Bright Ideas and Inspirational Quotes

Happy 4th Day of Christmas! We got home from Denver last night, after spending five wonderful days with two of our “kids” and all four granddaughters, and the magic of a white Christmas. Being a city girl, it’s always fun for me to see the wildlife near our children’s homes… this time two coyotes and several rabbits. Our days were spent playing games (7 different games with the girls!), watching football, eating (of course!) and catching up on the lives of our kids who live so far away. Every day was special, but a couple of special memories are the night we went to Zoo Lights with our daughter and her family… only to encounter a blizzard as we tried to walk through the beautiful sights!

Another special memory was reading A Guinea Pig Nativity with our son’s daughters, and then playing with their Guinea pigs, Snowy, Noah, and Luke. (This is a wonderful little book, even if your kids or grands don’t have Guinea pigs!) Here’s a hilarious You-Tube video of a live Guinea Pig Nativity play!

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and exchanging gifts. I love presents… to give them and to receive them. And to watch our granddaughters spend hours enjoying their new toys and games.

I was blessed to receive several really special things this year, including earrings from Jared, personalized stationery, personalized traveling jewelry case, Echo Dot for my office (we also have them in our bedroom and den), individual fondue mugs (I love chocolate fondue!), and more.

 

My daughter and daughter-in-law both know how much I love quotes. Beth (my daughter) gave me this wonderful book, A Woman’s Book of Inspiration: Quotes of Wisdom and Strength, edited by Carol Kelly-Gangi.

 

 

My daughter-in-law See gave me this little “Bright Ideas” set with a wooden stand and a collection of quotes you can change out on the stand. So I’m going to post some of the quotes they sent me from time to time here on my blog. Starting with today.

From “Bright Ideas”:

work hard.

stay humble.

From A Woman’s Book of Inspiration:

Everyone has inside of her a piece of good news. The good news is that you don’t know how great you can be! How much you can love! What you can accomplish! And what your potential is! – Anne Frank

I chose these quotes to share today because as I approach the beginning of a new year, I move forward with thankfulness for the good things that happened in 2017 but also with an eagerness to begin something new… a new book, or two! And also to learn to love more, as Anne Frank said. And as Tim McGraw sings:

When those dreams you’re dreamin’ come to you
When the work you put in is realized
Let yourself feel the pride but
Always stay humble and kind

Thanks, always, for reading (even when I’m gone for a week during the holidays!) and remember that I love to hear from you, here or on Facebook or Twitter.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We’re off to Denver to spend Christmas with two of our three kids and their families (which includes our four granddaughters!) so no time to write a blog post this morning. I’ll just send our Christmas card to all of my readers, and thank you so much for reading, for commenting, for friending me on Facebook and following me on Twitter. I’ll be back next week!

I’d like to mention that it’s also been a banner year for William Cushman, who, among other honors, received the 2017 Inter-American Society of Hypertension Lifetime Achievement Award, in recognition of scientific contributions that have substantially influenced the field of hypertension across the American continents. He received the award at the group’s meeting in April in Argentina. His achievements were too many to mention on our Christmas card, but I’m so proud of him. You can read more here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 

Christmas Stories Revisited

Three years ago I did a post about Christmas stories, which has links to several entertaining stories and essays. Today I’d like to share a wonderful story you can LISTEN TO HERE from a friend and writer who lives in Alabama, Kerry Madden. “Santa Secrets” is funny but also poignant. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Also Harrison Scott Key’s wonderful story, “The Christmas I Don’t Remember,” published in Savannah Magazine. (Key has an essay in the anthology I edited, Southern Writers on Writing, coming from University Press of Mississippi in May of 2018.)

I think one reason I’ve never written any Christmas stories about my own childhood is because my experiences weren’t all that interesting or unusual or humorous. They weren’t even full of drama, which is kind of amazing, since there was lots of drama in my family throughout the rest of the year. It was as though everyone was their best self for Christmas—I don’t even remember fighting with my brother Mike at Christmas. Here are my favorite memories:

Both my grandmothers (who lost their husbands at a young age) spent Christmas with us. “Mamaw” lived in Meridian, Mississippi, and we were in Jackson, so she would come over and spend a few days with us. “Mama Mary” lived in town, so she would come over on Christmas morning. Having both of them with us made Christmas extra special. I’m remembering them being with us during the 1950s and 1960s especially. (Mama Mary actually lived with us for a few years in the late 1950s.)

