everyday musings

My favorite reads from 2025

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 27 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl.

Today, I’m sharing my favorite reads from 2025. I did not read as many books as I had hoped I would, but it was a year where I branched out a little bit.

Because I didn’t read as many books this past year as the year before, I don’t have as many favorite reads but I do have a few.

These are in no particular order.

Grandma Ruth Doesn’t Go To Funerals by Sharon Mondragon

I had never read any books by this author and just found this cozy mystery a lot of fun. I loved the characters and the story too.

Description:

Something is brewing in Raeburne’s Ferry, Georgia—and it’s not sweet tea.

In a small town where gossip flows, bedridden Mary Ruth McCready reigns supreme, doling out wisdom and meddling in everyone’s business with a fervor that would make a matchmaker blush. When her best friend has her world rocked by a scandalous revelation from her dying husband, Mary Ruth kicks into high gear, commandeering the help of her favorite granddaughter, Sarah Elizabeth, in tracking down the truth. Finding clues in funeral condolence cards and decades-old gossip dredged up at the Blue Moon Beauty Emporium, the two stir up trouble faster than you can say “pecan pie.”

But just when things are starting to look up, a blast from the past waltzes in with an outrageous claim. But as Grandma Ruth always says when things get tough, “God is too big.” With him, nothing is impossible—even bringing long-held secrets to light. Grandma Ruth and Sarah just might have to ruffle a whole mess of feathers to do it.

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy

I had  never read this before but had seen the TV movie. I didn’t think I would enjoy this but ended  up loving it and want to read the sequels.

Description: The Scarlet Pimpernel is Baroness Orczy’s classic adventure novel about Sir Percy Blakeney, a wealthy Englishman who has a secret identity as a daring rescuer of aristocrats from the French Revolution. Orczy’s thrilling tale of heroism and romance is a timeless classic that has captivated readers for over a century. Set in 1792, The Scarlet Pimpernel follows Sir Percy as he outwits the forces of the French Revolution to save innocent lives. With a colorful cast of characters and an exciting plot, Orczy’s classic novel is an unforgettable reading experience that will leave you wanting more.

The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis

I probably read this years ago, when I was like 10, but I didn’t remember any of it so it was a lot of fun to follow along this magical story and find out what happened. This was technically the first book in The Chronicles of Narnia.

Description:

Narnia . . . a land frozen in eternal winter . . . a country waiting to be set free

Witness the creation of a magical land in The Magician’s Nephew, the first title in C. S. Lewis’s classic fantasy series, which has captivated readers of all ages for over seventy five years

On a daring quest to save a life, two friends are hurled into another world, where an evil sorceress seeks to enslave them. But then the lion Aslan’s song weaves itself into the fabric of a new land, a land that will be known as Narnia. And in Narnia, all things are possible.

This is a stand-alone novel, but if you want to journey back to Narnia, read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the second book in The Chronicles of Narnia.

The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

This one was out of my comfort zone. I don’t usually read fantasy, but I read The Fellowship of the Ring last year and ended up enjoying it more than I thought I would. This upcoming year I am reading the last book in the trilogy, Return of the King.

Description:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Frodo and his Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in a battle in the Mines of Moria. And Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force. While Frodo and Sam made their escape, the rest of the company was attacked by Orcs. Now they continue the journey alone down the great River Anduin—alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.

The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

This was my first Wodehouse and it was so much fun. I love Bertie and Jeeves and all the other characters around them.

Description:

Upon their first appearance in 1915, Bertie Wooster and his highly competent valet Jeeves were destined to become Wodehouse’s most famous duo. The hilarious stories that feature the charmingly foppish Bertie and his equally lightheaded friends being rescued from tedious social obligations, annoying relatives, scrapes with the law, and romantic problems by the quiet interventions of Jeeves are among Wodehouse’s best-loved tales.


But First, Murder by Bee Littlefield

I really love Bettie from the Bettie Bryant Mysteries and this second installment in the series didn’t change my mind.

Description:

After years of slinging lattes, Betti Bryant is taking ownership of her life. She doesn’t need new friends or book club invitations to distract her from finding her way forward. And the unresolved situation with a guy she kissed a few weeks ago might as well stay unresolved.

But there’s one distraction she is not prepared for: finding a murder victim on her way to work one frigid December morning.

Suspicion falls on Betti’s roommate, Callista, who happens to be holding a baseball bat over the victim’s body when the police drive up. Almost totally sure Callista is innocent, Betti buys a new notebook, digs out her scrapbooking supplies, and makes the cutest murder board ever.

Now, on top of holding down a job (or two) and figuring out her entire future, she’s committed to finding the real killer before any more lives are ruined—including her own.

Every Living Thing by James Herriot

I’ve enjoyed all the James Herriot books but this one has been my favorite so far.

Description:

Every Living Thing: The Warm and Joyful Memoirs of the World’s Most Beloved Animal Doctor brings back familiar friends (including old favorites such as Tricki Woo) and introduces new ones, including Herriot’s children Rosie and Jimmy and the marvelously eccentric vet Calum Buchanan.

This book marks a perfect opportunity for existing fans of Herriot’s work to reacquaint themselves with his writing, and for those who’ve never read him to see what generations of animal lovers have already discovered: James Herriot is that rarest of creatures, a genuine master storyteller.

