Lynn Raye Harris

The day after Christmas, Hubby and I decided we were going to clean our garage. Apparently, everyone has the same idea after Christmas. Not necessarily the garage, but home organization. Lowe’s and Home Depot both had sales on storage containers and shelves, and people were loading their carts up. Since this is my first time having the organization urge immediately after the holiday, I was a bit surprised.

Still, we loaded up with shelves and containers and came home to begin the garage project. It’s not done, but we’ve made good progress. And now I have my eye on a inside projects. I even cleaned out my pantry! I won’t tell you how many expired things were in there.

Of course all this has me thinking about counting down to the New Year and planning goals for 2010. Some years, I fail; other years, I hit the goals. I’m thinking this is a goal hitting year coming up. I have several, and I think they are reasonable. They aren’t all related to writing. Some are definitely along the lines of “Get Organized!” Since I have a head start, I think it’s possible. (No, I won’t do a 180 and suddenly become super-organized. Wish it were so, but I know me.)

What kinds of goals are you setting for the coming year? Did you go buy organization supplies recently too? And what kind of New Year’s celebration are you planning? Low key at home? Party hearty at some swanky joint? I will definitely be at home, and I’ll probably be in bed long before midnight.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas! Last night, we had our hot cocoa, watched our Christmas programs, and went to bed at a decent hour. This morning, we’re looking forward to getting together with family later. Our present to each other was indeed the built-ins in our living room, so nothing to open when we woke up. But we’ll have things to open at my parents’ house.

And I believe we’re planning to see a movie later today — probably Sherlock Holmes since the whole family seems excited by that one.

Thanks to all my readers who keep buying my books and telling me how much they enjoy my stories! I appreciate you all, believe me. You’ve made this new author very happy this year. You’ve kept me on the eHarlequin paperback bestseller list for over 10 days, and the ebook bestseller list for a whopping 18 days. Thank you so much! I look forward to all next year will bring, and I’m excited about the stories that I’ll be sharing with you in the upcoming months!

Because I used to live in Hawaii, I can’t help but wish you all a Mele Kalikimaka and lots of aloha today and always.

Yikes! It’s only a week until Christmas! Are you ready? I almost am. I actually mailed Christmas cards yesterday, which was a weight off my mind. And, I have to admit, I cut my list down this year. I’ve had people on there for years to whom I mail cards — and never get one in return. I’ve decided I just don’t have time for that anymore. This year, I kept a couple of those people on the list, but mostly I mailed cards to people who mailed them to me. And people who I know will mail them (or would) when they have time.

As far as gifts, I’m almost done there. Hubby and I may not be shopping for each other, though we won’t know that until tomorrow. See, we have this big wall in our great room where we’ve been wanting built-ins. So we have a contractor coming to give us an estimate. That may be our present to each other — which, I have to say, is fine with me. I’d rather get something I want than turn the man loose with a few ideas and hope for the best.

If the estimate is too large, then we may be doing some last minute shopping for each other. We tend to buy what we want when we want it, or plan for bigger purchases, so it gets difficult to find things the other person doesn’t already have. I really, really hope the built-ins are within the budget. I know we won’t have them before Christmas, but knowing they’re coming would be awesome.

What do you want for Christmas? Do you like things for the house? Or do you prefer personal items like jewelry and perfume, etc?

I’m feeling pretty happy today! Not only did I turn the novella in with 3 days to spare, but I managed to actually do a little Christmas shopping. Oh, not enough, that’s for sure! I have much to do. But it was so nice to be able to leave the house, to actually wear makeup and put on real clothes, that it made me giddy.

Silly, huh?

But I’ve been cooped up in the house, slaving at the computer (while streaming Pandora Belly Dance radio, I might add!), and occasionally staring out the window wistfully. Getting out for something as exciting as a post office run and a trip to the mall was big news for me.

I know there could be novella revisions any day, but I’m forging ahead with my holiday cheer until then! Today, I have fudge to make for a party tonight. Tomorrow, I have my RWA chapter Christmas party in the morning, and a tour of homes with my mom in the afternoon. Lots of Christmas activities to get my spirit going! And it’s cold in Alabama, like really really cold, which it typically isn’t this time of year. While I don’t appreciate cold, it does mean I get to wear my gorgeous German Loden coat to my events instead of a light jacket. Since my coat is red, it puts me in the holiday mood!

And now I’m going to go turn on the local radio station that plays Christmas music 24/7, start the fudge, and wrap a package or two to take to the PO later. Are you in the holiday mood? What sort of things get you in the spirit?

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! I have a lot to be thankful for this year. It’s been a great year so far, and I’m looking forward to spending it with family. Once the festivities are over, it’s back to work on this story due in December.

How will you be spending the day? Have any traditions? My mom always used to watch the Macy’s parade while cooking, and I do love to watch it too. Hubby doesn’t, LOL. He’d rather watch football, or things about football. Of course we eat all the usual foods — turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce (and I’m probably forgetting a few things!). The other tradition we seem to have is that I always make the stuffing. I stumbled on a recipe for Cajun sausage stuffing in a magazine a few years ago. And since I made it that first year, which was probably about eight years ago now, I have to make it every year. The family demands it.

So I gotta get busy cutting up the onions and peppers, frying the sausage, and getting this dish put together. Hope your day is fun-filled and joyful.

I turned in my revisions last night at about midnight. Since my editor is in the UK, that means they’d be sitting in her inbox when she arrived in the morning. What a relief to get them gone! The work isn’t done until she tells me it is, so no getting my hopes up that the book is finished yet. There may be some more work to do.

In the meantime, I have a sheikh novella to write! My lovely editor called me this morning to talk about him. I suspected there would be work to do there, and of course I was right. The novella is a new format for me, so it’s also a learning experience to try and pack all the power and emotional punch of a Presents into 25k. That story is due in about 3 weeks now, so guess who will be busy and scarce once more?