My Aunt Barbara Jo and Uncle Dan and their kids, my first cousins Tommy and Amanda, were also a big part of my memories. We did Thanksgiving at their house for many years, but we also visited them at Christmas time (and they were often at our house) where my favorite memory is my Uncle Dan and my father singing “O Holy Night.” Uncle Dan sang tenor in his church choir and Daddy was a baritone. Last night as I watched Brooke Simpson, one of the contestants in the finale on “The Voice,” sing “O Holy Night,” it brought back the memory… and tears to my eyes.

We did Santa Clause until my brother and I were around 7 or 8, I think… and I remember running into the living room to see the (unwrapped) gifts under the tree from Santa. Most of the smaller, wrapped gifts from our parents and others were clothes or small games. But Santa brought things like bicycles, life-size dolls, piano keyboards, and sports equipment. A favorite gift was this whirly-gig thing you sat in, tucked your feet under the seat, and spun around and around like a hamster. The picture at the top of the post is me sitting on it, holding my Chatty Cathy doll, around 1961 or 1962. Of course Mike got bored with it eventually. One day he decided he could make it spin faster if he took a running leap into it, and he missed the seat and cracked his two upper front teeth on the floor. Another time he took it off its frame and road it down the street and crashed at the bottom of the hill. I’m sure the toy wouldn’t pass today’s safety requirements, but we loved it.

If the spinning-wheel toy (can’t remember what it was called) was the favorite toy of my brother and me, I think that Omagles were probably the favorite childhood toy of our three children. They were giant plastic building pieces and wheels. Our kids made forts and stores and tents, and even this go-cart, which they could ride in. Hours of fun before they had computers and iPads and cell phones. Even before our first video game, Atari. And now Omagles are back! There’s an Omagles Facebook page, and you can buy them from Amazon!

When I got married and we began to celebrate Christmas in our own home, especially once our three kids arrived, we started new traditions. One was hiding the Christmas pickle ornament in the tree after the kids went to bed on Christmas eve. They would come running in to find the pickle, and the finder got an extra gift. We continued this tradition even through their young adult years in college, and we’ve given pickle ornaments to our married kids, hoping they will continue the tradition with their own kids.

 

Those are just a few memories. I’d love to hear some of yours… please share them in a comment here or on Facebook!

Happy Holidays!

 

Cherry Bomb, St. Mary of Egypt, and Redemption (a review)

I woke up this morning wondering what I was going to write about for today’s blog post. And then I read Ellen Morris Prewitt’s review of CHERRY BOMB and I knew I wanted to share it:

 

“Cherry Bomb, St. Mary of Egypt, and Redemption”

 

 

 

Ellen’s words mean so much to me, especially her praise for my depiction of Mare’s (the protagonist) days of living on the streets, where she went to escape the abuse she suffered first at the hands of her father and then from her foster father. Ellen spent seven years leading a writing group for homeless and formerly homeless people in Memphis, and then published a collection of their stories in 2014:

 

Writing Our Way Home: A Group Journey Out of Homelessness

 

Both of these books are full of hope and would make excellent Christmas gifts!

 

Happy reading!

 

Happy 100th Anniversary, Books-A-Million!

I wasn’t excited when my publisher asked me to drive 300 miles to a Books-A-Million store in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to sign copies of CHERRY BOMB for three hours on Saturday. I’ve done lots of readings at independent bookstores all over the South, which I always enjoy. Readers come to not only meet the author and potentially purchase a signed copy, but also to hear a reading and participate in a Q & A. At the BAM (Books-A-Million) store, I was just supposed to sit at a table in the front of the store and greet customers and tell them about my book, hoping they will buy a copy. And also to wander around the store giving out fliers and encouraging customers to buy my book. Could I do that without seeming creepy?

