I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration no matter how different it might have been. We had all the same foods: Turkey and pumpkin pie.
But we ate outside using paper plates and socially distanced.
We were missing one family of our three and had none of the extended family (MsIL or Cousins). My older daughter was feeling under the weather, and in an abundance of caution she and her family stayed home. Disappointing, but best decision. Fortunately, it turned out to just be allergies, but if you have allergies, you know how that can wipe you out.
In looking for paper products, I stumbled on some placemats that were fun to use. We’ve always gone around the table saying what we were thankful for, but this made it a bit more concrete.
And now we’re in the Christmas season. I noticed on FB all the people getting their trees and decorations up early. It’s like everyone needed an extra boost of joy. Our SIL Kevin Strawser did a great job adding Christmas lights to our dock. They for sure bring joy.
Later this weekend, I’ll get to our tree and the lights that go on the fence. I’m still clinking a bit longer to my fall decorations. I do love them. So, a day to take them all down, and then we’ll start on Christmas. I’m excited to put up two lighted deer and two modernish trees on the lake side. Probably not on the dock where a good wind (which we get frequently) could knock them into the drink.
This year, we’re doing the family drawing including the grands. They all seem to be excited about it. I had already gotten warm Christmas stockings for everyone, so yesterday, I delivered those along with beautiful poinsettias purchased from our church Boy Scout troop. They were gorgeous. Sorry, I failed to take a pic.
Book News: All month, you could pick up two of my e-books for Free. There were six of us authors from my writing chapter. Totally we gave away 332 books. I gave away 36 TRUTH BE TOLD and 20 SECOND ACT. That kind of surprises me because SA is the beginning of a series, but TBE has something of a Christmas cover, so that may have pulled people in.
Which brings me to my WIP. I tentatively called it Santa and the Ballot Box, but that doesn’t work with the way the story is developing. Oh, I’ll get to the Hallmark Christmas part, but I’ve started with a murder. LOL I gotta tell you how exciting it is to “pants” this book. Way more than any other. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, and my curiosity keeps pulling me back to the keyboard. I’ve heard that from other authors who’ve been pantsers from the beginning. I apparently had to grow into this phase of my writing. This is the 11th book I’ve written. In doing some garage cleaning I ran across papers with a 2009 date when I worked on my first book. Not the first published book, VERMONT ESCAPE published in 2013 and the 4th book I’d penned.
The Christmas book is set in a small, fictional New Hampshire town near the White Mountains. It’s been fun to research the area and how the government works there. I like to get terminology straight about councils and boards of aldermen. And of course, it’s a fictional town, so I can really set it up however I’d like, but if someone in New England reads the book, I don’t want them to think, “Boy she didn’t know a thing about the area.” I do know something of the area. New Hampshire and Vermont were the first two states we visited during a Fall break. This is where we stayed, The White Mountain Resort. It’s an Omni now.
Marsha R. West, Author 
Your new book sounds interesting. I never know what is going to happen in my books until it does, and then that could change a number of times. I took writing classes when I first started. I could never write with an outline or following the rules of writing fiction with the three acts. I pretty much write the way I want to and it seems to work out.
I missed having pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. We had berry pie instead. As you know everything is decorated at our house. We haven’t started listening to Christmas music yet, but have watched one Christmas movie. I love Christmas and everything about it, but then I also love Thanksgiving and everything about that and each and every holiday throughout the year. Bill always said his favorite holiday was Ground Hogs Day. Growing up, our kids had a special celebration with us for that day. Our youngest continues the celebration with his family. Not sure about our oldest.
Enjoyed your post as always. Have a great weekend. 🙂
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Hey, Susan. Yes, your decorations are really beautiful. I couldn’t have dreamed of not having a plan when I first started writing. For my first book I made a list of 254 things that would take place. I guess it really is a learn by doing activity. I’ve been watching Hallmark movies right and left. Will write about them next week. I’d love to hear how you did Ground Hog day. Really appreciate you stopping by and sharing. With youngest granddaughter now and we’re about to walk Charley. 🙂
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Thanksgiving was great! A bit unusual. It was ham day instead of turkey day because 3 of the 4 attendees do not like turkey. (I missed the turkey, dressing and gravy though.) GT put our tree up, but since we are winding up putting in a new kitchen,I am not going to drag out all the decorations till the kitchen and stuff from it are organized and put away. Love your pictures!
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Hey, JQ. I like ham, but boy I’d have really been disappointed not to have turkey and the trimmings. You were sweet to accommodate. I can’t wait to see the finished pics of your new kitchen but it does make sense to wait to do the decorations until all the mess is cleared away. Thanks so much for stopping by. 🙂
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