Home to Harmony by Philip Gulley

This was my first Philip Gulley book and I really enjoyed it and all the quirky characters and downhome feel of it. I literally laughed and cried while reading it.

Description:

In this acclaimed inaugural volume in the Harmony series, master American storyteller Philip Gulley draws us into the charming world of minister Sam Gardner in his first year back in his hometown, capturing the essence of small-town life with humor and wisdom.

Dave Barry is Not Taking This Sitting Down by Dave Barry

This was a collection of Dave Barry’s columns and it had me laughing so hard during some really difficult changes in my life this year.

Description:

Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist Dave Barry is a pretty amiable guy. But lately, he’s been getting a little worked up. What could make a mild-mannered man of words so hot under the collar? Well, a lot of things–like bad public art, Internet millionaires, SUVs, Regis Philbin . . . and even bigger problems, like

• The slower-than-deceased-livestock left-lane drivers who apparently believe that the right lane is sacred and must never come in direct contact with tires
• The parent-misery quotient of last-minute school science fair projects
• Day trading and other careers that never require you to take off your bathrobe
• The plague of the low-flow toilets, which is so bad that even in Miami, where you can buy drugs just by opening your front door and yelling “Hey! I want some crack,” you can’t even sell your first born to get a normal-flushing toilet

Dave Barry is not taking any of this sitting down. He’s going to stand up for the rights of all Americans against ridiculously named specialty “–chino” coffees and the IRS. Just as soon as he gets the darn toilet flushed.

Christy by Catherine Marshall

This one is on this list but there was a lot about it that bothered me. There were deaths that seemed unnecessary to me and some odd theological stances but at the same time it had me thinking long after I read it and the story overall was fascinating and kept me turning the pages.

Description:

Come, Tell Me How To Live by Agatha Christie Mallowen

This was a fascinating non-fiction book by Agatha Christie that showcased her humor, her dedication to supporting her husband, and her emotional and physical strength in traveling to a foreign country.

Description:

Over the course of her long, prolific career, Agatha Christie gave the world a wealth of ingenious whodunits and page-turning locked-room mysteries featuring Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, and a host of other unforgettable characters. She also gave us Come, Tell Me How You Live, a charming, fascinating, and wonderfully witty nonfiction account of her days on an archaeological dig in Syria with her husband, renowned archeologist Max Mallowan.

 Something completely different from arguably the best-selling author of all time, Come, Tell Me How You Live is an evocative journey to the fascinating Middle East of the 1930s that is sure to delight Dame Agatha’s millions of fans, as well as aficionados of Elizabeth Peters’s Amelia Peabody mysteries and eager armchair travelers everywhere.

Honorable Mentions:

The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

This was my first read of the year this year and it was a favorite because of the humor in it. I would have liked a bit more Miss Marple in it but when she was in it, she was entertaining and fun.

Description:

It’s seven in the morning. The Bantrys wake to find the body of a young woman in their library. She is wearing an evening dress and heavy makeup, which is now smeared across her cheeks. But who is she? How did she get there? And what is the connection with another dead girl, whose charred remains are later discovered in an abandoned quarry?

The respectable Bantrys invite Miss Marple into their home to investigate. Amid rumors of scandal, she baits a clever trap to catch a ruthless killer.

Other books I enjoyed this year:

Rebecca by Daphne De Mauier

Peg and Rose Solve A Murder by Laurie Berenson

Killer in the Kitchen: A Murder She Wrote Mystery by Donald Bain

The Case of the Careless Kitten by Erle Stanley Gardner

The Pale Horse by Agatha Christie

Have you read any of these? What were some of your favorite reads in 2025?

Favorite movies I watched in 2025

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 6 Comments

This past year I watched 84 movies, some long and some short, the majority of them made before 1960.

At the end of this post, I’ll list them all, but for now, here are my favorites from the bunch. I did not include any movies that were rewatches for me in my favorites list, but I did include rewatches in the overall list.

  • Without Reservations
  • KPop Demon Hunters

  • It Happened One Night
  • Superman (2025 version)
  •  Take Me Out to the Ballgame
  •  They Got Me Covered
  • The Strawberry Blonde
  • Another Man’s Poison

The movies I watched in 2025:

  • Morning Glory
  • The Stranger
  • Gunga Din
  • The Power of the Press
  • The Prisoner of Zenda
  • The Young in Heart
  • The Exile
  • Angles Over Broadway
  • Sinbad The Sailor
  • The Rise of Catherine The Great
  • The Sun Never Sets
  • Almost Heroes
  • The Quiet Man
  • The Barkleys of Broadway
  • Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris
  • How to Steal A Million
  • The Intouchables
  • Paris Blues
  • Hugo
  • Charade
  • Paddington in Peru
  • The Assassination Bureau
  • The Honey Pot
  • The Manchurian Candidate (original)
  • Herbie Goes to Morocco
  • National Velvet
  • The Rains Came
  • Gaslight
  • Bedknobs and Broomsticks
  • Abbott and Costello: Jack and The Beanstalk
  • The Scarlet Pimpernel
  • The Pirates of Penzance
  • Take Me Out to the Ballgame
  • A Hole in the Head
  • The Canary Murder
  • Please Murder Me
  • Without Reservations
  • Death on the Nile
  • The Court Jester
  • They Got Me Covered
  • Raffles
  • The Picture of Dorian Gray
  • A Life At Stake
  • The Long, Hot Summer
  • Find Me Falling
  • KPop Demon Hunters
  • The Celtic Riddle
  • Nonnas
  • Benny and Joon
  • The Talk of the Town
  • The Bishop Murder Case
  • Autumn Harvest
  • It Happened One Night
  • What’s One More?
  • Pennie’s From Heaven
  • A Green Journey
  • Superman (2025)
  • Topper
  • Pfffft!
  • The Mummy
  • Iron Man
  • Iron Man 2
  • Thor
  • Storm in A Teacup
  • The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill and Came Down A Mountain
  • The Storied Life of AJ Fickery
  • Iron Man 3
  • The Avengers
  • I’ll Take Sweden
  • Another Man’s Poison
  • The Strawberry Blonde
  • Meet Me In St. Louis
  • Condemned to Devil’s Island
  • Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Winter Soldier
  • Ball of Fire
  • It Happened on Fifth Avenue
  • A Christmas Story
  • The Falcon Takes Over
  • Tenth Avenue Angel
  • The Grinch Who Stole Christmas
  • The Thin Man
  • The Bishop’s Wife
  • The Benson Murder Case
  • Yankee Doodle Dandy