But I’m excited about the holiday this week! What American doesn’t love Thanksgiving? A day dedicated to eating and spent with family? Can’t wait. We’re going to my mother’s house, and one of my brothers will be there with his family too. I’m making my famous Cajun stuffing, and I believe I’m in charge of cranberry sauce too. Tomorrow, my mother and I are going shopping together for many of the fixins (a Southern word, for my international readers, that means ingredients).

Of course I’m going to have to find a way to write during all this festivity. And I will. I’ll write early, write late, and write whenever there’s a free moment.

I’m still looking for my winner last week! Cynthia Gander, where are you? Email me for your book!

And, speaking of books, Cavelli’s Lost Heir is officially out in the UK now! If you live in the UK, and you happen to see my book on the shelves, could you snap a pic? Email to me at lynn AT lynnrayeharris DOT com, and I’ll send you a couple of my lovely bookmarks!

The blog is most likely on hiatus until after the new year. If I think of something I must say, I’ll post — otherwise, rejoin me on Jan 5 and we’ll begin a new year of talking all things writing. Enjoy this little video!

I can’t tell you the number of stores I’ve gone to the past few days and found shopping carts all over the parking lot. What is wrong with people that they can’t walk the darn thing the few feet it takes to get to the cart corral? I’m so fed up with lazy people unloading their carts and pushing the things between the vehicles and leaving them. I couldn’t even park in one spot yesterday because it had become a de facto corral — and the corral wasn’t full and wasn’t far away.

Do people really not care if their cars get dinged with these runaway carts? Or do they feel that since they are leaving, their car isn’t in danger? Of course there are legitimate excuses not to take the cart back — sometimes a person is sick or hurt and just wants to get in the car and go. It happens — but not to every blessed person at the store on the same day!

I always walk the cart to where it’s supposed to be. I even walk carts into the store when I get out of my car and there’s a stray cart perilously close by. I still have a huge dent in my door where some lovely person in Hawaii shoved a car door or a cart into it and then skedaddled. It’s just a dent, not missing paint or anything, so I still haven’t had it fixed (2 years later). But I think about it every time I see stray carts all over the parking lot. Irritates me.

So, it’s the holiday season and I’m ranting. But in this season of giving and goodwill toward others, why are people so rude about shopping carts? Why can’t they return it? For most of us, there is no excuse.

What bugs you about shopping this time of year? Is the rampant outbreak of homeless carts merely an Alabama phenomenon, or is it happening in your corner of the world too?

Today, it’s off to see my stylist for highlights and a trim, then off to do a little bit of last minute shopping, and then perhaps a trip to the antique store (I hear my hubby scream).

Nothing new or interesting to report. We watched more holiday fare on the movie screen last night. Very fun. A CHRISTMAS STORY, which I love. How about these favorite lines:

“Dadgummit, blob!”

“Ohhhh, fuuuuudge.” Only I didn’t say “Fudge.” I said THE word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the “F-dash-dash-dash” word!

“Naddafinga!”

Only one thing in the world could’ve dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window.

In the heat of battle my father wove a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan.

I don’t ever remember wanting one specific thing so badly that I was obsessed with it like little Ralphie is with that Red Ryder BB gun. Well, maybe a pony. I got one of those when I was six, but I don’t remember it being for Christmas. I remember I wanted a black pony; I got a red pony with a blond mane and tail. And she wasn’t nearly as cooperative as my imaginary pony, that’s for sure!

What was your best gift ever? Did you ever obsess about something like Ralphie does in the movie? If you got it, was it every thing you’d dreamed?

Hubby and I don’t have children, so we aren’t tied to a certain set of holiday traditions. Ours have morphed over the years, that’s for sure. But one thing we seem to always need to do is watch Christmas Vacation. I’m not sure how that one evolved, but it’s become necessary each holiday season.

So, last night, we popped it into the DVD player and watched it on the big screen. Yes, it’s certainly unrealistic in its over-the-top depictions of Christmas craziness. And it’s dated with the 80s era clothes and hair (especially on Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s character). But I think the movie says something about the holiday experience that’s universal.

Don’t we all have these huge expectations, like Clark Griswold, that never quite get fulfilled? I know what my friend Mark would say about that, but he’s a priest. (I still think it’s possible to be somehow disappointed with the hype and expectations of the holiday as a regular churchgoer, but that’s a different topic.) It’s possible to build the seasonal expectations up so much that nothing quite fulfills the vision you may have had for it.

But back to the movie. Hubby and I have even incorporated some of the lines into our lexicon. Driving to Florida, for example, we get behind a slow poke and Hubby says, “I’m gonna get around this egg timer.” Then there’s the famous, “Eat my road grit, liver lips!”

We even say to each other sometimes, jokingly of course, “Don’t piss me off, Art.” And who can see a squirrel without yelling, “Squirrrrreeeellllll!”?

So that’s one of our traditions, quite by accident. We watch other movies too, and of course we tend to quote lines from A Christmas Story as well. We don’t always get around to that one every year, but this year we will. I want to watch it on Hubby’s movie theater screen.

We don’t always have a tree (for various reasons), but we do this year. No traditions when it comes to decorating. My mom used to fix hot chocolate and we’d decorate with Christmas music on. Hubby and I listened to an audiobook (his choice) and drank wine (no, the decorations aren’t crooked). I don’t bake for the holidays, and we don’t usually have any parties at our home.

Nope, watching Chevy Chase go overboard seems to be the most enduring tradition we have.

What are some of your traditions? Doesn’t have to be television or movies. Do you bake? Sing certain songs or do something special each year? Have a big party?