First I did a little research. Turns out BAM is celebrating its 100^th anniversary this year! Founded in 1917 in Florence, Alabama, Books-A-Million, Inc. has grown to become the premier book retailing chain in the Southeastern United States, and the second largest book retailer in the nation. Based in Birmingham, Alabama, the company currently operates more than 260 stores in 32 states and the District of Columbia. BAM also has an internet development and services company, NetCentral, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Next, I talked with another Dogwood Press author, John Floyd (from Brandon, Mississippi), about his experience signing books at BAM stores, which he’s done many times, promoting and selling his short story anthologies. He gave me a few tips, and when I arrived at the Hattiesburg store on Saturday, the store manager, Erika, immediately started telling me about John Floyd’s success there! I was both encouraged and nervous—he’s a hard act to follow. (He’s also over 6 feet tall, handsome, and charming, and since more women than men buy books, he’s got a distinct advantage!)

 

It was a beautiful day in south Mississippi, and lots of shoppers were in the store, which felt very festive. I got set up at my table and immediately a woman bought three copies to give as Christmas gifts! I was amazed and grateful. I asked if they were in a book club together and she said no, but they all love to read. My next customer, “Johnathan,” was a very articulate young Baylor University graduate who works for a newspaper in Laurel, Mississippi. Johnathan is writing a “historic fantasy” novel, and we enjoyed talking shop for a while before I signed his copy of CHERRY BOMB. When there was a lull in customers stopping by my table, I wandered around the store handing out fliers and then went back to my table. One woman who read the flier while shopping came back up to my table to get a copy. She’s flying to Australia and needed something to read on the plane. Perfect. A cute young nurse who lives in Laurel bought a copy next. Turns out she’s also an artist and was interested in all the art in the novel.

It’s easy to “profile” people as they walk in the store—I found myself sizing people up and deciding which ones might be interested in my book. But I learned on Saturday that people surprise you. It’s not just sophisticated, artistic, spiritual women who are interested in CHERRY BOMB, and not just people of a certain age. The book appeals to everyone from young adults to baby boomers, and even to men. One 50-something man in jeans and a plaid flannel shirt and baseball cap said the book was “just up his alley” and was excited to have me sign a copy. The afternoon flew by quickly, and my final customer—a woman in her sixties—grabbed a copy as I was walking out the door. I learned a lot about people from south Mississippi on Saturday. And people in general. And yes, about myself.

So now I’m actually looking to driving down to the BAM store in Meridian, Mississippi, this coming Saturday. I actually know two people in Meridian, and both are coming by to see me, so that will be fun. These stores are gold mines in towns like Hattiesburg and Meridian that don’t have independent book stores. And on the 16^th I’ll be signing copies at the BAM store in Southaven, Mississippi, which is much closer to home. Stay tuned for more stories! And happy holiday shopping!!!

 

’Tis the Season, Y’all!

We just watched three Christmas specials on TV this week, which always adds to my nostalgia for Christmas past. Growing up in a “dysfunctional” (I’m tired of that word, but it fits) family, I always loved holidays. My mother made each of them special—Christmas, Easter, even Halloween and Valentine’s Day. She would decorate the house and cook special treats and for a few days during each holiday season, all would feel right with the world. Even with our family. I know I’ve posted this before, but here’s my favorite Christmas photo—Christmas eve in Jackson, Mississippi, around 1959. I think we had been to church (or maybe Mom and Dad had been to a Christmas eve party?) and everyone but Mom had already changed into our jammies. Today is my brother Mike’s birthday. He died in 2007 (ten years ago, wow) when he was only 58. Memory eternal, Mike!

A favorite Christmas memory for me is wrapping gifts. Mother would set up a gift-wrapping station—usually a long table—with lots of wonderful paper and ribbon and special crafty items. After watching her work her magic for several years, I was finally given the reins and allowed to wrap all the presents for our family (except for mine, of course). I would play Christmas music on the stereo and make a cup of hot chocolate and immerse myself in the world of gift-wrapping.

That’s what I’ve been doing this week. My creations aren’t as fancy as the ones Mom and I used to make, mainly because I have to mail most of them and big bows don’t survive shipping very well. But I still love choosing paper and ribbons every year—this year I’m into red, black, and white, with lots of reindeer and Santas. And beyond the joy of doing something creative, I love imagining each friend or child or grandchild or Godchild opening their gifts, and it fills me with joy.

