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I’m getting kind of spoiled these last two Christmases by getting my main gift a few weeks early. Last year, my parents sent me a brand-new computer and flat-panel monitor just after Thanksgiving. They knew I’d been having trouble with my old one, and they were getting new (Vista) computers, so Daddy just splurged and bought new ones for all of us (thank goodness mine came with XP, though!). Considering I spend 80–90% of the time I’m home on that computer, it was one of those “just what I always wanted” kind of gifts: unasked for and unexpected but greatly appreciated.

This year, I got my gift on December 6—something I’ve been wanting for even longer than I wanted a new computer, and something, again, totally unexpected.

I got a phone call.

Yep, that’s right. My Christmas gift, the one I’ve been wanting, dreaming of for years and years and years, came in a phone call at 1:00 in the afternoon, Thursday, December 6, 2007. It was a call from my agent, Chip MacGregor, to tell me that a publisher wants my contemporary inspirational romance novel, Happy Endings Inc. with an option of picking up the subsequent books in the series.

Having had a “false positive” with another publisher that said they wanted to buy a different manuscript (met with one of their senior editors, proposal went all the way to pub board and it took them three weeks to make the decision to pass on it), I was excited but still a little reticent about announcing it publicly. I did tell my closest friends, but asked them to keep it secret for the time being, as I wanted to be able to surprise my parents and grandmother with the news for Christmas. Because not only was this the gift I’ve always wanted, it’s the give I’ve always wanted to give to them.

Chip told me that there was a possibility we might get the contract before Christmas, but not to depend on it before mid-January. But on Wednesday, December 19, I received the contract. Thursday, December 20, 2007, on my lunch break from work, I went home and called Chip and went through each point of the terms.

Now that it’s signed, sealed, and (soon-to-be) delivered, and since I’ve given my parents and grandmother a mocked-up book cover with a coming soon message on it, I can freely announce here that Happy Endings Inc. will be published by Barbour Publishing in January 2009! (At least, that’s the tentative release date.)

In some ways, it still doesn’t feel real. And I guess it probably won’t until I’m actually holding the real book in my hands, or when I see it on the shelf at Barnes & Noble or Lifeway for the first time.

I’ve had a lot of folks asking me what series I plan to run on my blog in 2008. I will still be running Fiction Writing Series throughout the year (so send your suggestions for topics you’d like to see), but I’ll also be keeping you up-to-date on my journey on the road to becoming a published author.

Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to drop a quick note to let you all know that I’ll have limited face-time with the computer over the next week, so this will be my last post for a few days.

But be sure to stop by on Christmas day for a very special post . . .

In the meantime, I wish you the merriest and most blessed of Christmases!

A friend forwarded this e-mail yesterday, and I found it too true not to share . . .

Men Are Just Happier People — what do you expect from such simple creatures?

• Your last name stays put.
• The garage is all yours.
• Chocolate is just another snack.
• You can be President.
• You can never be pregnant.
• You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park or you donʼt have to wear any shirt to a water park.
• Car mechanics tell you the truth.
• The world is your urinal.
• You never have to drive to another gas station because the restroom was just too icky.
• You don’t have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt.
• Same work, more pay.
• Wrinkles add character.
• People never stare at your chest when you’re talking to them.
• New shoes don’t cut, blister, or mangle your feet.
• One mood all the time.
• Wedding dress: $5000; tux rental: $100; wedding plans taking care of themselves: PRICELESS
• Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat.
• You know stuff about tanks.
• A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase.
• You can open all your own jars.
• You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.
• If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.
• Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack.
• Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.
• You almost never have strap problems in public.
• You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes.
• Everything on your face stays its original color.
• The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades.
• You only have to shave your face and neck.
• You can play with toys all your life.
• One wallet and one pair of shoes — one color for all seasons.
• You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look.
• You can “do” your nails with a pocket knife.
• You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.
• You can do your gift shopping for 25 relatives on December 24th in 23 minutes. 

No wonder men are happier!

