Christmas creates such a warm, cozy, and relaxing feeling in me and I look forward to carving out time well before it every year just to immerse myself in those feelings.
Last year I watched movies, read books, and participated in a few Christmas-related activities in our community and made an effort to truly soak in the season. I withdrew from social media, choosing to read a book or watch a Christmas-themed YouTube video, show, or movie during that time. It was one of the most peaceful stretches of time because I made a concentrated effort to focus on joy.
It was a restorative month that came right before a period of a month of stress when my mom went into the hospital to have her gallbladder removed.
I am striving for that restorative month again and hopefully this time I won’t be met with stress on the other side.
As part of this month of comfy and coziness, I will be blogging about movies I watch, books I read, or Christmas activities I participate in. I plan to blog some about Christmas memories as well.
Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs is the one who came up with the idea to join up and blog about our Christmas-themed experiences this year. She then suggested we open a page on each of our blogs where everyone who wants to participate by writing their own Christmas-related post can link up and we can meet new bloggers and continue the cozy feelings. I loved both ideas and am so excited to participate! It will be a much-needed distraction from life!
We also both decided that the event would be open to people who celebrate other holidays this time of year, not only Christmas. Erin and I are fans of alliteration, however, so we stuck with the name Comfy, Cozy Christmas for the feature.
We do ask that only posts about the holiday season be added to the link.
You can find the link to the page for this fun feature at the top of the page or HERE. That page is where you can add your links.
I hope to see some of your Christmas posts listed there!
I don’t like using my blog to promote myself or my books too much but today I did want to share that all of my Spencer Valley Chronicles ebooks are on sale starting today and going through November 27.
All four full-length novels are 99 cents and the Christmas novella (Beyond the Season) is free.
I have descriptions of each novel on the link called My Books at the top of the page or HERE.
You can order the books from that page or you can find links on Amazon HERE.
I also wanted to mention that The Apron Strings Book Series authors are holding a scavenger hunt where you can go to their websites and find clues that will give you the chance to win several gifts, including books by each author.
The Apron Strings Book Series is a Christian Fiction series that begins in January of 2024. A new book will be released each month throughout 2024 and will focus on the story of different women from each decade who are all connected by one cookbook.
I am writing a book for the series. Cassie will be released on August 15, 2024.
Flames are curling around the logs in my wood stove as I write this, creating a cozy, warm glow that we need as it is very cold and raining outside.
Tomorrow, temperatures are supposed to be higher and more manageable so we might not need a fire. By Thursday (Thanksgiving) night, we will be back to lighting the fire to keep the house warm.
Heating oil has been through the roof for two winters now so we have been glad to have a wood stove that heats much of the house and helps us cut down on that bill. We have electric heat upstairs so that helps some but this year the state deregulated electric so now that is also going up.
I don’t usually write share a tea and chat post in the middle of the week but this week I felt like I wanted to just chat with visitors to my blog.
Don’t worry, this isn’t an affiliate post, which you might be seeing more of from time to time here on the blog. I am not really a fan of affiliate posts, to be honest, but our family can use all the financial help it can get so I’ve decided to at least do a few a month. I doubt I will make anything, honestly, but I’ll never know if I don’t try.
That’s one thing I wanted to talk about in this post – to assure my regular readers that this blog isn’t going to become just an advertising blog. I will link to some products I like but they won’t all be affiliate links. Sometimes I just want to show you somewhere you can grab a copy of a book or a journal or find a movie I liked. I am working with a couple of different sites but many of the links I provide won’t be affiliate links – just informational ones.
And I won’t even link to products all the time. I don’t have time for all that, for one, but I also like just sharing for the fun of it and not to get something in return.
With that being said, I’m going to go back to rambling now.
Tonight I am watching Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman as I write this. I’m watching the Pilot episode which was a 90-minute movie first aired in 1993.