Yesterday I mailed 8 Christmas gifts to 6 different states. I also mailed 100 Christmas cards—another tradition I treasure. I often address and stamp my cards while watching those Christmas specials on TV, chasing that elusive Christmas atmosphere I am craving. We’ve been empty-nesters for sixteen years (hard to believe our youngest turned 35 yesterday!) and it seems I have to work harder to create that festive spirit without children in the house.

And speaking of atmosphere, although I do most of my Christmas shopping online, I do enjoy being in stores at this time of the year—especially festive ones like Pier 1 and Macy’s. I participated whole-heartedly in Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, ignoring the nay-sayers on Facebook who feel that these events tend to overly commercialize Christmas. I think they just make shopping more fun! I’ve only got two more people to shop for, and several more packages to mail before our annual trip to Denver to spend Christmas (hopefully a white one!) with two of our kids and our four granddaughters.

 

If it seems that I’m finishing up “early,” that’s intentional. Shipping gets more expensive (and the lines are longer) closer to Christmas. Also, I’ve got six book signings for Cherry Bomb this month (one in Memphis and five in different cities and towns in Mississippi) so I’m pacing myself. Tomorrow I’m off to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to sign books at Books-a-Million, something I’ve never done. Afterwards, I’ll drive to Jackson to spend the night with friends who are hosting a literary salon for me Saturday night. I’ll drive home Sunday in time for a friend’s book reading at Novel in Memphis, and for our neighborhood’s annual Christmas parade and tree-lighting, which happens right in front of our house, which faces “Christmas Tree Park” in Harbor Town. Enjoy the pictures from the park, our house, and a couple of neighbors’ homes at the end of this post.

’Tis the season, y’all! I hope you are enjoying it! Stay tuned for posts of a more spiritual nature, as I write about our church’s annual St. Nicholas play, toys for the MIFA (Memphis Inter Faith Association) Christmas store, and Christmas caroling at a local nursing home.

The Saint Nicholas Day Snow

The talented children’s author Charlotte Riggle has done it again. With help from the gifted illustrator, R. J. Hughes, “Charli” has given us a colorful, poignant look at a beloved historic figure through the eyes of two families who celebrate his life in The Saint Nicholas Day Snow (Phoenix Flair Press, October 27, 2017). The story does have an Orthodox Christian setting (and characters) but it will capture readers of all religious and cultural backgrounds. Anyone who loves Christmas and tradition and children and story.

Although Charli no longer lives in the South, she was born in Oxford, Mississippi. Her mom used to go horseback riding with William Faulkner’s daughter. Her grandfather was the dean of the School of Education at the University of Mississippi. She’s currently living in the Pacific Northwest, between Seattle and Mount Rainier. We met through Saint John Orthodox Church here in Memphis, where she was a member for many years before moving to the Seattle area. My husband and I are Godparents to her youngest child, and I’ve been blessed to be her friend for about twenty-five years.

When Charli’s first book, Catherine’s Pascha, came out in 2015, I knew she had found her niche. Not that this is the only niche available to her. Charli is a brilliant and gifted technical writer and is knowledgeable in many fields. It takes that kind of genius to write a good children’s book. Genius coupled with an intense love for people—especially children, and even more especially children with special needs and disabilities.

If you’d like to hear more from Charli about this project, read her blog post, “Why I Wrote the Saint Nicholas Day Snow.”

The Saint Nicholas Day Snow will make a terrific Christmas gift for your children, grandchildren, Godchildren, nieces, nephews, and neighbor kids. Read a description and order the book here or from Amazon.

The Making of a Book

Happy New Year! For my first blog post of the year, I’m simply going to share an amazing video. Grab a cup of coffee and WATCH THIS to see how books are made by hand, the old-fashioned way.

 

 

 

And on this 9th day of Christmas, I offer you 9 ladies dancing. In church lore, they represent the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit: Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience [Forbearance], Goodness [Kindness], Mildness, Fidelity, Modesty, Continency [Chastity].

Cheers!

On the Fourth Day of Christmas…

… my true love gave to me: four calling birds! In the Church’s tradition, those birds represent the four gospel writers—the holy apostles Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (seen in these icons). They are “calling” to the world to hear the message of Christ’s incarnation.

