Sunday Chat: A nice, calm Christmas, getting ready for the first book of 2025, and join us for a cozy crafternoon

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 24 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Chat where I ramble about what’s been going on in my world, what the rest of the family and I have been reading, watching, listening to, and what I’ve been writing.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

“Let’s just use paper plates for Christmas dinner,” I told my mom.

We’ve had a lot going on and some members of the family haven’t been feeling well from  couple different health issues.

Plus it was only the six of us so there was no need for anything fancy.

I heard a small “uh-huh..” on the other end of the phone and figured she was agreeing with me. The next day, though, The Husband, kids and I walked into a kitchen that had been set with a Christmas tablecloth and very fancy plates and goblets.

“These were my Mama’s,” Mom said of the plates. “And we thought we better get them out now because we might never have a chance to use them again.”

I figured that might be their dark humor since they are in their 80s and often say odd things like this to us.

Mom said she actually meant because we might not want to take the time to drag them out again. I added that we might not want to take the chance of them getting broken since I am quite a klutz.

The plates, by the way, were made in Baveria and were a gift of some kind to my grandfather when he used to work for Pepsi Co. That was probably 50 years ago.

The crystal glasses were gifts to my parents on their wedding day. They’ve been married 60 years.

There were also a set of glass water glasses that belonged to my paternal grandmother.

Somehow, we made it through dinner without breaking anything. My husband also made it through washing the plates without breaking anything.

After dinner we had a quick gift opening session that was quite quick this year since we were all broke. *snort* It was a nice time, though, and it was preceded by the reading from the Bible of the Christmas story, which we do every year.

Our family had a lot to celebrate this year.

My sister-in-law, who had been in the hospital  for an entire month for heart issues, came home on Christmas Eve. She was/is still dealing with a Norovirus she caught while there and will have  lot of new routines she’ll need to do for her condition, but she is home.

The Husband has been dealing with a health issue which could have been so much worse but has been caught and is being treated now and we are very, very thankful for that.

Money is tight right now, but we were all together and found a lot of time to watch movies and simply have fun.

It was a cold week and that was nice in some ways because it meant we had the white Christmas Little Miss had wanted.

We have electric heat upstairs and downstairs we have heating oil and a wood stove.

Thursday we didn’t light the fire because we simply didn’t get to it, and it was a reminder how well it helps to heat the rest of the house when we have it lit because I had to put four blankets on me to get warm that night. I had also taken a shower right before bed and my hair was wet so that, and the fact I’d forgotten to turn on the electric heat upstairs didn’t help at all.  The fire was definitely lit Friday, but we didn’t have to light it last night because we are having a small warm up this weekend with temps in the 40s and 50s.

This weekend we have been relaxing and enjoying our time together since The Husband is off work until the week after next and The Boy doesn’t have to return to tech school until Thursday.

We hope to see the Christmas lights at a local golf course Monday if it doesn’t get rained out.

I will finish Shepherd’s Abiding by Jan Karon’s today or tomorrow and that will be my final book of the year. My first book of 2025 will be Christy by Catherine Marshall, which I have already started and am really enjoying.

It is a book based very loosely on the life of Marshall’s mother and takes place in the early 1900s.  

This past week I finished Tooth and Claw by Craig Johnson – a novella part of the Walt Longmire series.

I kept trying to read Shepherd’s Abiding to keep with the Christmas spirt, but I kept going back to Tooth and Claw to see if Walt and Henry got away from the psycho polar bear.

Little Miss is very close to the end of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The Husband is reading World Traveler by Anthony Bourdain which is also on my TBR.

I watched a lot of Christmas movies or Christmas-related shows last week including

The Christmas episode of The Dick VanDyke Show

Christmas in the Smokies

A ton of Mary Berry episodes

The Christmas episode of All Creatures Great and Small

Jingle All the Way

The Last Holiday

Then I also watched the North and South mini-series. Good grief..that was depressing in many ways. Then I watched another depressing film called Me Before You.

The Husband and I also watched Hombre – again depressing, but Paul Newman was in it so that was good.

I watched a lot of Murder She Wrote one day as well.

I will hopefully watch some more uplifting movies and shows this week.

I’m editing Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree and brainstorming ideas for the fourth Gladwynn Grant book. You can pre-order Gladwynn Shakes the Family Tree (a cozy mystery) here:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DR6BG3ZR?

Last week on the blog I shared:

I also wanted to offer a quick thank you to everyone who took part in our Comfy, Cozy Christmas link up. That was so much fun. You can still add posts or just read the ones that are already there at this link: https://lisahoweler.com/comfy-cozy-christmas-2024/

A quick reminder for January plans for this blog and Erin with Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.


Erin and I are planning some Cozy Crafternoons on Zoom in January and February to try to beat those winter blahs that happen after Christmas. The plans for now are two a month.