Have you seen any of these movies? Which ones did you enjoy?

A Good Book and Cup of Tea Bookish Link Party for January

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 4 Comments

Welcome to the A Good Book & A Cup of Tea (A Monthly Bookish Link Party)!! This link-up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!).

Each link party will be open for a month.

My co-host for this event is Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs! You can link up with either of us!

Some guidelines.

1. For Bloggers, you can link unlimited posts related to books and reading. They can be older posts or newer posts. These can be posts about what you’re reading, book reviews, books you’ve added to your shelf, reading habits, what you’ve been reading, about trips to the bookstore, etc. You get the drift.

2. Link to a specific blog post (URL of a specific post, not just your website). Feel free to link up any older posts that may need some love and attention, too.

3. Please visit at least two other bloggers on this list and comment on their posts. Have fun! Interact! Get some book recommendations.

4. Readers can click the blue button below to visit blog posts.

5. If you add a link you are giving me permission to share and link back to your post(s).

Thank you to all who participated in December and throughout 2025. Please be sure to visit other posts in the link-up and support each other!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=c0efdbe6b4add43dd7ef

Because she would want us to

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 7 Comments

I originally wrote this in 2019, the year after my aunt had passed away unexpectedly in my parents’ home December 29, 2017. She absolutely loved Christmas so while I think about her often, that’s one time of year I really think about her.

—-

My aunt Dianne was sitting in her recliner bundled up in a thick sweater over her plaid button up shirt and tshirt and a thick, fluffy blanket across her legs. A knitted shawl and hood combination was draped around her head and shoulders.

 She looked, as she might say herself, a tick about to burst.

“Lisa, is that heat on?” she asked and when I assured her it was, she shivered. “Well, good gravy, I don’t think it’s working.”

On the TV Ree Drummond was pouring half a quart of whipping cream into a bowl of potatoes and telling viewers “Now, don’t judge me, or judge me if you want, but I just think these mashed potatoes are so much better with all this whipping cream.” Then she smiled at the camera.

“I can’t believe she’s not 300 pounds,” I said.

“That is a little overboard isn’t it?” Dianne asked, rhetorically

We both laughed a little and shook our heads.

We watched The Pioneer Woman whip up the potatoes and set them aside.

“Now it’s time for my famous chicken fried steak, which cowboys just love,” Ree said and smiled at the camera again, dimples showing.

I rolled my eyes.

“How hasn’t anyone in that family had a heart attack?” I wondered out loud, the irony not lost on me since my aunt had had at least two heart attacks already. I hoped she didn’t take my comment as a personal jab at her.

“Well…..” Dianne said and shrugged a little, leaving the rest of her response to be guessed.

The Pioneer Woman drives me nuts with her fattening recipes but her chipper personality and knowing I can modify the recipes for a healthier option make looking away hard to do.

Next to me the Christmas tree was bright with lights and ornaments. Out the window Dad’s star was shining bright against the dreary winter clouds at the edge of the field and woods.

Before long, my aunt was asleep in her chair, chin into her chest. She’d been falling asleep a lot like that lately, sometimes almost in mid-sentence, and I knew her health was getting worse. So that day we enjoyed her when she was awake and tried not to think about how much longer we might have her with us.

A couple weeks before she’d been messaging me, asking me for gift suggestions for my son and daughter and I knew she was anxious to spoil them and see them smile as they opened their gifts. She was planning how to make sausage balls, a Southern tradition, without “poisoning me”, knowing I was allergic to corn and had also gone gluten free. I told her not to worry about me and simply make the treats for the rest of the family. I offered to make some as well so she wouldn’t have to do all the work.

We messaged back and forth and then I accidentally bumped the video chat button in messenger. The button is annoying and most days I hate it because I rarely want to video chat with anyone, especially via Facebook. I missed her call, but she tried to call me through the ap and her voice was recorded. It was only for 17 seconds, enough for me to hear her voice call my name, thinking I’d picked up. I didn’t discover it for a couple months, when she was already gone.

Sometimes, when I’m missing Dianne the most, I scroll back to the recording and listen to her call my name. Of course, I always cry.

When I first discovered the recording, I hit the play button without thinking. Her voice could be heard throughout our house and my son’s head lifted quickly. He looked at me in confusion and then we burst into tears.