I used to watch this show every Saturday night when I was a teenager. It’s not holding up too bad – at least based on this pilot episode. Of course there would be people who would call it racist or cultural appropriation, or who knows what, these days, but for me it was one of the first show where I saw Native Americans portrayed as they are, not as stereotypes. It was a show that also showed the prejudice against them by white settlers and the army. It showed me that what our country did to the Native Americans was wrong and, in almost every way, unforgiveable.
I need the escape right now so I am sure I will continue watching it the rest of the week.
Life is heavy sometimes lately, right?
Like it isn’t just me?
So many people, including my family, are struggling financially. Where it was just a few here and there before, it’s not a lot of people around me and a lot of us are embarrassed to say anything.
An author friend and I finally had to admit to each other we are broke and can’t send out books for free or giveaways anymore. It feels good to be honest, even if I am embarrassed that I’m a grown woman who feels like I should be more financially secure at this point in my life.
Every time I feel like we are ahead, though, we get kicked back with either heating costs, things shutting down, rising food prices, or a doubling of our health insurance premiums.
I don’t want this post here to be too much of a downer, so I’ll say that even as I worry and we stress there are good moments too.
There are some successes and a lot of laughter and joy in our family.
Yesterday our daughter was talking to a friend on the phone and they were playing an online roleplaying game (safe one. I checked.). Little Miss said to her friend, “I just think you need to break up with him.”
The friend said back to her something like, “I will but messing with him is fun right now.”
God bless whomever that young lady dates later in life.
Little Miss was watching Bambi on her phone the other day and I quickly texted The Husband:
“Should I warn her about Bambi’s mom? I mean she about flipped out when she thought Chance was going to die in Homeward Bound. I should probably tell her.”
The Husband: “She has to grow up sometime. She’ll be fine.”
I look at her and it’s getting closer to the scene and I finally say, “Listen, about Bambi’s mom…”
“Yeah, Mom, I know. She dies. It’s fine.”
“Oh. Okay. Well, good, I’m glad you know.”
“I’m more upset that they have a man voice acting Flower’s voice.”
“You can’t enjoy the movie because a man is voice acting Flower? Not because Bambi’s mom died?”
“Yes.”
A quick Internet search later to double check I am right: “Honey, Flower is a boy. Bambi just called him Flower because he thought he was a flower. Also, his voice was done by three different male actors of different ages.”
She lets me know then it is fine that a male voice actor provided the voice and she can now enjoy the movie.
We are going to my parents tomorrow for Thanksgiving dinner. What are you doing? If you are in the United States and celebrate it, of course.
Whatever you do, I hope you have a good one. I’ll touch base again this weekend and see how it went.
I’m so glad to be able to just sit down and chat with you all today.
I’ve been doing a lot of writing about many different things the last few weeks but today I just want to write about nothing. Okay, so most of the time I write about nothing, but…go with me on this.
I started this post on Thursday. It was chilly outside but not as cold as it was earlier in the week. Friday we were supposed to have warmer temps again and get some rain and we did – late in the day. Then temps dropped sharply again today and we will be back to lighting the fire at night or even during the day this next week.
I really do like having the fire and enjoying its warm glow during the colder weather. The only thing I have to watch for is that too much wood doesn’t get loaded into it that the living room becomes a sauna and that has happened a lot in the past. We are supposed to get the temperature up to 300 degrees at least once during the day to burn off the creosote in the pipes so our smallish living room can get a bit too toasty when we do that.
All day Friday I wanted to sit in front of the fire and read a book but we didn’t start a fire since it wasn’t cold enough and I didn’t have time to open a book. I finally opened a book at almost 11 but then remembered I still had editing to do on my book.
My brain was a racing mess all week. It jumped from thing to thing to thing that I needed to do.
“Oh, I promised this group I’d post this.”
“Oh, I promised I’d write this post.”
“Oh, I need to get that one post ready.”
“Oh, I forgot to make the corrections on my book and it comes out in only two weeks.”