We will just all meet up on the date and time, and individually work on whatever we want – embroidery, coloring, knitting, crocheting, jewelry making, etc, while chatting.

Erin says she will be embroidering during the session. I might be writing, drawing, or editing photos.

If you are interested in learning more send an email either to me at lisahoweler@gmail.com or to Erin at crackercrumblife@gmail.com. That way we will have your email for the zoom link! Our first scheduled crafternoon is January 11th at 1 pm EST.

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.

Remembering Grandma and my one childhood Christmas that was white

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 6 Comments

I was listening to Michael Bublé singing White Christmas the other day and thinking about how when I was growing up we almost never had a white Christmas because every year we drove from Pennsylvania to North Carolina to visit with my mom‘s family. The part of North Carolina they lived in — closer to the East coast and the beach — isn’t known for having a ton of snow.

We traveled to North Carolina as a family from the time I was a baby until I was married.

We would leave Pennsylvania with snow on the ground, and see some snow on the way down, but once we hit North Carolina the temperatures were usually in the 60s to 70s and occasionally the 80s. When we would step out of the car at the North Carolina welcome center, everything smelled like warmth and pine.

 One year though, snow met us as we traveled through North Carolina and continued with us as we traveled to Jacksonville.  I remember it being a lot of snow, but I was young, so maybe it wasn’t.

I do remember that no one in the South knew how to drive in it so the city was pretty much shut down. They didn’t even snowplows or cinders to put on the road. They simply don’t need them most of the time.

Since my dad is a lifelong Northerner, he tried to help my grandmother’s neighbors and teach them how to drive on the icy roads.

Seeing the snow outside Grandma and Aunt Dianne’s house felt both amazing and strange. I’d never had a white Christmas so this was my chance, but seeing those Carolina pines all weighted down under snow was surreal.

I was used to short sleeve shirts when walking outside, warm sun on my face, and sometimes  trip to the beach to stick my feet in the ocean.

This time, though, we were stuck inside so some Southerner didn’t careen into us on their way to the Piggy Wiggly.

My mom says it was’t the only time they went down that it snowed because before I was born it happened too, but again, it was very rare.

Remembering the Christmases we spent in North Carolina is bitter sweet these days.

It’s so nice to have those memories of that time – the joyous times.

Like I said in previous posts about our trips down south, if I close my eyes, I can remember the feeling of pulling in the driveway of my grandparents’ house (Grandpa was gone after I was 9 so it was Grandma and Aunt Dianne’s after that), knowing our long journey was done.

I’m climbing out from under the pile of blankets and stuffed animals I’d carried with me and Dad is taking away the winter coat away to put in the trunk because we usually didn’t need them after we arrive.

Aunt Dianne comes on to the front porch, clapping her hands and saying, “Hello, ya’ll! You made good time didn’t ya’? Come here so I can give you a hug.”

Hugging someone you haven’t hugged in a year is an amazing feeling.

The porch door squeaks as she leans out and reaches her arms out to us.

She’s wearing a pair of sweatpants, a plaid shirt over a Tshirt with the Pepsi logo emblazoned on it, and a pair of worn slippers. She smells faintly of cigarettes, collard greens, and diet Pepsi — which would be a horrible combination in other circumstances but is the most wonderful smell to me in that moment as I am wrapped in her arms, being held against her chest. I can barely breathe she’s hugging me so tight, but I take short breaths to get in air until she releases me with a wet kiss on my cheek.

She’s kissing the top of my head and I’m telling her I desperately have to use the bathroom. She laughs and tells me to “hurry on up then.” Inside the living room my grandma is waiting to the left of the door in the living room, sitting in her rocking chair. I rush by her because, as I just told Dianne, I have to use the bathroom.

“I know you’re not going to rush right by me without loving my neck now,” Grandma says in her thick Southern accent.

“I have to use the bathroom!” I call over my shoulder.

I can smell the collard greens Dianne has been cooking as I run through the house, past the kitchen, into the little dining room, down the short hall with all the family photos lining it, and to the bathroom.

Once things have been relieved in that department, I’m back in the living room, leaning into Grandma who feels like a pile of pillows and marshmallows all mushed together, the skin on her arms soft and full of comfort and love.

Behind us, in front of the large window, is the Christmas tree Dianne decorated and there are a few gifts already wrapped under it.

It’s hard for me to remember past this point because my mind is stuck in that moment with my head on Grandma’s stomach, her arms holding me tight. I remember that year her feelings were a little hurt because she thought I was blowing her off. Once she realized how bad I’d had to use the bathroom she understood why I had to come back for the hug. After that she just held me and said, “It’s so good to see you, shug.” (pronounced shoog for all  you non-Southerners.”)