My mom said many days Dianne could barely make it from the bathroom to her chair without needing to sit down and catch her breath, but she sat the kitchen table for hours that last Christmas and made the sausage balls, kneading the meat and flour and cheese together and rolling them to put in the oven to be cooked.

“She just seemed so delighted she could do that,” Mom remembered. She grew quiet and I saw tears in her eyes. “Well, anyhow…” her voice trailed off and I knew she was trying to stay happy and not bring the mood of the day down.

On my phone is a video of my aunt opening a gift from her grand-nephew, my son. She could barely catch her breath, but she seemed excited and hugged him and told her how much she loved the gift.

Four days later my husband’s phone rang, and I heard him from upstairs.

“No! Oh no!” I heard emotion heavy in his voice.

He came downstairs and held the phone against his chest.

“It’s your mom,” he said.

I didn’t want to take the phone, but I did.

“Dianne died,” Mom said in a voice mixed with sadness and shock.

She’d called my husband first to make sure someone was with me when I was told, just as she had when my grandmother had died 15 years before.

Though I knew it was coming my head still spun when she said it and I had to sit in the floor because my legs didn’t seem to want to hold me.

I sat in my parents living room the other day.

The chair was empty.

The Southern accent couldn’t be heard.

I couldn’t kiss her soft cheek or try to squirm away when she blew “zerberts” (messy, slobbery kisses) against my cheek.

I couldn’t feel her arms around me or hear her laugh when one of the kids said something funny.

Somehow it feels a lot less like Christmas this year with her gone.

Still, I know she would scold us for dreading gathering without her.

So, we’ve promised each other to cook the sausage balls, decorate the tree, wrap the gifts and to cook the collard greens I forgot to get her last year, even though she asked.

We will drink hot cocoa while we watch her favorite Christmas movies: “It’s A Wonderful Life” and the black and white version of “A Christmas Carol.”

We will share the funny stories and laugh as we remember her.

We will, somehow, find the joy in the midst of sadness and enjoy those who are still with us because that is exactly what she would have wanted us to do.

Soup and Story Saturday: Ham and bean soup

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 8 Comments

Last weekend, I made vegetable beef soup with some leftover beef roast, carrots, and potatoes. I intended to link up with Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs) Soup and A Story post on Saturday, but I didn’t seem to find time all day to sit down and write after visiting my parents for the day.

Then I forgot to finish the post this week, because Erin said I could add it whenever, but I am here for this Saturday at least.

When I have leftover beef, I always think of making veggie beef soup with it, maybe because I think that is what my mom always did.

I loved my mom’s veggie beef soup — much more than hamburger stew. Her hamburger stew was delicious, don’t get me wrong, but there was a texture to it because of the hamburger that always threw me off. I didn’t like the little bits of hamburger that broke off in the stew.

I can’t remember my mom making soups other than the hamburger stew and veggie soup when I was younger, but when I became an adult, she and my dad started to make ham and bean soup together and oh it was so good. They are older now with a lot of health issues, so they don’t make it very often anymore, but when they did, they had a tradition of sending containers over to the kids and me so we could have some too. In the same way they would send soup our way after they made it, I would send soup their way as well, if I made it.

(The Husband doesn’t really like soup unless it is in a can. Don’t ask. He’s weird like that.)

I remember Little Miss being very young and getting very excited when Grandpa and Grandma sent over soup.

Not my parents’ soup but somewhat close to the color.

Some children are excited by chicken nuggets or French Fries but my children scarfed down their grandparents’ soup like it was the best thing they ever tasted.

Our son would often say he’d have some soup later, but I always warned him to get it while he could because his sister was bound to eat it all and leave him with nothing. I always found it funny when three days after the soup was delivere,d he’d ask where it went.

As if that soup was going to stay around very long in this house! It was just too good!

My children love my parents’ ham and bean soup so much that one year they suggested we have it for Christmas dinner. I don’t remember if we did or not, but we might have had it for New Year’s instead.

I’ve always felt like I couldn’t compete with their soup, but over the years, mine has become pretty good so I’m not as intimidated anymore. Now that they can’t make it much, I have started trying to make it but I haven’t done much lately. I need to get around to make some as it is the perfect weather for it.

My parents also occasionally made chili and would send that over.

Soups that I have made in the past, besides vegetable beef soup, include sweet potato, ham and potato, chicken and rice, and chicken noodle.

I thought I’d share the recipe for my parents’ ham and bean soup today, as best as I can recall it.

First, you need to either get a whole ham (we like the Sugardale brand) or a ham hock and cook it down until the ham is crumbling or falling off the bone.

I use an Instant Pot to cook my ham. Cooking it in a pot on the stove or in a slow cooker works too. Keep some of the juice from the ham as well. Put that all in a pot with the butter beans.

My parents use Hanover brand butter beans, but you can use whatever brand you want. They use the ones already cooked because none of us seems to be able to cook them right.

It depends on how much soup you want to make, but they often use three 32-oz cans.

The cans usually come with salt already included so you don’t need to add more. They do add a little bit of garlic but otherwise they don’t put much seasoning. That can be added by the person eating it later.

From there, they also add onions and carrots. You cook the mixture until it becomes the consistency that works best for you and until the onions and carrots are tender, if you use fresh ones. If you want it to be more watered down, you can add some more water, but our family likes it a little bit thicke,r which comes when you cook the beans down so that the broth becomes thicker.

