Thoughtless?

For all my devote followers out there, no I didn’t fall off the face of the Earth. So where, you might ask did Thoughts of the Season 7-12 go? Well, rest assured I had thoughts. Really great, fantastic ones. But my writing time over the rest of winter break was devoted to writing book 6. What can I say? I got hooked…sometimes when I get into writing my story I just can’t get out.

For those of you who feel cheated, let down by the missing Thoughts of the Season, I will give my bulleted short list here. Be prepared for mind blowing opinions.

Thought #7 – Board Games

One of my favorite thing to do over the holidays is get together with friends and family and game. Here’s my top choices for group games this year…okay, last year:

1. Tribond
2. The Game of Things
3. Pit
4. Ticket to Ride
5. Rook

Thought #8 – Alone Time

Here’s my Top 5 list of my favorite things to do when I get a chance to do my own thing:

1. Write (sitting on my couch, foot stool up, a hot cup of tea and some dark chocolate…ahhh, good times.)
2. Read (I just started Daughter of Shadow by Tyler Sehn, looking forward to really sinking my teeth in it as it were…once I can stop writing.)
3. Warm Bubble bath (a really nice happy place to ease tired and sore muscles and relax for awhile.)
4. Playing my drums (yep, you heard me. Crank the tunes and let me butcher the beat as I rock out.)
5. Bingeing on Netflix (I love to spend 10 hours straight delving into story – Thank you Jessica Jones for this seasons binge.)

 

Thought #9 – Homemade Gifts

Every Christmas I make at least one gift. This year it was to my mom. Thanks Kelley for the inspiration. This bouquet is all paper flowers, origami style!

Thought #10 – Gifts Received

My family was very thoughtful this year from cowbells to board games. My most unique present? Scavenger lottery tickets! Santa put the first clue in my stocking and then I spent my morning searching for each clue attached with a scratch ticket. Here are 5 of my favorite locations that I found my clues:

1. Treasure island book on my bookcase
2. My own book – Journey to Kokoroe
3. My jewellery box
4. In the tree
5. My sock drawer

Did someone say ‘More Cowbell?’ (Last one of the top 10)

Thought #11 – Best Chocolates of the Season

I love chocolate so here’s a thought dedicated to the ones I savor every year:

1. Chocolate covered cherries
2. After Eights
3. Turtles
4. Lindor Dark Chocolate
5. Terry’s Chocolate Orange

Thought #12 – New Year’s Resolutions

How many times have you made the same resolution? I lost count…but I usually manage to stick to them for four or five months so it’s worth the thought 😉

1. Eat less sugar (that’s a challenge…see thought #11)
2. Build muscle (if I stock up on body building magazines, does that count?)
3. Read one classic book  a month (this is on top of my regular reading)
4. Finish Book 6 of the Essence of Galenia series (I’m halfway through the first draft so well on my way!)
5. Publish Book 4 of the Essence of Galenia series  (yes I write two ahead of what I’m publishing – makes it easier to do foreshadowing and ensure continuity)

That’s it for my Thoughts of the Season, consider your mind blown!

12 Thoughts of the Season – #6

The holiday break allows us time to catch up on all our movie viewing, visit the box office for the new releases and snuggle under warm blankets at home to watch the classics. My Top 5 Holiday Movie list does have some Christmas classics, but it also contains any movie where the holidays come up. These are shows I tend to watch every season depending on what kind of mood I’m in. Be prepared: although I’ve included the fun there is also the sappy and the damn the man spirit (after a full day of crazy shopping malls and traffic jams sometimes you need a little dark humour…)

1. Love Actually
   • Not a season goes by that I don’t watch this romantic, heart wrenching love story. It’s funny & honest. I cry, I laugh.
2. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
   • Dr. Seuss was a talented writer and could pass on meaningful life lessons in short and humorous stories. Of course when I watch this I look under my tree with the generous loot and feel a bit guilty knowing if it was empty I don’t think I’d be happy and singing…
3. The Ref
   • Okay, here’s the dark comedy. This show isn’t meant for those who easily take offense and like their Christmas specials to be all carols and magic. Dennis Leary has a knack for stringing together a long list of profanities, but if you’re holidays (or your life for that matter) has ever been less than perfect or you’ve ever had the urge to tell someone to gag your mother, then you might get a kick out of this holiday movie.
4. Sleepless In Seattle/When Harry Met Sally
   • I couldn’t chose between the two of these rom/coms. Even though neither of them are set exclusively at Christmas, I think of them every year with Meg Ryan singing ‘horses, horses, horse’ or dragging a tree down the road through the snow.
5. Elf
   • Aside from the Grinch, this is one of those shows I watch with the kids every year. There are jokes for both kids and adults alike making it a great movie belonging on my holiday viewing list. How many movies can boast about singing a duet in a shower scene and show it in a kid-friendly way?

There are also those fantastic Epic Trilogies (or more) that my fellow binge watchers would agree are great escapes: Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Godfather.

12 Thoughts of the Season.

‘Tis the season! For the next 12 days I will share with you my holiday thoughts and good cheer. Today’s thought is around Christmas or other holiday traditions. Putting lights on the house, setting up a tree, opening presents on Christmas day —all fairly standard customs. I like starting my own family traditions so here are two of my favorites; feel free to share your own!

1. On Christmas Eve, each member of my family takes turns being interviewed. We set up the video camera and three of us ask the chosen candidate all sorts of questions. Who are your friends? What do you want to be when you grow up? Tell us about your favorite adventure that you had this year? Weve been doing this since my kids were very little. The questions they ask are almost as entertaining as the answers they give!
2. Another Christmas Eve custom we have is to open one present. I remember getting to do this when I was a kid, but I’ve put a new, somewhat less exciting, spin on it. The gift is always Pjs. The reason I like doing this is so that everyone can have new, clean pajamas to sleep in and they look great for all the pictures Christmas morning 🙂