heavenly promise,
a child is born, a Son gift;
celebrate His birth
promise
by Angie Quantrell
Join me on a Christmas Haiku journey as I celebrate with words, thoughts, and photos that take me deep into my family’s Christmas traditions. Read more Christmas Haiku posts here.
May this Season of Light brighten your life and fill your heart with the Promised One.
fight, bicker, make-up,
Christmas crackers, chaos, love;
family needed
family
by Angie Quantrell
Join me on a Christmas Haiku journey as I celebrate with words, thoughts, and photos that take me deep into my family’s Christmas traditions. Read more Christmas Haiku posts here.
May this Season of Light brighten your life and fill your heart with true family.
Brightly Burning
By Alexa Donne
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2018
Excerpt from book jacket:
“Stella Ainsley leaves poverty behind when she quits her engineering job aboard the Stalwart to become a governess on a private ship…But no one warned Stella that the ship seems to be haunted, nor that it may be involved in a conspiracy that could topple the entire interstellar fleet.”
Add to that nineteen-year-old Captain Hugo (aka love interest/person of interest), murder attempts, possible marriage, and personal risk for Stella, and you have an excellent mystery adventure set in space. Post ice age space, where all humans have jettisoned from Planet Earth to live in spaceships above the frozen landscape.
I was hooked from the beginning chapter to the final words. Brightly Burning is a fast read. At least I read it quickly! Memorable characters, mysteries and escalating tension, and a unique setting kept me glued to the pages. Though Brightly Burning is written for teens, readers of all ages will enjoy the captivating world created by Alexa Donne.
I received a copy of Brightly Burning from Alexa Donne, through Literary Rambles and Natalie Aguirre. Thank you both very much for a great read!
promises made, kept;
Savior given, Son fulfilled,
eternity’s hope.
hope
by Angie Quantrell
Join me on a Christmas Haiku journey as I celebrate with words, thoughts, and photos that take me deep into my family’s Christmas traditions.
May this Season of Light brighten your life and fill your heart with hope.
burn, reflect, dispel
darkness be gone; circles drawn,
rings, orbits of light
orbit
by Angie Quantrell
Welcome to Happy Hump Day Haiku Challenge: orbit. Enjoy mid-week frivolities by sharing a haiku poem. Happy day!
The grands are getting older, and therefore much more able to decorate gingerbread houses. For the older two, decorating is the goal instead of consuming vast amounts of sugar from the icing and candy. The younger three, well, sugar is the main goal.
Nana got smart this year and combined gingerbread house decor with Thanksgiving Dinner and Smashing of the Pumpkins. Once December hits, the schedule goes from zero to 100 mph and Christmas festivities cut into my attempts to gather all 5 for my Nana tradition. This seemed the best bet. Plus, a good meal was had, so some sugar was counter-balanced with turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy.
Before and after shots of grands and houses.
Tips for Your Gingerbread House Decorating:
*Gingerbread kits can be found in all variety of sizes, configurations, and number of homes included. Coupons and sales abound in a variety of stores. I found one set with 5 homes. Done. 5 grands equals 5 homes. Though I think some parents wanted to participate. Maybe next year I will need 2 sets.
*Hot glue houses together. This saves tons of time and keeps the houses steady for little hands. And who really eats gingerbread houses anyway?
*Cover cardboard with foil and tape to secure. Hot glue houses to foil. These bases provide plenty of room for landscaping and home decor.
*Purchase cake decorating pieces like our Christmas lights and snowmen. The grands loved adding them to their houses.
*Use tub frosting. The royal icing is soooo stiff, only the oldest 3 could manage to add it to their houses with the tube included in the kit. Soft frosting is just fine for adhering candy.
*Give each child his/her own plate with treats, decorations, a plastic knife, and a glob of icing. If they lick the knife (safe to lick, plastic!), it’s their own germs they eat.
*Limit sugar consumption by making sure home decorators have first eaten a meal. Divvy up candy between all involved decorators, thereby spreading the (sugar) wealth.
*Take lots of photos! Who knows what will happen once the houses go to their respective homes!
*Have fun! Messes are expected, so don’t worry about the small stuff. Everything washes off with a wash cloth.
Merry Christmas and Happy Traditions to You! Happy Gingerbread House Decorating!
Do you have a writer in the family? A friend who is a writer? Or maybe you love to read books?
Writers work hard, most don’t make enough to pay the bills, and many need to build their readership (so in the future perhaps they CAN make enough to pay the bills and not hold down a full-time job AND write at the same time). Christmas is the perfect time to support the writers you know and love. Anytime is the perfect time to show support and help writers on their journey.
Here are some GIFT GIVING IDEAS that Support Writers & Authors.
1. Purchase the book. Paperback, hardback, digital. Spring for a REAL copy. This will financially support your writer and encourage him or her to continue writing.
2. Join Goodreads. Look up titles you read. Write a review, rate the book, follow the author. Goodreads is a great community of writers, readers, and professionals dedicated to the world of books. My kind of community. P.S. You can discover new authors and books by reading reviews and suggestions!
3. Post book titles you are reading on your social media accounts. I love to include a snapshot of the cover so other readers will remember the title, author, and cover. Facebook, Twitter, Google, Instagram, and more are great social media ways to show and tell.
4. Check out the book from the library. Even if you’ve purchased a copy. Tell the librarians how much you enjoyed such and such author. Check out other books by the same author.
5. Not in the library? Most libraries have a way to suggest titles for purchase. I’m fortunate that my library system has a very up-to-date web site. I can go right in and suggest titles. I love it when I get a confirmation email for an approved purchase. I’m also the first in line to check it out! Pretty cool.