I have a hard time letting myself walk away from that moment because it’s where I want to be every Christmas now.

I’d trade all the gifts, even the wonderful Southern food, just to be in her arms again.

When things get really tough in life, I close my eyes and that’s where I’m at. Kneeling in front of her rocking chair, my head on her fluffy stomach, feeling the rush of unconditional love.

I imagine that’s what heaven will be — being held in unconditional love so pure and all encompassing that nothing else matters.

Being held in the arms of my grandmother who is being held in the arms of Jesus.

Some highlights from our Comfy, Cozy Christmas Link Up!

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 6 Comments

Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs) and I have been thrilled to see all the amazing posts being linked in our Comfy, Cozy Christmas link up for 2024!!



I wanted to highlight a few of those posts today and hope to highlight some more after Christmas. I hope you will take the time to check out these posts and all the  others, which can be found here: https://lisahoweler.com/comfy-cozy-christmas-2024/

Also, don’t forget that we are offering a Cozy Crafternoons on Zoom in January and February. For now plans are to have two a month. We will announce the dates and time well in advance and ruing the Zoom we will individually work on whatever we want, which could include embroidery, coloring, knitting, crocheting, jewelry making, sketching, photo editing, etc, while chatting or not chatting if you prefer quiet and just listening to everyone else chatter.

If you are interested in learning more send an email either to me at lisahoweler@gmail.com or Erin at crackercrumblife@gmail.com. That way we will also have your email for the zoom link! Our first scheduled crafternoon is January 11th at 1 pm EST.

Now on to the highlights from our Comfy, Cozy Christmas Linkup!!


|| Uff da! Norwegian Fattigmands! By Readerbuzz ||

|| Little Lord Fauntleroy Marathon by Cat’s Wire ||

|| This England Christmas At Selfridges by The Marmeladegypsy ||

|| Getting Ready for Christmas by Cat’s Wire ||

|| Christmas Picture Books to Keep Your Kids Laughing by My Slices of Life ||

|| Christmas 2024 TBR: Will I Squeeze Them All In? by Read, Bake, Create ||

|| A Christmas Carol: Which Movie Version is Best? by Readerbuzz ||

|| Jugaad-mas: My Indian Christmas Celebration in a Snow-Free City | 2024 by Caffeinated Frame ||

Our link up is open until January 7 and is for Christmas and other holidays so please feel free to add any of your posts that are related to Christmas or the holidays to the linkup.

Sunday Chat: Merry Christmas, Christmas movies, and looks like we will have a white Christmas afterall

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 12 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Chat where I ramble about what’s been going on in my world, what the rest of the family and I have been reading, watching, listening to, and what I’ve been writing.

As always, I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.



I live in an area where we get a lot of snow during the winter – or at least enough to make the roads slippery. I have lived in this area my whole life but I am still not a fan of driving in snow. It makes me very nervous and when I am done doing it my entire body hurts from tensing all my muscles.

I avoid it whenever I can but twice this week, I ended up driving in potentially slippery conditions. On Wednesday I drove home in snow after taking my daughter to Kid’s Club, which is a weekly kid’s program at a church about 20 minutes from our house. Listening to an audiobook of Johnny Tremain helped keep me distracted from being worried we might careen off the road into an embankment, especially when the snow started to stick to the road about five miles from our house.

I recorded a quick video while I was driving slowly, and it was so funny because the audiobook didn’t stop playing as I recorded and when I played it back the woman’s sort of creepy voice was talking about the many deaths that happened during the Revolutionary War while the snow swirled in front of us. (If you push play be aware it is very loud!)

We made it home and I vowed not to do it again but on Friday my dad needed to go to an MRI and I needed to pick up groceries. We knew we were supposed to get snow but we weren’t sure how much, so we headed out anyhow. This was after I got my dad’s car stuck twice earlier in the day. I’m borrowing his car while our truck is broke down.

 I kept my hands tight around the steering wheel on the way to where we get groceries while we got stuck behind a long line of cars due to a very slow truck and a shiny sheen showed up on the road.

That’s when Dad decides to remind me not to get too close to the car in front of me because I don’t want to have to slam on the brakes and possibly skid across the road since the temp had dropped to 29 degrees. That’s always fun in winter by the way – watching the thermometer on your car drop below freezing and wonder if that’s going to be cold enough to freeze the road as well or if it was warm enough that the road  hasn’t had a chance to freeze yet. This is something those who don’t live in colder climates have to worry about.

So, on Friday, for 15 miles, I had to make sure I stayed back and stayed calm while Dad reminded me gently that I was too close to cars. He made me a bit nervous so I made him drive home and guess what – he pulled up too close to cars and didn’t slow down at all. Why that hypocrite. *wink* Honestly, he’s a pretty good driver but it was nice to harass him a bit by telling him he was too close to the cars in front of us.

