The Day After

My wings are tired! After all the buildup, all the secrecy and all the hype, the day after Christmas is usually a letdown for most. For me, the day gives me an opportunity to reflect on how far I've come in the year.

I'm still working [yeah!] at a job I find I can do fairly well and don't mind dragging myself out of bed to go to, my health is definitely better than it was this time last year and my extended family has become closer with each passing day. Can it get any better? I think not.

I would love to have had my dragon book, Dragons Among Us, sell a million copies; doesn't every writer dream of the same? But my sales are getting better with each day and I'm currently working on the next book, Dragons Among the Eagles, in the series.

I have to share my best gift -- ever. I have a large extended family [I counted 24 yesterday and a few were missing]. Because of the size, we draw names for present exchange. This year we did ornaments. I didn't know who drew my name as the name drawing is "secret". When my oldest daughter handed me the small package, I was intrigued. I opened the tissue paper and pulled out a gift that left me smiling for the rest of the day.

My daughter and grandkids had used the back cover of my book Dragons Among Us to copy the dragon talon shown and create a paper mache, green with red toenail talon exactly like the picture. It's the best present I've ever gotten and pretty darn accurate!

She laughed that it kind of looked like a chicken foot but to me the talon is perfect. It sits on my desk next to my computer where I can look at it every time I write.

Is there a better present than family? I think not.

Sable Angel

Home For Christmas

Holidays has always meant family, but I never really understood until my youngest daughter moved to Brooklyn. All I want for Christmas is for my daughter and her husband to be home with the rest of her family. Thankfully I am getting my wish. She will fly in tomorrow morning and stay through Christmas.

I have been so busy getting ready for their arrival I forgot it was my day to blog. I guess Angels don’t have perfect memories. And thanks to Sable I was given a gentle reminder.

The Angels are getting ready for the release of a St. Patrick’s day tale and I am excited about the story. It’s not really an anthology because all three stories are interconnected. I think it will be a fun read while celebrating in fine Irish fashion.

Merry Christmas to all and I hope everyone has a truly great new year.

Allana

THE TRADITION OF CHANGE

Um, yeah. Holiday traditions.

When I divorced and became a single mom, flexibility took the place of tradition. My sons had double the number of places to go for the holidays. When they grew up and grandkids came along, the number of relatives wanting time at the holidays increased again. Add to the mix that two of the grandkids have birthdays in December--one on the 22nd and one on the 26th--and scheduling grew to spreadsheet size.

Guess that means our "tradition" is that each holiday season is different. I usually manage to put up a tree and a few decorations, although last year I was so busy helping some friends with their pet sitting business that didn't happen. No one was at my house but my doggies and me, and they didn't complain about the lack of Christmas decor. :)

This year the urge to decorate a tree has been nagging at me. However, I'm obsessively focused to finish up house projects and keep moving forward on writing my nine-book series. I slid in some shopping earlier this week, but that may be my allotment of holiday-related time for the year.

But don't worry, I've got the holidays covered. My dogs will get extra kibble, and the kids and grandkids will get presents. So our tradition is intact: each holiday season is different!

I hope you'll share your most unusual holiday celebration. I can always use ideas for next year!

-Amber Angel

Holiday Traditions

This is the time of year where family traditions are a major part of our lives. With our busy schedules there are years we neglect to put up the Christmas lights and the Christmas cards are still blank long after New Years Day but there is one tradition my family partakes in every year without fail.
Our church serves a turkey dinner Christmas day for the community. My family's tradition is to deliver dinners to families who are not able to attend the meal at church. We visit mostly lonely elder people whose families are faraway and unable to see them. This tradition has given us the opportunity to see no matter how much we struggle in our daily lives there are others who have larger obstacles to cross everyday.
Our afternoon of giving has become a bonding time for the family. We still exchange gifts before we deliver the dinners, however, our presents to each other are not the focal point of the day. For us this tradition has become the true meaning of Christmas and enhances our lives.
May you and your family enjoy your traditions during this Christmas season.
Happy Holidays!
From the Indra Family

Writing Month of Insanity

It nagged at me, constantly, brutally until I planted my angel wings in the chair and wrote. But life has a way of interfering with our plans and while I had such high hopes of finishing the NaNoWriMo [National Novel Writing Month] a winner having put 50,000 words on the page in one month, I fell shy by about 6,000 words.

I wrote 44,000 words and got a roaring start to the second novel in the dragon series, Dragons Among the Eagles. I've a personal goal to have it to my publisher by the first of January 2011. Hopefully with all the magic Rogue Phoenix Press manages, the novel will hit the book shelves in June 2011. That's the plan.

Stay tuned.

Sable Angel