Only three more days until Christmas. Are you ready?
Rose is. She finished up Harold’s gift—embroidered hankerchiefs—yesterday, and, today, she and Harold chose and cut their modest pine. Of course, she’s done crafting her ornaments and is settling in, just now, to trim the tree.
Cue the Christmas music.
Continue reading “A Little Christmas Music”
… with boughs of holly / fa la la la la / la la la la1
My house has been decorated for Christmas since the day after Thanksgiving. I’m not sure who decided this was the time to be Christmas-ed, but it is always the day my daughter insists upon. One year, though, we were in the middle of a kitchen remodel. For the longest time, it looked like we would never decorate. But then, Christmas Eve Day, my cabinets were installed while my mother and daughter and I put up the tree and ornaments.
It was the best Christmas.
Rose isn’t in the middle of a renovation and yet…
Continue reading “Deck the Halls”
Continue reading “Finding just the right gift”Charlie let the silk float over his fingertips, trying not to imagine the contours of Rose’s leg as the stocking slid past calf and thigh. Damn! He was supposed to be helping Harold find a Christmas gift for Rose, not coveting the man’s wife.
Hanlon’s was a smallish store, but they offered a good variety of merchandise. Surely there was something less… personal…
I’ve been getting ready for Thanksgiving. Cleaning neglected rooms. Brainstorming a long weekend’s worth of menus. Slowly laying in supplies.
All this focus on Thanksgiving, and the impending descent of Christmas shopping, has made me wish for a simpler day, without all the sales hype and food flurry. You know… A Thanksgiving Day like Rose might have had.
Surprise! Things in 1929 were not so different from today after all.
Continue reading “The 4Fs of Thanksgiving”
“Did you see this, honey?” Rose peered over the newspaper, one eyebrow cocked skyward, telegraphing her interest. “’Costumes for the American Legion’s annual Halloween Dance can be procured at the Armory any time after Saturday noon. Prices reasonable,’” she read. “That would be fun. Art Shook’s old-time orchestra will be there. Can we go?”
“You know I don’t dance.” He hated to disappoint her. But he had a surprise already planned for Saturday. Complete with costumes and everything.
Imagine no Trick-or-Treating.
Continue reading “Masquerade”Titles are difficult.
Not only that, conventional wisdom says the book’s title is best determined after the book is finished.
But it has to be called something in the meantime, right? If only so one can preface that terrifying question that comes after one admits to writing a novel: “What’s it about?”
So, what, you ask, does moonlight and roses have to do with farming in 1930s Nebraska?
Continue reading “Working Title: Moonlight & Roses”