Here are a couple of funnies I saw today:

more funny cat pictures

more cute puppy pictures

Last night on NPR, I heard one of their movie critics give his top-ten (eleven, since one place had a “tie”) list of his favorite movies he’s seen in 2007. Naturally, they were almost all artsy-fartsy, foreign-language, independent, dramatic, esoteric, incomprehensible . . . (I think you get my point). There was only one on his list that I’ve seen, and—amazingly enough—it is on my list too (#4).

I’m going to try to limit this to just movies I saw at the theater—and I’ve been to the movies more times this year than in the last three years combined. But I did have to mention one that actually released in 2006 that I saw for the first time on DVD in 2007, just because I enjoyed it so much.

[There are several movies that came out this year that I haven't yet had the opportunity to see, but really want to:
August Rush
Enchanted
Becoming Jane
3:10 to Yuma
National Treasure: Book of Secrets (going to see this Friday)
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep]

But now, without further ado, here are my favorite movies that I watched in 2007:

10. The Illusionist. I think this movie may have actually come out in 2006, but I watched it on DVD this year. This movie reminded me very much of the films of M. Night Shyamalan, complete with a twist at the end.

9. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. This was the summer of the sequels—Pirates, Bourne, Harry Potter, Shrek, Fantastic Four, etc. I greatly anticipated this “final” film in the trilogy, even took my parents to see it when they came to visit me over Memorial Day weekend. It would be higher on my list, except I think it was poorly edited and suffered a little from series fatigue in the storywriting. The scene with Captain Jack out in the desert could have been cut way down, apparently they cut out at least one key scene of dialogue that would have explained the ending better, and they kind of dropped the whole Calypso storyline down the drain (literally). But still, a great, fun movie.

8. Sicko. I know, I know. Most people don’t like Michael Moore nor his documentaries. But even though his bias is evident in how he put together this documentary on healthcare in America compared with overseas, it was an eye-opening look into an industry I previously knew (or thought) so little about. And it’s funny.

7. No Reservations. I’m not a big Catherine Zeta Jones fan. I find Abigail Breslin annoying (does she really have to be in every movie that calls for a pre-pubescent girl?). But this movie took me by surprise. It helps that when we went to see it, I was actively working on my novel that features a chef as the hero. But this was well written and well acted all the way around. Caveat: do not watch this movie on an empty stomach!

6. The Game Plan. This movie was worth the price of admission just from the first few minutes. Okay, I admit, I wanted to see it because I love Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. I expected it to be cute. I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was. Both Johnson and Madison Pettis (who played his daughter, Peyton) brought not just humor but also a genuineness that is often missing from “cotton candy” movies like this one. Oh, and The Rock sings!

5. Amazing Grace. Again, going to see this film was a decision made more based on who was in it than the subject matter. Some actors are just born to play historical characters, and Ioan Gruffudd is one of them. This movie featured a who’s who of British actors (Ciaran Hinds, Toby Jones, Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, Rufus Sewell) and introduced a new face, who will hopefully become one of that who’s who: Benedict Cumberbatch (as England’s youngest Prime Minister, William Pitt). Aside from the abundance of acting talent, it is a beautiful homage to William Wilburforce, the driving force behind the campaign to end England’s involvement in the slave trade in the late 18th/early 19th century. (Oh, and it more than makes up for the fiasco that was The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. I was embarrassed for Ioan when I saw that one!)

4. Ratatouille. I don’t go see a lot of animated movies—mostly because I’ll be happier watching them on DVD at home without the stress of being in an enclosed space with a lot of kids. But this was one that I couldn’t miss. And I’m so glad I didn’t. The animation was the best I’ve ever seen (there were times it was hard to remember that what we were seeing was animated and not photographic). The story came to a point where it seemed like it was going to come to a nice, sweet, not very deep, but happy conclusion. But then the second half of the movie started—and things got much deeper and more interesting. Again, not a movie to see on an empty stomach!

3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I wasn’t really sure how they were going to condense the longest of the seven books down into the shortest of the five (so far) films. But they did it. Seeing these movies as a fan of the books is like just checking in to make sure that as I read them, I’m imagining the characters and settings as looking correct. As expected, this movie took on a much darker atmosphere. They had to pare it down to the most basic and important plot and events that took place, changed a couple of little things, and consolidated a couple of characters’ actions (Neville, once again, got to be a more prominent/heroic character by doing what Dobby does in the book to help out; the complicated relationship/breakup between Harry and Cho was handled by having Cho be the one who turned them in). But with as much as they had to work with and fit in, they did a good job. I’m already anticipating the next installment.