So how am I celebrating the fourth day of Christmas? We just got home last night from spending a wonderful Christmas in Denver with two of our kids and all four of our grandchildren. So we are tired but happy. Of course I’m unpacking, doing laundry, and grocery shopping today (and starting back on exercising on the elliptical)… but it’s also a day for opening more Christmas cards and reading through so many wonderful Christmas letters from friends and family near and far. Sending Christmas cards is one of my favorite traditions, and receiving them is such a treat.

This year I didn’t come up with a creative way to display them, so I just spread them out on our dining room table as they arrived. This morning I captured them in photos, then I took down last year’s photo cards from the bulletin board in the kitchen and replaced them with this year’s. Well, some of them. (They don’t all fit!)

It was fun to group some of them:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much to everyone who was thoughtful enough to send us a card and/or a Christmas letter this year. I hope you are enjoying this tradition as much as we are!

A Thrill of Hope… the Weary World Rejoices!

A couple of weeks ago I did a post about a favorite Christmas hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” This morning I woke up thinking about another favorite, “O Holy Night.”

O Holy Night wasn’t traditionally sung in the Presbyterian church of my childhood. It was saved for special solos and performances outside the regular church service. At least in my experience. But my favorite memory of this hymn is from Christmas gatherings (and also Thanksgiving gatherings) at my aunt and uncle’s house in Jackson, Mississippi, in the 1950s through the 1980s. Aunt Barbara Jo was the “glue” in our extended family. Ten years younger than her older brother—my father—Barbara Jo was always more like an older sister to me. She loved family and she loved having us all in her home. Uncle Dan was a military man with a career in the Mississippi National Guard. But he had a softer side, and the most beautiful tenor voice I’ve ever heard. My father was also a tenor. When my Aunt Joy was visiting from Texas, she would play the piano (by ear) and we’d all gather around and sing Christmas carols. At some point everyone would get quiet and we’d know it was time for O Holy Night. As Joy played, my father and Uncle Dan sang the most beautiful duet, always moving me to tears.

So, this morning I did a little research, learning something of the song’s history. It was written in 1847. In light of our country’s (and the world’s) current political unrest, I found it interesting that the history of this beloved Christmas song is also filled with politics and war. Here’s more of the story, from a post by Tsh Oxenreider at (in)courage:

A parish priest in a small French town commissioned a local poet and wine commissionaire, Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure, to write a poem for the village’s Christmas Eve mass. Cappeau read through the birth of Christ in the gospel of Luke en route to Paris, and finished the poem O Holy Night by the time he reached the city.

Cappeau turned to his friend, Adolphe Charles Adams, to compose the music to the poem, and three weeks later, the song was sung in the village on Christmas Eve. Initially, Cantique de Noel (the song’s French name) was widely loved by the Church in France, but when leaders learned that Cappeau was a socialist and Adams a Jew, the song was uniformly denounced as unfit for church services. But the common French people loved it so much, they continued to sing it.

The song came to the U.S. via John Sullival Dwight, an abolitionist during the Civil War. Moved by the line in the third verse, “Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother, and in His Name all oppression shall cease,” he published it in his magazine and quickly found favor in the north during the war.

Even though it was banned in France, the song was still popular among the people. On Christmas Eve in 1871, in the midst of fierce fighting between France and Germany during the Franco-Prussian War, a unarmed French soldier jumped out of the trenches, walked into the battlefield, and started singing, “Minuit, Chretiens, c’est l’heure solennelle ou L’Homme Dieu descendit jusqu’a nous,” the song’s first line in French.

After singing all three verses, a German solider emerged and started singing, “Vom Himmel noch, da komm’ ich her. Ich bring’ euch gute neue Mar, Der guten Mar bring’ ich so viel, Davon ich sing’n und sagen will,” the beginning of a popular hymn by Martin Luther.

Fighting stopped for the next 24 hours in honor of Christmas Day. Soon after, the French Church re-embraced O Holy Night.

My wish these days leading up to Christmas is that we would embrace one another, and that the fighting would stop.

Click here to enjoy Jordan Smith’s wonderful tenor voice in this arrangement of O Holy Night.