Sunday Salon: December 13, 2015

Twelve Days Until Christmas: I don't know why... but it still doesn't feel like Christmas to me. Perhaps it is the weather - in the sixties all week long! It is now raining which is supposed to usher in a cold front. Somehow balmy does not equal Christmas to me (unless, of course, I'm surrounded by decorated Palm Trees).

Or perhaps it's because the children are so far away this year. In the past, the girls would come over to help decorate sugar cookies and dip chocolate-covered pretzels. This year, it's just me.

That should change starting this week though.

My son and his wife come into town Thursday and will stay through January 10th. They have lots of plans including helping us renovate the kitchen, living room and dining room. Perhaps it will begin to look like Christmas at that point...

My youngest and her boyfriend will arrive next Sunday and leave the 28th. She is my baking buddy, and I think the house will begin to smell like Christmas soon.

My granddaughter and her family will travel home on the 26th and stay through January 2nd. We will wait to celebrate gift giving until they arrive - and we will have the traditional Prime Rib Christmas dinner a day late.


I have finished the Christmas shopping however. All that's left is the wrapping. But since we wrap all stocking stuffers (a holiday tradition I started without thinking it through...) I need to plan several hours for that task. I think I will start that today...

End-of-Year Reflections: I am still working my way through The Best Yes and Big Magic and should finish this week. I have thoroughly enjoyed both but decided I need to cut back on non-fiction books and start adding more fiction in my life. That is one of my New  Year's Resolutions.

For the third year now, I am working my way through Susannah Conway's Unraveling The Year Ahead workbook. It is a free PDF download that offers about 30 pages of thought-provoking questions. Included in this process is the discovery of the Word of the Year. I have a few ideas percolating, but so far do not feel definitive about any of them.

Have any of you found your word 2016?

Writing and Blogging: After meeting with my writing coach this week, we mutually decided to scrap First Impressionism as it currently stands, and try again. While I was a bit disappointed, I must accept this part of the writing process: try, try, and try again.

Apparently I have three books in one: an art appreciation book - a middle grade travel book - and the hint of a YA historical fiction novel. My writing focus now is to decide which ONE book I want to write - and then begin to flesh it out.

Interestingly enough... after writing my French Friday post this week, I wonder if my story is about a middle-aged woman traveling back in time to discover her inner artist. Hmmmm.... I still have more brainstorming to do.

The blog posts this week included:

• Journaling towards  Wholeness focused on Developing a Journaling Routine
• French Friday visited Place du Tertre
• Totoro Family Recipes shared a holiday favorite, Angel Bites

May these Twelve Days of Christmas be filled with peace and joy. Let's take time out of the holiday busyness to sip a cup of tea by the fire and escape a good book.