Happy New Year, everybody! Can you believe we are heading into 2018? I remember what seems not long ago we were worrying about the change from 1999 to 2000 and how it was going to disrupt our world. But the night changed to day on that New Year’s and we kept living our lives. Our computer system didn’t blow up. …
Carrying on Christmas Traditions
The same as many of you I’ve been blessed to celebrate many Christmas days. Also the same as you, I have great memories of those times. We always gathered to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family on Christmas Eve with my mother and my sisters and their families. Actually that tradition started when I was a child and …
Seeking the Christmas Story Spirit
With Christmas right around the corner, I thought I’d share this guest post I wrote back in 2013 when I had just published my only Christmas novella, Christmas at Harmony Hill. So, hope you enjoy reading about that Shaker Christmas story. Even before Halloween ghosts glide out of sight down Trick or Treat Street, Christmas decorations start popping up in …
A Birthday Cake for Jesus
At Christmas we’re all winners when we think about what happened in a little Bethlehem stable over 2000 years ago. We celebrate that in so many different ways and I’ve had a great time reading about which Christmas traditions are favorites of yours. One thing often mentioned by those of you who entered my Christmas giveaway was Candlelight services. Many …
Gifts Made with Love
Christmas is the spirit of giving without a thought of getting. It is happiness because we see joy in people. It is forgetting self and finding time for others. It is discarding the meaningless and stressing the true values. ~Thomas S. Monson Have you ever made homemade gifts for the people on your Christmas list? Sometimes that happens because we …
The Lesson of the 29 Cent Angel
I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus that He said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35 NKJ) Did you ever get one of these Lifesavers Books for Christmas when you were a kid? I did and I remember …
Christmas News & Giveaway
I believe that every life is a collection of individual ‘journey stories.’ ~Dieter F. Uchtdorf Do you feel like you are on a journey as you look ahead or have been on a journey when you look behind? I can agree with Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s quote about life being a series of “journey stories.” When I think back on my life, …
The Circle of Love
I finally have my wedding ring back on my finger. Some of you may remember that on a muddy day last spring I slipped and fell while I was walking and broke my ring finger. It was panic time since I was on a deadline rush for my last story and had to wear a metal finger guard for weeks. …
Frost Flowers
Have you ever had the opportunity to see frost flowers, also sometimes called ice ribbons, rabbit frost or rabbit ice? I’ve been spotting them around my farm now for several years. I think a new kind of weed spread into our area that is perfect for the formation of these delicate “petals” of ice. Early fall or winter is the …
“He’s No Poe”
Meet my new dog, Frankie. He’s very cute, isn’t he? I haven’t been without a dog of my own since I was about eight years old. So, when Oscar died of bone cancer in October, I sort of felt lost. What I had done in previous years was to always find a new dog to add to the family before …