2. The Bourne Ultimatum. I actually was more excited about the release of this movie than the HP movie . . . mostly because I haven’t read the books and I didn’t have any idea what was going to happen in this third and “final” installment in the Bourne series. And this movie did not disappoint at all. In fact, if my back hadn’t gone out and kept me nearly housebound for a month and a half, I would have seen this one several times while it was still in the theater. There’s just something about seeing the chases (especially the car chase through the streets of New York) on the big screen that seeing it on DVD can’t replicate. Yes, I have already watched all of the special features on the DVD when I got it from Netflix the day it released.

1. Stardust. Should be sitting in my mailbox in a little red envelope as I write this. (Can’t wait to get home and find out!) Not only is this the best movie I saw this year, it’s one of the best movies I’ve ever seen! Similar to The Princess Bride, this is a movie that will become an instant classic, one that should be in every movie lover’s library. The richness of the story and characters is unlike most movies being made these days. That, and the fact that I’ll never be able to listen to the “Can-Can” the same way again! If you haven’t seen it yet, go out and rent it tonight!

Christmas is a time for
secrets
wrapped up in shiny paper,
tied with gold ribbons.
As children, our eyes grow bright
seeing the colorful
patterns hugging the treasures
snuggled beneath the tree.

We see secret smiles,
secret whispers,
secret looks.
Bags smuggled in from
the car after a shopping
trip.

We try to discover the
secrets,
peek,
prod,
shake,
sniff,
measure;
is it what I asked for?

In teen years,
it doesn’t matter
so much
what’s under the tree.
(Or so we act.)
We don’t believe in Santa,
and Mom and Dad are hard to
buy for.

We go away–for college, for marriage–
and can’t wait to get home.
Who cares about presents?
It’s Mom and Dad, brothers and sisters
who are the gifts.

Now Christmas is coming again.
Many years from childhood
we anticipate the day with the
wonderment,
giddiness,
jubilation,
sleeplessness,
as the children do.

We are now the
secret keepers.
Want to tell . . . want to share our
secret
pleasure in knowing our
secrets
will bring happiness,
will bring delight.

Christmas secrets,
secrets full of joy.

Today I’m grousing about grammar. As a logophile, and a professional copy editor, I’m always seeing/hearing things around me that I find REALLY annoying. Tonight I heard one that’s an oldie, but it still gets me every time . . .

Why is it that people are so scared to say I that they replace it in subjects with myself, and so afraid to say me that they replace it in objective phrases with I? Example:

Geoff, Mary Alice, and myself are going to Denver . . . 

When Duff said this on Ace of Cakes tonight—not once, but a couple of times—I just about screamed. We wouldn’t say, “Myself is going to Denver.” We would say, “I am going to Denver.” Just because there are a couple more names tacked onto the beginning of the sentence, doesn’t keep it from being a SUBJECT.

Then there’s the other side of the problem (not direct quotes, but examples):

When you’re done with the pencil, give it to Geoff or I.
When you’re done with the pencil, give it to Geoff or myself.

Here, the pronoun is an object. Again, we wouldn’t say, “Give it to I” or “Give it to myself.” We say, “Give it to me,” because the pronoun is the OBJECT (what the subject is acting upon).

I hear this all the time in songs (major culprit right now is “I Wonder As I Wander”) where people use me or I solely based on what rhymes, not what’s gramatically correct. (Country music is really bad about it.)

I could go on for pages and pages and pages about other pet peeves (such as: it’s try TO not try AND), but I’ll save those for another time when I need a quick post.

What about you? What are some of your grammar pet peeves? Or is there a grammar rule that just doesn’t make sense to you, or one that you can never get right?

Today, as with so many other Fun Fridays, I’m turning to my other favorite thing . . . movies. This is the time of year when you can’t turn the TV on without coming across movies all about the holiday—whether they’re the sappy romances (or relatively decent romantic comedies) on Lifetime, the Charlie Brown/Rudolph/Frosty animated specials on ABC, or the tear-at-your-heartstrings Hallmark Hall of Fame presentations on CBS. So I thought I would pay homage to a few of my favorites . . .