“Oh, I forgot to plan our homeschool lesson.”
“Oh, I wanted to make soup for that lady The Boy rescued this past summer.”
“Oh, I need to outline my next book.”
“Oh, look the animals have fleas again despite using the same flea medicine we’ve been using for years.”
“Oh, look we have a full on flea infestation in the house now.”
“Oh, I forgot that one bill.”
On and on it went and still it goes. Today I am desperate for a small amount of time where my brain only says, “That was a nice chapter,” or “I liked that video. It was peaceful,” or “Bob Newhart is so funny.”
I’m craving calmer days where I don’t feel like I’m plugging my finger in another hole in the dam of life which is about to burst and send me careening down a river of trials.
I don’t know if that is going to happen any time soon so I am going to enjoy some pockets of peace instead, stealing those quiet moments when and where I can.
Today (Saturday) The Husband has taken Little Miss to a makeup gymnastics class and I am watching Darling Desi’s latest video, will make some tea, and will hopefully read another chapter of Little Women.
Then I need to make the corrections from The Husband and my mom on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage before it goes to another editor this upcoming week.
After that, I really hope to watch a cozy movie and work on some upcoming blog posts, but I don’t want to feel as rushed as I did all week long.
The rushing really hasn’t helped any situation – I haven’t sold more books (in fact I’ve sold almost none this entire month), I haven’t brought any more money in for my family to help as we struggle that way (in fact I have spent money will trying to bring in money so that has defeated the purpose), and I haven’t solved even one problem with the rushing and worrying.
This upcoming week will be Thanksgiving and we will spend the day with my parents. My brother and his wife will be home because my sister-in-law has to work the night shift (she is a 911 dispatcher) and it is also their anniversary. My brother is going to spend time with his wife before she has to go to work.
Thanksgiving is also my husband’s birthday which means the pies we make can be for his birthday and Thanksgiving.
Since Erin (from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs) and I are kicking off our Cozy Christmas the week after next, I’ll also be spending some time to plan out my posts and grab onto the cozy feel of the season as much as I can, despite all the oddness going on in my life.
In addition to trying to figure out finances, my animals have fleas right now and our normal OTC flea medicines (both are very well-known, high-quality medicines) are not working. It’s possible we have an infestation in the house so we are working to solve that issue without having to set off one of those awful bombs that requires everyone to leave the house for two days.
While things have been stressful here, there have also been some lovely moments. Little Miss has made another one of her cozy forts for us to snuggle in at night when we want to read. Adding an extra pillow to the floor has helped this old lady with sciatica issues be able to sit there and I’m sure we will find time to snuggle tonight and this week while reading books.
I’ve pulled out my fluffy, very warm, blue blanket my husband bought me for Christmas our first Christmas here and put it on the bed and it’s been wonderful to snuggle under it while reading Little Women with a booklight at night.
We’ve had some nice family nights with my parents, playing charades and laughing while we all try to figure out what the other person is trying to describe. My dad is the best at charades, I should add. Mom and I are probably the worst.
Later today I hope to make some sweet potato and butter squash soup, which Little Miss has been asking for. She lost a tooth the other day and that reminded her of her dental surgery earlier this year and how I had to make her a variety of soups to eat while she recovered so she asked for sweet potato soup again.
I also hope to make potato soup at some point this week. I had planned to make it last week but never got around to it.
It will be a week of soups, I think, because I also have some frozen roast and potatoes to add to the Instapot to make vegetable beef soup later in the week.
Today I am closing my post with the Darling Desi video because the end of the video really hit me this week in a place I needed it.
How was your week last week? Did you do anything fun?
I cannot believe next week is Thanksgiving! Can you?!
It seems like school just started and now here we are rushing toward the end of the year.
I’ve been super busy lately with writing blog posts, editing books (past and future ones), and managing social media.
Last week a reel I posted on Instagram to promote the blog posts Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumb) and I were doing for autumn (Comfy, Cozy Cinema) went viral.
