(Tree, 2013)
Four days until Christmas! Yikes! I still have a ton of things to do. You must to, whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah (which came early this year) or Kwanza. Even if you don’t celebrate, still you must get caught up in the hustle and bustle. How can you not?
Holiday programs for kids and grands, holiday parties, holiday cooking, and holiday decorating. Oh, and I can’t ignore the issue of gift giving. How much do you spend? Who do you decide to give to? Is the family drawing names this year? What will people think of Alternative Gifting? I’m doing several of those this year. Even the grands are getting something that helps others. Oh, clothes and a toy, too, but not as much in some years. By the time everyone in the family gets them each something, well… it’s a bit overwhelming.
This is a sad time of year for many people, those who’ve lost family members of the people or pet variety, those struggling with finances, job insecurity, the gap between the haves and the have-nots. I want to point you to a wonderful blog by a fellow author, Diane Kratz, who gave me permission to include the link here. Her guest is a psychologist, Dr. Debra Holland who specializes in grief counseling. If you’re struggling or know someone who is please take time to check this out and to share. http://wp.me/p2iG7K-hc.
Years ago, DH and I both had a parent die in December. We lost the pups this summer. I struggle a lot about that gap between the fortunate and the less fortunate. The bad stuff out there in the world can be overwhelming. So this isn’t my favorite time of year.
I try to practice the words of advice from that old song about “When you’re worried and you can’t sleep, just can’t your blessings instead of sheep….” More than just financially, I’m blessed with my DH, who puts up with my less attractive qualities, and who loves and supports me in everything. I’m blessed with a family that is not only close by, but who genuinely cares for each other. 
(Part of our collection of Moose.)
I’m blessed with friends who help me when I can’t get the latest technology thing to work, friends who kick me in the butt when I need to get writing, friends who tell their friends about my book or my blog. I have friends I’ve never met in person, but whom I feel incredibly close to, church friends some of whom I’ve known for 40 years, all the wonderful folks I’ve met through MuseItUp Publishing, and on and on the list goes. Family and Friends are high on my list of blessings. Whatever else this holiday is about, it’s about relationships and how we treat each other and trying to do a better job of that.
(More of the managerie, but not all. 
)
If you’re interested in pursuing the idea of alternative gifting check out these sources:
All you need is the online Heifer International Gift Catalog. “Give your friends and family a Heifer gift this year:
http://www.heifer.org/gift-catalog/animals-nutrition/index.html
A goat? A dairy cow? Maybe a llama? There’s a gift for everyone! Not convinced yet? Consider this: 79% of Americans have said they’d rather have a charitable gift given in their name than receive a gift they wouldn’t use.” (Taken from the Gift Catalogue.)
OR use the Presbyterian Giving Catalogue www.presbyteriangifts.org
OR any of a slew of non-profits in your community.
Now for some “business” related stuff. Tuesday Author Chats won’t return until Friday, Jan. 3, 2014 when I ‘ll host MIU author, Susan Barnhardt, with her debut book, THE GINSING CONSPIRACY.
In March, I’m planning to shift to only having guests twice a month. I love hosting my author friends and introducing them to you, but I need to find more writing time. January and February are fully booked, so stay tuned. 
You won’t find a new post here at Thoughts on Thursday until Jan. 2. I hope you’ve signed up both for a newsletter, which I promise will be out in 2014 and to get the direct email about this post. Look for two places on the top right. One says: SUBSCRIBE and that will get you the email with my blog posts. The other place says: SIGNUP FOR NEWSLETTER. I’m pretty sure you won’t get more than two a year to send those special announcements about book sales, book covers, or a contest. It won’t be long, I can promise. For long posts, I have here.
I hope you’ll answer some of the questions I shot out at the beginning and throughout or share one of your favorite holiday traditions, or a recipe, or how you cope with the holidays blues. Thanks so much for making this journey with me. I always love to hear from you. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!