Christmas in a box

For the last few years, we've enjoyed Christmas "lite." We've spent the holiday itself with our children and grandchildren at their houses. While it was a bit sad to realize I wouldn't have Christmas morning around my own tree any more, it was what I had wanted when my children were young. Everything comes full circle.

Therefore, I've even not decorated the house for Christmas once or twice. But it felt lonely when I avoided the boxes and decorations all together, so this year, we ventured to something just a bit different and I feel we finally hit the right combination.

I've wanted a wrought iron Christmas "tree" for several years and finally gave into the urge this November. It looked a bit like an overly ambitious coat tree. However, all of our favorite ornaments, those which are stored in a closet and not in the attic, were able to be easily viewed as well as the second tier of goodies I brought down from the attic.

The only issue was lights. There's no way to decorously wrap twinkles around the "branches" and as the tree was black, white or green covered wire would have been very detracting. I have a year to work on this problem.

So when it came time to dismantle the tree, it all fit in a box: the tree in pieces, the front door reindeer, the tree skirt, the Advent calendar. The ornaments went to their own boxes and 30 minutes later, it was done!

Christmas in a box. Ready for next year and all the years afterward, displaying our favorite ornaments and relatively hassle free.

Side note: I see where it's on sale at Solutions right now, but backordered. Item 67386 if you want to give it a look.

A SUITE DEAL on sale now!

Over the weekend, I loaded the files of A Suite Deal onto Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iTunes. It's a short, sweet romantic comedy complete with misunderstanding, miscommunication, and a meddling family. What could be better for the holiday season?

Price is $2.99. Give it a look.

Faster than the speed of light

I now know what is faster than the speed of light, which is, for those of us rusty on the particulars, 186,000 miles/second. That's not really even a comprehensible number, given the circumference of the earth is nearly 25,000 miles. A bit of division finds that light would travel around it over seven times in a second.

What could possibly be faster? Time.

How can it be Christmas already? Didn't we just celebrate it? We had to say goodbye to beloved cat Pyewacket two days before Christmas last year. Has he already been gone that long?

We've been back from the most glorious trip for over four weeks. How can that be? Did the three weeks we were gone just evaporate? Where did they go? Just memories destined to fade?

And yet...

It seems another lifetime that I myself was a first-time mother. I look at the photos and wonder, who is that? Was that me?

The hours can be slow, the weeks quick, the years... faster than the speed of light.

A Suite Deal

In 2003, as an e-published author, I entered the Short Contemporary Romance section of the Virginia Romance Writer's HOLT Medallion contest. I surprised myself, and everyone else who made the finals as well probably, by winning over traditionally published books.

A Suite Deal is a short romantic comedy based on misdirection and miscommunication. I've always loved it and this season decided to update and tweak it to 2015.

I have a beautiful cover designed by Lyndsey Lewellen and I want to share it with you. Hopefully, the book will be formatted and ready for publishing by Christmas. I plan to offer it for Kindle, Nook, and iBooks.