The reel was simply a clip of the documentary Tea With The Dames that Erin and I wrote about on our blogs but for some reason, it started to be shared and watched and commented on to the point it has 6 million views, 331,704 likes, 148,939 shares and 2027 comments.
There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what goes viral on social media, but I am guessing the reason this clip went wild is that people, one, love the dames (Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright, and Eileen Atkins) and, two, people simply need something happy and joyful to see these days with all the horrors and negativity going on in the world.
If you want to see the Instagram post you can find it here:
I enjoyed the documentary but I don’t know if I thought the clip was worth 6 million views. Ha! Ha! I am really glad it made people happy, though. A couple of people even messaged or left me comments to tell me how much it uplifted their spirits during dark times. I suggested they watch the full documentary to further improve their mood.
If you would like to see the documentary, you can find it streaming for free on Tubi or you can buy or rent it here: https://amzn.to/3SKEL7d
We will be taking a break for Thanksgiving next week so please return with us on November 30th to link up your posts.
Also, don’t forget that we are looking for a couple more hosts for this feature. Contact one of us and we will put you in touch with Marsha. And please take the time to hop around to other blog posts that link up here.
(Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. I only recommend items that I love, actually use, have used in the past, know someone else has used, or want to use in the future. Clicking the link does not mean that you will pay more for the item, only that I make a tiny commission if you make a purchase. Thank you for helping my family bring in a little extra, much-needed money.)
For October and November, Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I will be watching cozy or comfy movies, and some of them will have a little mystery, creepiness, or adventure added in. You can find out about the other movies we watched by searching Comfy, Cozy Cinema in my search bar at the right.
(This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on them I get a small commission but there is no increase in cost to you.)
This week our movie was Fisherman’s Friends, a heartwarming story about a group of fishermen who sing sea shanty songs and are discovered by an agent for record labels.
I watched it on Amazon, but it is available other places as well.
The movie is loosely based on the true story of a real band and takes place in Port Isaac, Cornwall in 2010.
The movie starts with a group of fishermen singing on a boat in the ocean.
We meet the characters a little bit on their boat and in their favorite pub and inn. We also see them getting ready to sing and one of them (Jago, a bawdy older man) with his wife.
Then we switch to a stag party for a man and one of the friends who is supposed to be going to it with him waking up late.
That friend is Danny and as we watch he seems to be a bit of a mess.
The four men decide to stay near a fishing village where the one friend is supposed to rent a yacht for them all to go on. That trip gets canceled.
Fortunately for the story, the men end up staying in town and renting boogie boards to go out in the water together instead. It’s while out on the boards that they get stranded and the fishermen we met in the beginning have to rescue them.
The fishermen are a rough and tumble group of men’s men. They’re fishermen and also the local rescue squad – rescuing people who are stranded in the water. All the men are just trying to make ends meet but on the weekends they gather along the beach and sing Sea Shanty songs for the local residents.
It turns out Danny and his friends pitch new artists to record labels. Danny and his friends see the men singing along the edge of the ocean and while standing there Danny’s friend, who is also his boss, thinks it will be funny if he tells him he wants him to sign the group to a record deal.
Danny is very doubtful, but he launches in to trying to sign the group, but they say ‘no’ and think the whole thing is ridiculous.
But, two of the members tell him, if he can convince the lead singer Jim to do it then maybe they’ll consider letting him pitch their music to a producer
Danny thinks that this is a serious challenge so he decides to do anything he can to sign the band, including joining them on their fishing boat where he promptly shows what a city slicker he is and gets seasick.
Jim doesn’t want to agree to sign a contract to have the music pitched because he doesn’t trust Danny
Rowan, though, points out that they could use any shot at this point because most of them are hurting for money.
Jim agrees with him to take the risk, but is still very leery.
Things get complicated when Danny gets all ten men to agree to sign and record a demo because that is when his boss tells him it was all a prank. His boss has no interest in a group that sings Sea Shanty he says, so come back home and forget it all.