The Holiday

Two thirty-something single women decide to get away from all of their “issues” (relationships, work, etc.) by swapping houses for the Christmas holiday. Starring Cameron Diaz (in one of the few roles I’ve liked her in), Kate Winslet, Jude Law (absolutely fabulous—one of his best on-screen performances ever), and Jack Black (in an underused role), this film took me by surprise and will be a part of my holiday experience from now on.

Iris: I’ve found almost everything ever written about love to be true. Shakespeare said “Journeys end in lovers meeting.” What an extraordinary thought. Personally, I have not experienced anything remotely close to that, but I am more than willing to believe Shakespeare had. I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I am constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives. It was Shakespeare who also said “love is blind.” Now that is something I know to be true.

Christmas in the Clouds

This is a movie I’d seen previews for a year before it actually came out on DVD (last year). Starring Timothy Vahle and Graham Greene, this is a light romantic comedy set on a resort in the mountains of the Southwest (New Mexico, I believe, but I’m not sure it’s actually specified in the movie) owned by a Native American tribe. The resort makes most of its money off of the ski season, but this year the snow hasn’t come. On top of that, Ray Clouds on Fire (Vahle) learns that a prestigious guidebook will be sending in a reviewer (undercover) to rate the resort for inclusion in the guidebook. Meanwhile, Ray’s father has been carrying on a romantic correspondence with a widow from across the country, Tina Littlehawk. Tina decides to pay a visit, using her Italian father’s name and her Manhattan address. The setup is pretty clear—Tina is assumed to be the reviewer and Ray pulls out all the stops to try to ensure a good rating in the guidebook. But, while predictable, this movie is anything but boring. And Graham Greene, as the resort’s vegetarian chef, adds quite a bit of humor to this already humorous story.

While You Were Sleeping

This is not one most people usually think of as a Christmas movie, but the entire story centers around Christmas and New Year’s. Lucy, a young woman living on her own in Chicago, works for the transportation department. She has seen the same handsome man every day for years going through her ticket booth to catch the L to work . . . and has “fallen in love” with him. On Christmas Eve—she’s working because she’s the only one without a family—her dream guy is mugged and pushed onto the tracks, just as an express train is coming through. Lucy saves him. At the hospital, resulting from a misunderstanding, everyone is led to believe she is Peter’s fiancee. For the first time Lucy has family surrounding her . . . including Peter’s brother Jack.

Lucy: That’s not Peter. That’s Jack.
Jerry: Uh, who’s Jack again?
Lucy: Peter’s brother.
Jerry: Peter’s the guy that’s in a coma.
Lucy: Yeah.
Jerry: So then why did you bring Jack?
Lucy: I didn’t bring Jack. He followed me here.
Jerry: So Jack’s the fiancé?
Lucy: No, Peter.
Jerry: Peter doesn’t even know you exist.
Lucy: I know.
Jerry: So Jack is Peter?
Lucy: Yeah.
Jerry: Lucy!
Lucy: Yeah?
Jerry: They have doctors for this kind of thing!

A Charlie Brown Christmas

From the musical score to Linus’ quoting Luke 2 to the Christmas tree, this Christmas special has permeated our lives. After all, when we see a sad-looking, scrawny Christmas tree, we refer to it as a “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree, right? That comes from this special.

Charlie Brown: I guess you were right, Linus. I shouldn’t have picked this little tree. Everything I do turns into a disaster. I guess I really don’t know what Christmas is all about. Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?
Linus Van Pelt: Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about. . . . “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.’” That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.

