Putting the Merry Back in Merry Christmas

Holidays got you feeling a bit like a grinch? Are your to-do lists thicker than War and Peace? I've got a few tips that might help.

Check out my guest blog over at The Romance Studio Blog.

Holiday Baking

One of the wonderful memories from my childhood revolve around all the treats that were available at Christmas. My mother was a heck of a baker and used to make tons of cookies and cakes for the holidays. To this day, I've never tasted cookies as good as hers.

Off the top of my head, I can remember chocolate chips, brownies, naniamo bars, date crumbles, short bread, snowballs, fudge, peanut butter/marshmallow cookies, cream cheese and cherry cookies, light fruitcake, dark fruitcake, cherry cake, pineapple cake, date bread, and I'm sure there was more. There were always a few different kinds of freezer squares as well.

Mom always had plenty of baked goods to put out for guests. And we had a ton of folks come by our house when I was a kid.

I'm older now. The family home is long gone, many friends and family have passed on or are living scattered around the world. It's the way of things, I suppose. But nothing will ever match those wonderful childhood memories of home.

Mom doesn't bake like she used to. She's older, it's expensive and there are just not as many folks eating sweets nowadays. Thankfully, she still sends fruitcake every year. Yes, we love fruitcake in our family. Mom's is out-of-this-world good.

I bake a few favories--cherry cake, fudge and short bread cookies. Folks don't drop in around the holidays much anymore. Used to be everyone spent at least one day "visiting" over the holidays back in the seventies. I miss those times. They were simpler and I lived in a small community were folks knew their neighbors. It's harder in the city to make those kinds of connections.

Still, I love the holiday season and will bake and share with those friends and family who live nearby and drop in for a visit.

What will you be baking this holiday?

Holiday Entertaining

This is the time of year when most of us have friends and family over to our homes to celebrate the season. Holiday entertaining doesn't have to be stressful. Check out my Ladies of the Club Blog post for tips and suggestions on how to survive holiday entertaining with your sanity and humor intact.

Monday, Monday!

Good snowy morning and welcome to Monday!

Winter arrived with a vengeance yesterday, dropping 15 inches of snow on us. It's a winter wonderland out there this morning. Of course, being the first snowfall of the season, drivers need to remember how to drive in the white stuff.

I was out yesterday morning before the snow storm began. I was wearing sneakers. I miss that already. LOL We were all cozy inside Sunday afternoon. I baked a cherry cake and hubby and I curled up on the sofa and watched The Muppet's Christmas Carol. I love that movie. What can I say? I'm a kid at heart.

Have you watched any holiday movies yet?

Huge Print Book Sale at Ellora's Cave

Looking for some fabulous baragains for Christmas. Check out the End of Year Blowout Sale at Ellora's Cave. There are tons of print books on sale now!

You can buy the Dreams of the Oasis IV Anthology for only $4. If you haven't read the first book about the Shadow Ryders--"Shadows Stir", then you can now!







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Are vampires more your style? Check out Dalakis Embrace, which contains Harker's Journey and Lucian's Delight, books 1 & 2 of the Dalakis Passion vampire series. This book is now only $4.

Three Weeks...

I glanced at the calendar this morning and realized it's only three weeks until Christmas. The time is flying by so quickly. I'm hoping to mostly finish my holiday shopping this weekend. I'll probably bake a cherry cake too. It's one of the tradions we have each year. Next week I'll probably make shortbreads and, the week after that, fudge. So much good stuff to eat, so little time. *g*

What are your plans for this weekend?

Please Vote....

Alexandra's Legacy, my latest Samhain release, is up for Book of the Month at Dark Diva Reviews!

Check it out and VOTE for it, or any other book you enjoyed this past month! You have until December 7th to place your vote.