6. Write a review on Amazon. The more reviews a book has, the higher it ranks in importance. Don’t ask me to explain more, because that’s all I’ve got. Somehow, reviews help drive the benefits authors receive from Amazon (benefits=promotions=sales=income for authors). Even ONE sentence helps!
7. Tell someone why you like the book. Share your copy. Tell others about your favorite authors. Don’t keep it a secret.
8. Suggest books for book chats, book discussion groups, or book gifts. Give books as gifts. Include book titles on your wish list.
9. Make book giving a tradition in your family or circle of friends. I love to give a new book to my grandchildren each year. Some families (granted, with only one or two children) have a book pile for Christmas Advent, each book individually wrapped. One is opened and read every day leading up to Christmas. This could be a shared advent project for families with more than one child. OR if you are independently wealthy, each child could have his or her own advent stack of books.
10. Send a note to an author. Tell what their books or writing means to you. Give the gift of encouragement. Now that’s a jolly gift!
Extra Gift Idea: Follow authors on your social media platforms. Look for their web sites and follow those. Sign up for newsletters to receive notices of new book releases. Read their blogs. Join discussions by commenting. All efforts will be appreciated.
How about you? Can you think of any other cool gifts to give to writers? Share below in the comments. Thanks! Happy Gift Giving!
The pumpkins were frozen solid, as was our turkey, on Thanksgiving Day. This made for an invigorating hunt for fresh turkey to cook for the main event. It also made for challenging smashing of the pumpkins.
Overall, smashing pumpkins this year was a bust. 😉 Only 2 large carving pumpkins were hollow enough to smash when tossed. One rotten butternut succumbed to smashing by foot. All other squash, regardless of variety, bounced upon re-entry to gravity-meets-earth. Add to this recipe of disappointment, drenching buckets of rain descended on this, the 2nd Annual Smashing Pumpkins event. Rain and icy cold temperatures. Bah-humbug.
Still, there is hope. The next warm day (will there be one before spring?), more attempts will be made to roll, toss, and smash the pumpkin stash. In hopes that next summer, the pumpkin fairy will deliver bounties of new beauties.
Until next Thanksgiving Day, have a wonderful winter, dreaming of sugar pie pumpkins and dancing jack-ô-lanterns.
Toasty warm wishes to you!
The Three Rules of Everyday Magic
Written by Amanda Rawson Hill
Boyds Mills Press, An Imprint of Highlights, 2018
Believe. Give. Trust.
Those three rules of everyday magic are what give Kate hope over difficult life circumstances. From her Grammy, who is sinking into loss of memory, these rules are passed to Kate to help her deal with a fading best friend, missing father, and stressful home and school life. Though Kate doesn’t believe in magic, she clings to the three rules to seek help with her struggles.
The Three Rules of Everyday Magic is a well-written, interesting chapter book by Amanda Rawson Hill. I loved the characters, situation, and real-life stresses faced by Kate and her family. Tough issues, like mental illness, memory loss, school, and friendship give this book a current world flavor. The music theme ties the components of the story together in a refreshing and believable way.
I recommend The Three Rules of Everyday Magic for upper elementary and middle school students, especially those who are struggling with home life and need someone with whom to identify.
Thanks for a copy of The Three Rules of Everyday Magic from Literary Rambles, Natalie Aguirre, and Amanda Rawson Hill. Thank you for sharing good literature for young readers.
The RV life. Let’s just agree that certain jobs, chores, and hobbies require flexibility, working in tiny spaces, and unimaginable chaos.
For instance, for my birthday I thought I’d sew my new flannel nightgown. I used to wear flannel nightgowns all the time, compliments of my mommy. I loved those gowns and wore them to rags. Once I could sew, I made a nightshirt version of nightgown, easy to sew, roomy, comfy. And I wore those to rags. I haven’t had a flannel nightgown for at least a decade, as menopause negated any desire for cozy pajamas.
But now, sensing the end is in sight (of hot flashes and general always-hot flashes), I found a very cute woodland animal flannel when shopping for my soon-to-be-born nephew and decided I needed a matching (to his quilt) flannel nightshirt.
The fun begins when one makes the choice to sew. In an RV. Steps for me included:
-clear the table (dining room, office, rec room, living room)
-clear counters for work space
-wash the fabric (next door in the Quantrell community laundry room)
-dig out the sewing machine, mini ironing board, iron, tub of sewing supplies (stored beneath the bed)
-set up sewing machine and accoutrements on table
-use TV tray for extra work space
-postpone any plans for cooking, relaxing, or doing any other sort of work until completion of project
Of course, this is just setting up. As I worked on my new jammies, I had to creatively fight my foot around the table leg to work the foot pedal. I had to iron carefully, as the top of the board plus the iron totaled more than available space before hitting the stove hood. The table is not wide enough to contain all the fabric, so slippage from the table made me use all hands to control, hold fabric, and press controls. Putting in snaps required a trip to the shop for a hammer and working on the floor with the wooden cutting board. I only broke one snap and put one on backwards. Haha! Besides ironing something that was not supposed to be ironed (thereby melting it to the iron), everything went pretty smoothly.
The news is not all dire. In such a tiny space, the TV and Hallmark Channel are a mere 5 feet away. Normally, I’d be watching my Seahawks, but since they won Thursday night, they had the day off. So Christmas frivolity and cozy romance played as background to my stitching adventures. The kitchen is at my back, so snacks and drinks are literally within arms’ reach. Benefits are to be had when living in an RV.
Et voila! New jammies!
Takeaway: You can do anything you want in an RV. Just know creativity, perseverance, and patience are key.
What challenging hobbies (chores, tasks, work) have you done in an RV or small space? Not in an RV? What fun hobbies to you enjoy?
Love, Laughter, and Life 