A Christmas Story

This is one of those movies that people either love or hate. I’ve been trying to determine what it is that I love so much about this movie . . . and I think it’s the mild sarcasm that runs throughout the film that tickles my funnybone so much. That, and the very quotable lines that came from this film:

Ralphie: I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!
Mrs. Parker: No, you’ll shoot your eye out.
……….
Adult Ralphie: [narrating] Only one thing in the world could’ve dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window.
……….
Adult Ralphie: [narrating] Some men are Baptists, others Catholics; my father was an Oldsmobile man.
……….
Adult Ralphie: [narrating] In the heat of battle my father wove a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan.
……….
Ralphie: No! No! I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!
Santa Claus: You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.
……….
Ralphie: Oh, fffffffuuuuuuuuuudddgggeee!
Adult Ralphie: [narrating] Only I didn’t say “Fudge.” I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the “F-dash-dash-dash” word!
Mr. Parker: What did you say?
Ralphie: Uh, um…
Mr. Parker: That’s… what I thought you said. Get in the car. Go on!
Adult Ralphie: [narrating] It was all over—I was dead. What would it be? The guillotine? Hanging? The chair? The rack? The Chinese water torture? Hmmph. Mere child’s play compared to what surely awaited me.
……….
Adult Ralphie: [narrating, reading note on his "What I Want for Christmas" theme] Oh, no! “You’ll shoot your eye out!”?
Ralphie: Oh, no!
Adult Ralphie: [narrating] My mother must have gotten to Miss Shields! There could be no other explanation!
[Ralphie imagines his mother as a jester and Miss Shields as the Wicked Witch]
Mother, Miss Shields: [Chanting] You’ll shoot your eye out! You’ll shoot you eye out!
Adult Ralphie: [narrating] Was there no end to this conspiracy of irrational prejudice against Red Ryder and his Peacemaker?
……….
Waiters: [singing] Deck the halls with boughs of horry, ra ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra.
Chop Suey Palace Owner: No, no, not ‘ra ra ra ra’, ‘la la la la’! Try again.
Waiters: Deck the halls with boughs of horry, ra ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra.
Chop Suey Palace Owner: No, no! Sing something else.
Waiters: Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sreigh!
……….
Adult Ralphie: [narrating] Oh my god, I shot my eye out!

I saw a 200-question meme on a couple of different blogs, so I whittled it down to 101 questions . . .

Favorite Christmas . . .
1. Non-Jesus-related song? “I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm” [Dean Martin]
2. Jesus-related song? “For Unto Us a Child Is Born” [Handel]
3. Santa-related song? “(It Must’ve Been Ol’) Santa Claus” [Harry Connick Jr., When My Heart Finds Christmas]
4. Fictional character? Ralphie
5. Dinner’s main course? Duck, duck . . . or maybe goose
6. Dinner’s dessert? Lemon meringue pie
7. Scent (pine, gingerbread, candles…)? Cinnamon and nutmeg
8. Animated movie? A Charlie Brown Christmas
9. Non-animated movie? A Christmas Story
10. Personal memory? The year my grandfather dressed up as Santa Claus for the little kids.
11. Story/Fairy Tale? Linus reciting the biblical Nativity story from Luke on the Charlie Brown Christmas special.

This or That
12. Candy cane or peppermint patties? The soft kind of peppermint pillows/sticks
13. Sugar or gingerbread cookies? Sugar cookies rolled in cinnamon sugar (technically speaking, Snickerdoodles)
14. Tinsel or beaded strands? Garland
15. Multi-colored or same-colored lights? White
16. Flashing or still lights? Still
17. Wreaths or mistletoe/holly? Wreath on the front door
18. Rudolph or Frosty? Rudolph
19. Sledding or snowball fights? We don’t get snow in Louisiana, Arkansas, or Tennessee
20. Snow or ice/icicles? Snow
21. Snow hat or earmuffs? Scarf
22. Getting or giving? Giving
23. Snow days or plow trucks? Snow days, because that means I don’t have to worry if the plow has been through or not.
24. Stockings or presents? Presents
25. Cookies & milk or letter to Santa? Letter
26. Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? Christmas Day
27. Log Burning Channel or real thing? Real thing (but I don’t have a fireplace).
28. Cards or emails? E-mails
29. Shoveling or cleaning off the car? [See Snow Days above]
30. Hot cocoa or eggnog? Cocoa.