One trick my dad added over the years was adding turmeric, not for taste, but for color.

One time they added red peppers for color, and now we love it with the red peppers.

This one looks a little less thick or hearty than it usually is but once it cooks down it will become thicker. This is a batch my dad made a couple of years ago.

So your list of ingredients:

Ham or ham hock with ham on the bone still on it

64 to 96 oz of butter beans

Turmeric (just enough until it turns yellow)

1 to 2 two carrots sliced into medallions

1 sweet (Vidalia) onion (I don’t usually add onion)

1 to 2 sweet red peppers

You cook the soup until it looks and tastes like you want it so I can’t really give you a time frame. It does take at least one to two hours to cook the ham until it breaks apart enough to be added to the soup.

I cook the soup in the instapot so I add all of the ingredients at once, but I cook the ham or ham hock (you can also use a ham steak as long as it is tender).

I called Mom to double-check on this recipe before I shared it, and she said, “Do you have to make the soup for this post or just write about it?”

I took that as a hint that it is time for some ham and bean soup so that’s what I’ll be making this weekend and yes, I’ll be sending some to them.

What soups do you enjoy eating throughout the year, but especially in the winter?

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

On Thursdays, I am part of the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot blog link party. You can find the latest one in the sidebar to the right under recent posts.

I also post a link-up on Sundays for weekly updates about what you are reading, watching, doing, listening to, etc.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

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7 Ways to slow down this Christmas season

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 11 Comments

Do you ever find that the time around Christmas is super rushed and busy?

Maybe you or your children have a lot of activities around this time of year. Maybe you have a lot of family gatherings to attend.

Maybe you find it hard to find time to just slow down and enjoy all that this season is about.

I’m lucky, in some ways, that we don’t have as many obligations in my family. We have a very small family, so we only have one Christmas gathering to attend. My children are homeschooled, so there aren’t Christmas programs for them to perform in.

It might be easier for me to find the time to slow down and focus on the season than others, but even without obligations, life seems to get busy. The dishwasher smells funny, the cat is throwing up, the dog wants to go out (again), the youngest has a cold, the husband injured his foot, the cleaner that was supposed to start at the parents never showed up. All of this kept popping up even when I was trying to write this blog post!

There are always interruptions in life, especially at the holidays, and sometimes we feel like we have to keep jumping up and plugging our fingers in the holes popping up in the dam of life.

Really, though, we need the slowed down moments in our life to regain our strength for the busier times. During the Christmas season, we need to slow down to remember what Christmas is truly about — the birth of our Savior.

The moments where we slow down isn’t wasted time. It’s the most important time because it’s when we are really living. The slower moments are when we are really taking it all in; making memories our children and we will always remember.

So, without further ado, here are seven ways to slow down this Christmas/holiday season.

It goes without saying, by the way, that shutting off social media is the first way to regain your peace and find some slower, more relaxed moments. Social media will be there after your break. Don’t be afraid to shut it off. You won’t miss very much, if anything at all.

  1. Baking cookies or other Christmas goodies  with your kids or spouse or a friend or even by yourself.

Maybe you’re like me and you don’t bake often or baking stresses you out because you’re a perfectionist. This idea might not appeal to you but remember, you don’t have to get fancy when you bake. You also don’t have to bake from scratch. Most importantly, whatever you bake doesn’t have to be perfect.

Pick up a boxed mix and have some fun.

 Don’t know how to decorate cookies in a fancy way? Who cares! Just have fun figuring it all out and if your cookies are a mess that’s fine because they’ll take the same as they would if they were perfect.

I have baked a couple times with my daughter lately and it’s been fun as long as I can let go of needing things to be perfect. There’s something about the methodical movements of adding the ingredients, stirring the batter, and placing it on the tray that relaxes me. I don’t have to think of anything other than adding, mixing, and placing. It’s on those days when I can simply take my time that I understand why bakers love to bake.

If you’re going to choose cookies to bake,  YouTube is a great source for ideas and tips on how to make the cookies and decorate them.

Here are three that I found:

Then, when the cookies are done and decorated, eat a few, slowly, really tasting them and washing them down with your favorite (non-alcoholic. Ha!) beverage.

2. Make or buy Christmas cards you can write notes in and send them to a few special friends or family members.

While the cookies are baking, or on a day where you aren’t baking, it can be both fun and relaxing to pull out some Christmas cards and write notes inside addressed to friends or family you haven’t talked to in a while, or even ones you just spoke to.

Write a small, personal note inside and let them know they’ve been on your mind.

Here is where I hit a snag when I try to do this — if I make the cards, I want them to be perfect. This was especially true this year when I prepared one for a cousin who is a talented advertising designer.

I had to let that go, though, and simply enjoy the process of making the cards and writing the notes. Hey, maybe they’ll think my 11-year-old made the card and won’t judge. Ha! Hopefully they wouldn’t judge anyhow.

Be sure to play some Christmas music, light a scented candle, and maybe sip some eggnog or cocoa, while you create to get yourself in the Christmas spirit.

I’m not going to link any YouTube videos here, lest you compare yourself to some of the artists who create amazing cards. I’ll let you search them up yourselves.

3. Read a Christmas-themed novel or short story.

Find a classic Christmas novel or short story with a sweet, uplifting plot, then find a chair to sit in, lay a blanket across your lap, and settle down for a good read. Make it a real book, if you can.

