A very special thank you to Anders and all the wonderful folks at Divine Magazine for our awesome holiday blog hop! This blog hop is to get us all in Christmas mood. Get hopping and read all the posts as the common theme is, well, Christmas!🎄 Don't forget to scroll down to the bottom and enter the giveaway!
As you know, I write young adult works for Dreamspinner’s Harmony Ink Press label. I have a unique writing background in a number of ways and have written in multiple mainstream venues for years, and spent way too much time on movie sets as a kid watching films come to life for the silver screen. Though I write for Harmony Ink Press and have spent the past four years concentrating on young adult works, I write primarily for adults—surprise! I have all kinds of books releasing in 2017 and I hope you'll join me in celebrating them!
The Holiday Season means a lot to me because it's a time of love and laughter. Those of you who know me, know that I love to share and spread laughter. My most precious holiday memory was my very first Christmas gift. I was raised by my grandfather, a prolific author, and began writing at the age of seven. That year, my grandfather gave me two dictionaries, the Oxford Dictionary, and Webster's New International Dictionary. (c. 1943) Best gifts ever! Try lifting all 3,194 pages from a shelf to your desk! My grandfather and I spent the next year or so reading the Websters dictionary. I kid you not. I still have both dictionaries and, in spite of our internet information age, I often find myself perusing these wonderful reference books.
My favorite holiday recipes have to do with mice. Not joshin'. You remember A Visit from St. Nicholas. Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse and all that? Of course you do. Well, leave it to my overactive imagination to fixate on the mouse. I know! I know! I first began making them out of strawberries and chocolate kisses. Easily bored, I expanded my horizons, and now make almost every sort of creature one can make out of strawberries and chocolate. But every holiday, without fail, I create the mice. I kid you not. It's a plight. You can find recipes for these small Christmas creations all over the net!
Thank you for joining me for the Divine Magazine Christmas Blog Hop! Have a wonderful Holiday Season and Happy New Year!
Here are some Santas, ladybugs, and owls too.
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
Gave a lustre of midday to objects below,
When what to my wondering eyes did appear,
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:
"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and Vixen!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the housetop the coursers they flew
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too—
And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.
He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack.
His eyes—how they twinkled! his dimples, how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard on his chin was as white as the snow;
The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke, it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.
He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”
Source: The Random House Book of Poetry for Children (Random House Inc., 1983)
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Some thoughts that popped into my head when I read this. . . "wow, you have way too much time on your hands!", then, "when do you sleep Cody?", then, "awwwww, those are adorable!".
ReplyDeleteI learn something new every day! Now I'm off to look for more holiday spirit.
KerryP
LOL The mice are important!
DeleteStrawberries and chocolate is the best combination <3 Your dictionaries are awesome - a beautiful way to remember your grandfather too. <3 I think the best part of Christmas is the family fun that we make <3 Singing and decorating the tree - it is all fun :)
ReplyDeleteYes, yes, and yes! Love and laughter all around!
DeleteSoooo, you have been hiding these secret confection culinary abilities, have you? And BTW Kerry, he doesn't sleep... ever. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat adorable, edible mice! I'm going to have to try to make some! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete