche in the sub-genre and none handled very creatively. I found the most interesting part of the book waiting to see just how many cliche's the author could squeeze in. Of course, contrivances are just as fun as cliches. Oh, don't worry, none of the negative aspects of the life the heroine has been cast into will ever come to pass because then it wouldn't be romantic. To avoid this the author creates a contrived and convenient set of circumstances that simply defy the ability of the reader to suspend disbelief.

Recent Reads

The Heart's Warrior by Leigh Bale "A heart broken~ Known for her healing skills, Kerstin, the Witch of Moere, is torn from the arms of her betrothed and forced into marriage with Jonas, The Beast of Hawkscliffe, her family's mortal enemy. Believing herself in love with another man, Kerstin cannot deny the fierce passion Jonas ignites within her nor the awakening of feelings she has never known before. A heart tormented ~ A warrior of duty, to ensure peace, Jonas will honor the kin's demand and wed the woman accused of murdering his elder brother. As Jonas faces Kerstin's wrath, the golden warrior longs for serenity and love, but doubts these yearnings will ever come true. Yet when he weds Kerstin, he finds his carefully guarded heart is overcome by desire and she alone can heal his damaged soul." ***


Loose Lips by Rita Mae Brown This is the story of Julia Ellen and Louise Hunsenmeir, two sisters navigating aging, married life and motherhood in a small town during the years of World War II. This is the third book in the series that follows the outrageous women who specialize in sibling rivalry and behaving badly. **










Bought for the Harem by Anne Herries "Thrown into a frightening and unfamiliar world after her capture by corsairs, Lady Harriet Sefton-Jones thinks help has arrived in the form of dashing Lord Kasim. But its out of the frying pan and into the fire... Kasim may once have been a n English nobleman, but there is nothing noble about his intentions to purchase Harriet for his master the caliph's pleasure. Harriet must resign herself to a life of enslavement. But Kasim has a plan of his own: charmed by Harriet's spirit and beauty, he's determined to claim her for himself!" **

Release Day

Today is the release day for From the Dark Side (see the trailer on the right). While it may not have cookies, it has some seriously terrific short stories and poem from a group of exceptionally talent authors. (No I'm still not sure how I ended up in it.) The anthology is a charity project with all proceeds going to the Offices of Letters and Light. This is the non-profit group who sponsors the Youth Writing Project and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month)--an amazing and supportive event that encourages writers and those who want to be writers to complete a novel (for good or bad) in one month. The point of it is to get the thing down and as a writer I can tell you that sometimes that's the hardest part.

So for tales from the dark side, scary creep tales that will make you sleep with the lights on, check out From the Dark Side at Amazon.com or Smashwords.com



Oh, and it's not one of the stories this anthology but if you're looking for one of the best shorts I've ever read, while your on these sites check out Black Velveteen by Jennifer Hudock. Not only is Jenn the one who has worked so hard editing the charity anthology, but she's one of the best writers out there--especially when it comes to stories that will stick with you for a while. While looking for the link to the anthology, I found a link to Black Velveteen. I had the privilege to read this story in its infancy when Jenn was crafting it and it is an absolute must read. Smashwords or Amazon I promise this is the best 99 cents you'll spend on a story.

Recent Reads

Finished two sweet little romances the last few days. Nothing earth shattering that will have me craving to read it again or that I will probably remember, but nice little reads. Both are fairly chaste.



Shot Gun Bride by Lauri Robinson- Like most girls, Jessie Johnson will never forget the first time she met her mother-in-law. After all who can forget a shotgun pointed at them? Bartered for a dead horse at gun point, she either agrees to marry one of the Quinter boys or her brother will hang for horse theft. Jessie knows nothing about being a wife- other than the wedding will likely put her new husband in grave danger. After being knocked unconscious by his brothers, Kid Quinter finds himself surrounded by his uncouth family, the sheriff, a preacher, and an adorable young woman. Tied to a chair, he's given no choice but to marry Jessie Johnson. And that’s just the beginning of his troubles- it appears his pretty little wife has quite a past, including a notorious gunslinger looking for retribution.




Mother of the Bride by Caroline Anderson- (This is the first Harlequin I've read in many years. Many people will turn up their noses at the books by this publisher and they have a semi-deserved reputation for being cookie cutter and somewhat ridiculous. But with increasing competition in low cost romance novels, Harlequin is stepping it up.) Mother of the bride catches the bouquet! With just a few months until her daughter's wedding, Maisie feels butterflies at the prospect of seeing Jenni's dad, Rob, again after so many years. As parents of the bride they'll be hosting the wedding party at his stunning Scottish ancestral estate, and watching as their daughter says "I do." Whether it's nostalgia or wedding planning fever, Maisie's beginning to wonder, can she convince Rob that they have another chance at their own happily-ever-after?