There is something so special and grounding about holding an actual book in your hands, feeling the weight of it, the tangible texture of the pages against your fingers as you turn them, the smell of the ink.

If you can, light a candle or a fire in the fireplace/woodstove when you read, but be careful not to fall asleep.

4. Hold a family movie night.

Find a movie all of your family (or friends) will enjoy and make it an occasion. Set up the living room with cozy blankets, maybe even a blanket tent, some favorite snacks, cozy pajamas, stuffed animals and whatever else will make the movie night both fun and cozy.

Make it a movie that will make everyone laugh and feel excited about watching together.

Turn off the lights to make it feel like you are out at the theater, but without the crowds and high prices.

5. Decorate your house for the holidays.

You don’t have to go all out, but at least do a little decorating, even if it is a display in your living room. Set up some battery run candles or some garland or anything that will bring extra cheer to you while you relax, read, bake, or write in your journal.

 As you decorate listen to an entire album of either Christmas music or your favorite musician/singer/band. Instead of playing the album on your phone, pull out a CD or record. You can find record and CD  players online for very reasonable prices and listening to music the “old fashioned” way will be another way to immerse yourself in a less digitally connected time.

6. Journal each day of December. Write down at least three things that you are grateful for (and maybe keep that going for the rest of the year).

The “journal” can simply be a notebook from a dollar store. Something where you can write down your thoughts about what you are grateful for and don’t care if it is neat or not. Draw pictures in it or paste them in too. Actually get photographs printed out and add them to the journal even! Won’t that be a blast to the past for us older folk who used to paste photos or mementos in our journals instead of leaving the photographs in our phones?

Here is a YouTuber I found who designs and keeps journals:

7. Use an Advent Calendar.

An advent calendar is some way to countdown to Christmas. It is either a picture or object featuring windows where one window or door is opened each day leading up to Christmas. The phrase advent calendar comes from the German word Adventskalender.

Many Christians use the Advent calendar to countdown to Christmas as Jesus’ birthday.

An Advent calendar can slow you down because it leads you to take time out of your day to reflect on the meaning for the season. For our family the reason for the season is Jesus, while for others it might be family time or a time to reflect on all the good they’ve experience in the past year, or maybe work through all the bad. Using an advent calendar can be a way to bring the family together as well. It carves a small amount of time out for the family to sit down together and read the reading for the day together and talk about what it means to them.

Christmas is supposed to be a time of slowness and purposefulness.

This season is when we pause to remember the good of our lives and experience family togetherness, good will to men, and cheer brought to us by spending time with those we love.

 But it is also the time we honor the birth of our savior, the greatest gift of all. Jesus doesn’t ask us or want us to rush through this season so there’s no reason we should. I hope you can find your own pockets of stillness, peace, and calm this Christmas season.

This post is part of the Comfy, Cozy Christmas feature hosted by me and Erin at Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. If you have a blog post that you would like to share as part of this annual link-up, please find out more here.

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

Book recommendation: Christmas in Harmony

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 10 Comments

I have only read one of the Harmony books by Phillip Gulley, but I loved it, so I last week I looked to see if there was a Christmas one in the series, and there are two Christmas novellas. I downloaded Christmas in Harmony to my Kindle and breezed through it. It was short, yes, but it was also so charming, sweet, and funny that I couldn’t put it down!

The Harmony series is about Sam Gardner, the pastor of a Quaker Church in the town of Harmony. In the first book, each chapter was essentially its own story, with some connections, but this book was connected a great deal as it relayed the story of troublemaker church member Dale Hinshaw, who decides the church should sponsor a “Progressive Living Nativity” for the Christmas season.

His plan keeps getting more out of hand when he suggests, first, that different parts of the nativity be held on the front lawns of church members, so participants will have to drive around town to get the next part of the story. Then he suggests sponsors for the event.

“This is what came from putting Dale Hinshaw in charge. The birth of Jesus was now compliments of Grant’s Hardware. . . . ‘Why don’t you see if Kivett’s will donate a toy doll,’ I suggested. ‘They look pretty close to the real thing.’ As soon as I said it, I regretted it. I had a vision of Dale painting This Year’s Messiah Compliments of Kivett’s Five and Dime on the other side of the manger.”

The relationship Sam has with his wife comes up more in this cute book and they are so funny together. She’s definitely not a pushover. She tells Sam she will not write his Christmas cards for him this year and also lets him know he’s not very good at gift giving, which is a theme throughout the novella.

He reminds her that when they were first married he bought her a bracelet that turned her wrist green. Instead of understanding that meant the bracelet was cheap, he thinks she’s allergic to jewelry.

There is a hilarious scene in the local store where the female owner tries to steer him toward a gift his wife would like but he’s completely oblivious.

“Racines suggests a silver picture frame to hold a picture of the boys. Levi and Addison don’t think so. ‘She spends a lot more time washing dishes than she does looing at pictures,’ Levi points out. I look down at my sons and beam with pride. That they have mastered the subtleties of gift giving at such a tender age thrills me. Racine sighs and wraps the pot scrubbers.”

There are so many funny moments in this short book but also so many poignant lessons.