Yay or Ugh
31. Holiday shopping? Ugh
32. Icy roads? Double ugh
33. Limited driving visibility? Had to deal with this going and coming home at Thanksgiving—triple ugh!
34. Christmas carolers. Yay.
35. Mall Santas? Ugh.
36. Salvation Army Santas? Ugh.
37. Blizzards? Ugh. [See, Erica, again, this is why I don’t live any further north than I do.]
38. 24/7 Holiday radio? Ugh—selected favorite artists downloaded onto the MP3 player—Yay.
39. Freezing cold? Yay—if I get to stay inside.
40. Setting up the tree? Yay. (except this year when I never got around to it)
41. Wrapping presents? Yay.
42. Visiting/seeing family? YAAAAAAAAAY.
43. Ad-Lib on “Rudolph…” (like Monopoly!) Fun the first time.
44. Free mint red/white candy? Yay to any free candy.
45. Belief in Santa Claus? Eh—I didn’t believe long enough to even remember believing.
46. Advent calendar? We had one once that my dad brought back from Germany
47. Peeking at your gifts (or by accident)? Nope
48. Making out with Santa under the mistletoe? Eww.
49. Decorated houses? Yay.
50. Extreme decorated houses? Yay (as long as it’s not one of my neighbors)
51. White Christmas morning? While it’s nice to dream, I know I won’t get it where I’ll be spending Christmas.
52. Searching for ornaments in the attic? Nope—keep all of my Christmas décor in the storage bins in the base of my sofa.
53. Santa knowing when you’re sleeping and awake? Creepy.

First Thought That Comes To Mind When You Hear . . .
54. Snowflake! Quick, get some sweetened condensed milk and let’s make snowcream!
55. Pinecones! Squirrels
56. Elves! Legolas (Yes, I’m still trying to read LOTR)
57. Sleigh! Jingle bells.
58. Presents! Wrapping.
59. Cookies! Chocolate chip.
60. Misletoe! Nargles.
61. Rudolph! Aflac!
62. Blizzard! Laura Ingalls Wilder
63. School’s Canceled! Great—not as many idiots out driving around on the icy roads while I’m going to work.
64. Ice Skating! Ow, my ankle!.
65. Santa’s Lap! Screaming children. [Calgon, take me away!]
66. Black Friday! Huh-uh, it’s PURPLE Friday—LSU vs. Arkansas
67. God’s Son! “For unto us a child is born . . . Unto us . . . a Son is given . . .”
68. Melting Snow! Mud.
69. Lumps of Coal! Barbecue!
70. Nutcracker! Ooh, walnuts or pecans?
71. Ho Ho Ho! A bowl full of jelly.
72. North Pole! Alaska.

Grade/Rate Holiday Movies A - F
73. A Christmas Story. A+++++++++++++++++
74. How The Grinch Stole Christmas. The original animated version, B+; the remake with Jim Carrey, F
75. The Santa Clause. B+
76. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. C
77. Frosty The Snowman. C
78. Home Alone. F
79. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. F
80. Elf. C-
81. Miracle on 34th Street. B-
82. A Charlie Brown Christmas. A
83. It’s a Wonderful Life. F
84. White Christmas. B—If I’d seen the film version before the stage version (A+) this might be higher.
85. Holiday Inn. B

The ____ Present You’ve Received?
86. Most expensive? Lasik Surgery
87. Ugliest? ?????
88. Worthless? Probably some trinket I ended up with at a White Elephant exchange
89. Most-wanted (personally)? New computer (got last year)
90. Most-wanted/popular (media frenzy)? DVD player several years ago
91. Unwanted? Scented candles I’m not going to use and am most likely allergic to anyway.
92. Never-used? Candles
93. Exchanged for something else? Clothes that didn’t fit
94. Biggest (size)? Washer/dryer
95. Most meaningful? Lasik Surgery

Christmas in General . . .
96. Christmas Eve bedtime is before/after midnight? My normal bedtime is around midnight, so why should Christmas Eve be any different?
97. Wake-up is before/after 7am? Before—because of the niece and nephews.
98. Go/don’t go to church on Christmas? Usually attend a Christmas Eve service; if Christmas Day is on Sunday, will go to church on Christmas Day.
99. Pray & sing Happy Birthday/do nothing before bed? Pray—this is just me, but singing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus really annoys me. We’re celebrating His coming, not His actual birthday (which was probably some time in April).
100. Have you ever left cookies/milk for Santa & reindeer? No
101. Have you ever gotten everything you wanted for Christmas? Yes

The holly. The ivy. The mistletoe. The lights. The tree. The presents under the tree. The same holiday movies on TV that we’ve watched all our lives. The anticipation of travel and seeing family. The shopping and wrapping. The food. The parties. The music. [And somewhere mixed into all of that, the Reason.]