Danny has a problem, though, because he’s already promised Jim he won’t betray the group after Jim gives him a speech about how their word is their word in port Isaac and they don’t go back on it.
Danny promises he won’t go back on it and worries he will have to now that his bosses isn’t really interested.
Now Danny has to record a demo and sell it to a company on his own. It’s not only for the men who he is developing a deep affection for, but because he’s starting to fall for Jim’s daughter Allwyn.
Danny is determined to finish the demo and send it out to record companies, ignoring his boss who says the joke is over and to get back to work.
I should add that I think the boss is an American. You know us Americans – always the bad guys until someone needs help in a war. (*wink*)
While Danny is working on all of this some of the men are dealing with their own issues, including the pub owner, Rowan, who is about to lose his business. Rowan is hoping that if the band is successful then maybe the pub won’t have to be sold. Danny warns him that the band won’t take off as quick as he needs so he should sell the pub and help his family.
Danny sets up a deal to sell the pub to someone he knows and – that doesn’t end so well and the men feel betrayed.
In the meantime, he lands a photography job for Allwyn at a wedding where the group can also perform.
Unfortunately, they miss the performance, which would have been in front of some big movers and shakers in the business, because they are rescuing someone who is stranded in the ocean. A few of the men do show up at the reception and, well, they bomb the performance. The boss tells Danny to get rid of them. Danny refuses. The boss starts calling record companies and telling them to ignore Danny.
“My former boss has been trying to sabotage you,” Danny tells the men when he catches them at the pub.
“What do you mean your former boss?” Jago asks.
“I quit,” Danny tells them.
“What did you go doing that for?” Jago asks, clearly angy.
“Because I believe in you and I believe in the music.”
And so Danny takes the men to the city to try to get them a deal. That all falls apart but – well, that’s where I will leave off my recap because I think I’ve given you enough to make you want to watch the film.
The music in this movie is beautiful.
The characters are charming.
The scenery is beautiful.
The story is touching and emotional in all the right ways (though some hard ways too).
It is the whole cozy package for a movie night.
Just be warned you will need tissues for at least one scene and that there are a couple of bawdy jokes from the men, so I will warn you of that, but it is still free of strong swearing, sex, or violence.
The real group’s music is a bit rowdy with some off-color themes at times as well.
The real Fisherman’s Friends.
Incidentally, the movie was filmed in Port Isaac where the men were and are from.
The real Fisherman’s Friends are still performing, though one of the men and their stage manager were killed in 2013 in a tragic backstage accident.
A follow-up to the first movie has been released as well. Fisherman’s Friends: One and All is available on streaming services. I watched the trailer and it looks like one I’ll watch in the future.
The man who was killed, Trevor Gillis is featured in the video I am sharing below. He had a beautiful voice as I discovered as I listened to their songs last night.
You can read about Erin’s impressions of the movie on her blog.
Next week and the following week, Erin and are taking a break from Comfy, Cozy Cinema and will start a Cozy Christmas feature December 1. We will share a bit about that and how you can get involved in a future post.
If you watched Fishermen’s Friends and want to share your post please link below. This link is for those who have watched the movies with us and written about them only. The Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot link will be up on my blog tomorrow.
This is a post that I wrote two years ago after I was released from the hospital for Covid. Recovery was not pleasant but somehow I managed to push out some blog posts like this one.
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
Affiliate disclosure: Today’s post may contain an affiliate link, which could provide a small commission to me as a blogger.
What’s Been Occurring
I wrote about what I’ve been doing in my Saturday Afternoon Chat post yesterday. You can read that HERE.
When I wrote my post yesterday, I said I hadn’t left the house all week. That wasn’t exactly true. I left it on Monday when my son said he needed a ride from his bus stop and I remember this because I had to drive my husband’s gigantic Chevy Avalanche down the hill to the convenience store downtown where the bus dropped my son off.