“He grew quiet, remembering. You close your eyes in a dead-still room and rewind the tape. Revisit snatches of time. A late summer day with your father on the porch. You are eight years old, he is your world. Spin forward. Taking your daughter by her hand, setting her on Santa’s lap. Sorting through the Christmas trees, searching for perfection. Coming home after midnight from the Christmas Eve service, carrying your little girl up the stairs tucking her in, then staying up to set presents under the tree.”

“Christmas, I tell my wife, is not the time to hold back. It is the bold stroke, the song in the silence the red hat in a gray-suit world.”

I loved so much of this book. The sweet messages about what Christmas is all about is wrapped neatly in a package of humor, lovely prose, and heartwarming narrative.

Bonus points? If you are trying to meet your goal of the year and need a short book — this should be your choice.

This post is part of the Comfy, Cozy Christmas feature hosted by me and Erin at Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. If you have a blog post that you would like to share as part of this annual link-up, please find out more here.

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

Saturday Afternoon Chat: Turns out the new kitten is not a girl…ooops.

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 12 Comments

This past week was all thrown off by the Thanksgiving holiday and by all thrown off I mean I didn’t know what day it was most of the week.

Thursday felt like Friday, and yesterday felt like Saturday.

Here we are on actual Saturday, though, and The Husband is in a play this afternoon.

It’s a Christmas play — It’s A Wonderful Life. He was in it last year as well. It’s a “radio play” so they have scripts to help them along.

I was originally going to see the second performance tomorrow afternoon, but plans changed, and I am going today.

Yesterday and today Little Miss had her friend over for a sleepover. They made videos and ran around a lot and bounced on the air mattress we have for them to sleep on in our living room.

On Thursday, we all went over to my parents for Thanksgiving dinner. The Husband got up early that morning to start the turkey and later in the day I made sweet potato soup and mashed potatoes.

Little Miss wanted the sweet potato soup and had been asking for it for weeks, but when it came to dinner she filled up on turkey and never did eat it. My mom and I really enjoyed it, at least, and there was some left over for Little Miss to have some today.

The Boy ate a ton of food that day, which is very unusual for him. He’s not a big eater. He ate so much he was almost in a coma when it was time to go home a few hours later.

We watched The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, after dinner — well, part of it because The Boy and Little Miss had watched part of it earlier in the day. It is the extended version. Whew.

That morning, we discovered the young cat that had either been dropped off at our house or found its way to our house was not the girl we thought it was.

The Husband lifted her up that morning and discovered she had grown appendages “she” didn’t have before, which means the spaying appointment I set up will now be neutering appointment. We are sticking with the name Cas as it will work with either a boy or a girl.

This is the first boy cat we’ve had in 15 years but growing up I had almost all boy cats. It will be nice to have a boy cat again.

He’s fitting in well, but it does explain why all the other animals were sniffing his backside the other day. This must have been a rather recent development. Hmmmm..

Anyhow…moving on.

It looks like we could have our first snowstorm of the season by Tuesday. Forecasters still aren’t confident enough to say how much we might get, but some are saying “plowable” which I guess would be at least eight inches. Things could definitely change by then, though.

When we get snow here I am usually stranded until it melts because our driveway is so steep. I’m also much less confident driving in snow than I used to be. If my parents need me, though, all bets are off. They live about seven minutes down the road and I’m sure I could make it that far. Or hopefully.

I wouldn’t mind being snowed in this week, though. I love having an excuse not to leave the house. I like to make a cup of cocoa, get under a blanket with my rice pack, and watch an old movie like I did yesterday. It was so relaxing.

So what have you been doing?

Anything exciting?

I hope you can find time to do something you want to do today or this week!


Saturday Afternoon Chat: Cat update, why is chamomile in every tea mix, and going old school with music, books, etc.

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 10 Comments

Good afternoon from chilly Pennsylvania.

I’m under a blanket as I write this while my 11-year-old daughter rips around the room on a hoverboard, my dog stares at me because she thinks I’m going to give her some of the chicken I was eating (I’m not. It’s gone.), and my husband rushes around the house cleaning because he is neater than I am.

Where is my 19-year-old son? Sleeping most likely.

At the end of his school career, I told him to take his time figuring out his next step in life, and he has taken that advice very seriously. *wink*

I’m about to make myself a cup of peppermint tea with local raw honey. (Update: The Husband made it for me.). I had to go back to peppermint after I tried an elderberry mixed tea that had so many other ingredients in it that it simply made me sick. One tea that makes me feel gross — small headache and icky stomach gross — is chamomile and it is in every single tea I get lately.

Elderberry blackberry? Yup..chamomile.

Apple Cinnamon Spice? Yup…chamomile.

Even the cold infusion ones add chamomile. What is the obsession with chamomile with these tea companies? Gah! Give me something without chamomile. Thank you very much!

Small, unimportant rant over.

This past week was uneventful and apparently gave me plenty of time to ponder tea concoctions and their overabundance of chamomile.

I worked on the fourth book in the Gladwynn Grant series, finally buckling down when even my own parents started asking me where the book was. To make sure I am on track my mom asked me yesterday, “You’re working on the book, right?” That isn’t exactly how she phrased it but close.

I told her I was. I even participated in a two-hour writing sprint with an author I follow to make sure I got a few hundred words in. I hope to have it out in February.

On Friday, The Boy, Little Miss and I went on a drive to get some more hours in for The Boy’s permit.