I don’t know about you, but the five or six weeks of the holiday season (Thanksgiving through New Year’s) are the least productive for me as a writer out of the whole year. Not necessarily because I’m so busy—actually, I’m home more during the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas because I hate going out and fighting the hoardes of people out shopping. (And here’s a great example why.)

The main reason why I have trouble getting any writing done this time of year is the destractions. There’s always one more gift to wrap, one more card to send, one more thing to do. I’ll be headed for Baton Rouge on December 22—only ten days from today—to spend the week celebrating Christmas with my extended family, capped off by the wedding of a younger cousin on the 28th and an annual celebratory dinner of my parents’ and sister’s wedding anniversary on the 29th (yes, my sister got married on my parents’ anniversary). I’ve planned my trip so that I have two days off remaining when I get home so that I can sleep in and recover from my “vacation” before I have to be back at work on January 2.

I’ll be taking my laptop with me, but, as in years past, I have a very strong suspicion I will not get any writing done. Maybe some revision that needs to be done, but I know it’s highly unlikely I’ll get any forward progress made on any of my three open WIPs (Peace in the Valley, Ransome’s Crossing, and A Major Event Inc.).

[See, that's what I mean about distractions . . . I just got distracted from writing about distractions by writing about one of my main distractions---my upcoming trip!]

Then, there’s the whole blogging thing. Having just wrapped up a series, there’s no way I’m starting a new one this close to Christmas. There are some things I’d love to blog about that I’m doing, but most of that involves secrets surrounding Christmas gifts, so I can’t share.

[Speaking of distractions, this post is taking me a really long time to write, because I keep stopping to make notes on things I'm thinking of as I write this that I need to do in the next ten days to finish up everything for gifts and the trip.]

Of course, this time of year brings benefits too, especially for someone on a tight budget . . . a primary one being the free meals I’m getting—our publisher took the editorial staff out to lunch yesterday; our company lunch is Friday (after which we don’t have to come back to the office); I’ve been invited to dinner by a coworker for Friday night; and one of our vendors is taking the editorial staff to lunch Monday.

Then there’s the whole DVD and movie release issue. Monday, Ruth and I went to see The Golden Compass. All controversy aside, don’t go see it unless you just really need a good nap. The dialogue is hokey and the movie is so boring it feels like four hours instead of just under two. The sequel to National Treasure (the only movie I’ve ever liked Nick Cage in) opens 12/21, and we’re already planning to go see that. But wait, that’s not all. Yesterday, LOST season three released on DVD, as did Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and The Bourne Ultimatum. So last night, I watched a couple of episodes of LOST while getting some house cleaning done. Tonight, I’ll watch HP while wrapping gifts, and tomorrow night, I’ll watch Bourne while doing laundry and cleaning the kitchen (the big, major cleaning that has to be done before being gone for a week). But I am very proud of myself—I only bought LOST and got the other two through Netflix as I decided I could (and should) wait to buy them until after Christmas. Then, next Tuesday, Stardust, one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time, comes out on DVD (also being Netflixed instead of purchased right now).

Okay, so I’ve been rambling for about 750 words now, which constitutes a lengthy blog post—and I haven’t really managed to do more than just explore most of my distractions. But, I have written a blog post as I promised myself I would after skipping yesterday.

As far as the distractions go, I’m going to continue to be distracted by them . . . because this is the only time of the year when I can allow myself to be completely consumed in what’s going on everywhere else but in front of the computer screen. Plus, I know that after Christmas, there will be lots to blog about and new ideas to explore, new writing-craft topics to delve into. For now, I’m going to enjoy the distractions and allow myself to get caught up in all of the stuff this season brings with it.

I hope you do the same!