I have not tried to drive his truck yet because it is very tall and very big and I am not a tall person. I am always afraid to drive it because I can’t see over the front very well and I feel like I will run over something or, worse yet, someone.
But my son needed me so I took off, after figuring out how to adjust the seat, and headed down the hill. When I got to where he was supposed to be, though, he wasn’t there. I called him and he said he’d texted me that he was going to walk up the hill so I didn’t have to drive the truck and he was on our street. I found out later that he’d never actually sent that text so I’d had no idea.
Since I was already down the hill in town, I decided to go to the little supermarket we have and pick up the flour I needed for dinner, but I was terrified the whole time I might hit a car or person while I was driving.
When I got back to the house, I texted my husband and told him about my journey and how nervous I was. His only response? “Is my truck okay?”
I said, “Thanks for worrying if I was okay.”
He texted back, “Oh, right. Are you okay?”
I said, “I was worried I was going to hit something or someone the entire time.”
Him: “Don’t worry about it. You’re in a truck. It’s like a bug on a windshield.”
I said, “Not if I hit an older lady!”
Him: “She’ll bounce back.”
Anyhow, I won’t be driving that truck again unless absolutely necessary.
This week I will finish Walls Crumblingby Alicia Gilliam. It’s so good. I love her writing.
I also started Little Women for my cozy winter read and I’m really enjoying it so far.
The Husband is choosing a new book because he just finished a Joe Pickett novel.
Little Miss and I are reading The Black Stallion on some nights and Paddington others and also listening to Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman because she really loves that book.
The Boy isn’t reading anything right now but we will be reading something historically related soon for school.
What We watched/are Watching
This past week we watched Tea With The Dames for Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs) and my Comfy, Cozy Cinema. We really enjoyed it. I shared a short clip and talked about it on Instagram and that clip went viral – why? No idea but I think everyone just needs a dose of happiness right now. The documentary about Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Joan Plowright, and Eileen Atkins, is available on Tubi for free or on other streaming devices for a rental fee. You can find it on Amazon HERE.
I also watched Forgotten Way Farms videos as a way to relax. Here is her latest:
I am looking forward to when All Creatures Great and Small’s fourth season starts airing in the U.S. I read online that that will be January 7, so not too much longer. Until then I will catch up on Miss Scarlet and the Duke this week.
What I’m Writing
I am editing Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage so I can release it on December 4. If you want to pre-order it, you can find it HERE.
A description? Why, yes, I can provide you with that:
More mystery, intrigue, and loveable characters in Brookstone, Pa.
Gladwynn Grant hasn’t been living in Brookstone, Pa. very long but already she’s been mixed up in two attempted murders and the aftermath of a jewel theft.
Just when she thinks life has settled down and her new job as a small-town reporter will begin to be routine again, the recreational director at the local retirement community is found dead.
Was Samantha Mors death an accident, or was it murder?
Since she was the second person to discover her body, Gladwynn wants to find out what really happened.
Local State Police Detective Tanner Kinney lets her know that her job is reporting the news, not investigating a possibly suspicious death. The father she barely speaks to stops for a visit and also urges her to not get involved.
When warnings to stay away from the case come from handsome pastor Luke Callahan Gladwynn wonders if he knew the victim better than he is letting on.
Quieting her inner sleuth will prove difficult for Gladwynn, though, especially when her eccentric grandmother Lucinda tags along to help her solve the case.
I am also writing Cassie, which will release in August of 2024. I will share more about that as it gets closer to the release date but I have shared a little bit about it here already. It is part of a multi-author project, which you can learn more about in our Facebook group HERE.
The first book in that project, Polly, comes out January 15 and it is available for pre-order now. You can pre-order Polly HERE.
This week I will be listening to the end of an audio book: Death Beside the Seaside by T.E. Kinsey and the new Needtobreathe album.
Now it’s your turn. What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.