One of the main streets to get out into town involves a very challenging intersection where it is difficult to see around cars parked at a local bar and grill. The Boy pulled out, and a car came around the corner very fast, essentially almost out of nowhere, and we were almost t-boned. Miss New Jersey was non-too happy and let us know with a horn and a middle finger.

She, however, was most likely speeding around the corner, like most cars are.

What’s silly is that we always go out that way when there is another street we could go up and then around on to get to the same street. Instead, we all arrive at that intersection, our stomachs in knots and worrying we are going to get hit by a car or one of the many tractor trailers that come blazing around that corner. I don’t know why we haven’t, in the five years we’ve lived here, learned to go up and around, but we haven’t. I, however, am going to start doing that because I don’t relish the idea of being slammed into on the driver’s side by drivers who refuse to slow down.

The rest of our drive to a small town about ten minutes away was uneventful. There is nothing in the town to visit so we simply went there, turned around, and drove home, trying to figure out the speed limit on the stretch of highway right next to our local state police barracks.

My dad tells me it’s 55 unless otherwise marked but I don’t trust our local state police to hold to that old adage and figure they’d tell us it was marked a mile back and we were breaking the law.

One driver decided the speed limit should be more as they passed us while we were going 55 but at least the driver did it in a legal passing zone. It offered yet another learning opportunity by reminding The Boy to let up on the accelerator when someone passes so they can get by whether they are doing it legally or not. No need to create even more of a potential for an accident.

Before I forget, I’ve been mentioning in various blog posts that we had a cat with an injured back paw and were going to be taking her to the vet. Luckily, she started walking again normally right before we were supposed to take her and seems to be doing fine now. It took two weeks for her foot to heal completely.

As for the kitten who was dropped off at our house, or somehow found us, we are keeping her and will be getting he spayed in December. Please pray with me that she doesn’t find a boyfriend in that timeframe and become “in the family way” shall we say. I would prefer not to have a litter of kittens to find a home for before we get her spayed.

She is a crazy cat who likes to climb the glass door in our living room for some odd reason. She also yowls a lot, hides under chairs and tries to grab our feet when we walk by, and annoys the older cats just by breathing and being in the house.

Jumping subjects again but AI — yeah….I am not a fan. Not in the least. This week I found out the top song in Christian music right now is an AI artist.

I became physically ill at that news and at the people defending it by saying God can use anything to get his message across.

People, listen to me. AI is Artificial Intelligence. There is no soul behind it. There is no human who is expressing their worshipful praise to our Heavenly Father.

There is simply a computer mimicking other songs and, to me, mocking what true worship should be.

This is horrific to me, and I will not be listening to AI worship music at anytime. I am so worried that real artists will start to use it too which, again, makes me sick to my stomach.

On the same wavelength, I am so disgusted with indie authors or traditional publishing houses who are using AI created images to portray humans on the covers of books. Stop it. Just please. Not only do these fake models have nothing behind their eyes — no soul, no feeling, nothing — the photos look cheesy as all get out.

I will not pick a book up with a cover like that because who knows if the person really wrote what is inside.

Now, I am not including illustrated books in this rant. My Gladwynn book covers have illustrated art that I put there piece by piece. Many other designers do the same. This doesn’t bother me, even if I am not a huge fan of all the animated/illustrated romance covers out there.

The AI looking faces with their soulless stares creep me out to no end.

And the advertisers using AI models for ads where someone is speaking? Stop that too. I’m so disturbed.

I am also not a fan, in the least, of AI audiobooks and will not buy them. If I see an indie author has offered one of their books for sale as an audiobook, I always listen to see if the voice sounds like a real person. If it doesn’t, I’m out.

All of this AI creation and AI pushing has led me even further into the desire to go old school in my life. My husband and I have a huge collection of CDs and we have a record player/CD player/cassette player/radio that we can use to play those CDs. It’s nice to have the songs on my phone too but sometimes I just want the phone to be put away so I can pretend I’m in the 90s again without the crazy hair-sprayed bangs.

I find myself reaching for old music, old movies, and old books, knowing they were not created with AI. Sure, some of the old music might include auto tune or changes by a computer but at least it started out with a real human.

Old movie makers might have used practical effects to create scenes but, again, those were real humans figuring out how to set it all up to create the look our outcome they wanted. It wasn’t someone being lazy and punching a bunch of information into a computer and waiting to see what it spit out.

I’m worried about AI and what it means to our future and our humanity, as you can clearly see. I’m doing all I can to stay away from AI and use my brain and hope to make my children do the same, especially after I heard this week that developers are trying to create AI friends for children. Oh heck no. It’s hard for my daughter to find friends while being homeschooled but I will send her to public school before I will ever let her have an “AI friend.” That’s like opening up the portal to hell to me.

I’m done with my rant now. Ha!

Now I am going to go read a physical book (even though I do still enjoy my Kindle), sip some peppermint tea with no chamomile, and later watch a movie made before 1960 to help me feel a little more grounded.

What are  you going to do to feel more grounded on this fine Saturday afternoon? Or whatever day/afternoon it is when you read this?

If you write book reviews or book-related blog posts, don’t forget that Erin and I host the A Good Book and A Cup of Tea Monthly Bookish Blog Party. You can learn more about it here.

On Thursdays, I am part of the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot blog link party. You can find the latest one in the sidebar to the right under recent posts.

I also post a link-up on Sundays for weekly updates about what you are reading, watching, doing, listening to, etc.

Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

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