Once we were home, though, I decided we won’t be leaving the house again until Christmas Eve when we will head to my parents for the evening and then head back again on Christmas Day.

The Husband does have to go to work today and Monday but then he is off for a week and we are looking forward to him having that time.

We did receive a few inches of snow on Friday and with today’s artic temps and still cold temps the next few days, it looks like we will have our white Christmas after all.

Our family has a lot to be grateful for this Christmas. The month of December has been a beast – beating my family down physically, emotionally, and sometimes even spiritually. Through it all it has been tough to be upbeat but as I write this I am grateful for miracles – for surgeries that won’t have to happen, for medical conditions caught quickly and didn’t cause more damage than they could have, and for healing that is slowly coming.

It isn’t always easy to be happy at Christmas and I just want anyone who isn’t celebrating this Christmas, for whatever reason, that it’s okay. You feel the way you feel and if you don’t feel cheerful, then you don’t. Christmas is something we can celebrate at any time of the year because of why we celebrate. I’m hoping many of us have better days to come.

I had planned to read all Christmas books leading up to Christmas and I did read a couple but didn’t fill all of my reads up with Christmas.

I finished The Hound of The Baskerville’s by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I finished The Christmas Swap by Melody Carlson this past week. I did not enjoy it as much as A Quilt for Christmas and it honestly felt like a completely different writer.

 I then finished Johnny Tremain which Little Miss and I have been reading all school year for history (in between other lessons).

That brought my book total read for the year to 66 and as I told friends and family – that is too close to 666 in my head (not the number counting up…but you know what I mean) so I am reading Tooth and Claw by Craig Johnson to bring it to 67.

After Tooth and Claw I am diving back into Christy by Catherine Marshall and starting either Castles in the Air by Donald Westlake (which my husband recommended) or Little Men.

The Husband is reading The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and that will be his 115th book of the year.

The Boy is supposed to be finishing The Hound of the Baskerville’s this week.

Little Miss is reading Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets.

We have been cramming as many Christmas movies or Christmas-themed shows we can fit in before Christmas.

This past week we watched Miracle on 34th Street (my husband’s favorite), Elf, Home Alone, and White Christmas.

On my own I watched The Bishop’s Wife and The Chosen special The Messenger.

We still want to watch Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, A Christmas Story, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. I also hope to watch past Christmas episodes of All Creatures Great and Small since I don’t have streaming that allows me to watch the latest season yet.

I am still finishing corrections on Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree, which you can now pre-order on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0DR6BG3ZR?

This week on the blog I shared:

A quick reminder for January plans for this blog and Erin with Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. I’m going to copy what she has been posting on her blog because I am behind this week!


“Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are planning some Cozy Crafternoons on Zoom in January and February, to beat those winter blahs that happen late winter after Christmas. We are thinking we will have maybe two per month, so four in total. We will just all meet up on the date and time, and individually work on whatever we want – embroidery, coloring, knitting, crocheting, jewelry making, etc, while chatting or you could even have the sound off and just feel part of the group without the chatter, if you like it quiet. It is sort of open and flexible but also social. I will probably be stitching away – my friend has requested a small pillow with an embroidered possum on it, so I will be working on that in January for a while. Anyway, if you are interested in learning more send an email either to me at crackercrumblife@gmail.com or to Lisa at lisahoweler@gmail.com. That way we will also have your email for the zoom link! Our first scheduled crafternoon is January 11th at 1 pm EST.”

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.

Classic Movie Impression: The Bishop’s Wife

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 5 Comments

This weekend I watched The Bishop’s Wife (1947), which I have watched before but couldn’t remember the end of, so I watched it again.

The movie stars Cary Grant as an angel named Dudley who comes to earth to help Bishop Henry Brougham, (David Niven). Henry is so wrapped up in securing funding for a cathedral he begins to neglect his wife and daughter.

Dudley arrives at the Bishop’s house after the Bishop prays for God to help him with funding for the cathedral. Dudley tells him right up front that he’s an angel and he’s there to help him but introduces himself to others as Henry’s new assistant. He pretty much forces himself into Henry’s life and ends up charming the pants off all the women he meets and creating miracles for men, women, and children alike. At least one man, Henry’s retired professor friend (Monty Woolley), is very suspicious of him.

Henry isn’t really sure if he believes that Dudley is an angel, especially when the guy starts taking Henry’s wife, Julia, (Loretta Young) out on the town, having dinner with her, taking her skating, and buying her hats.

Still, Henry isn’t about to get distracted from his goal of building the cathedral and he ignores Dudley’s efforts to open his eyes to how much Julia needs him, plowing forward with fundraising instead.

L-R: Actors Cary Grant, David Niven and Loretta Young sit in the back of a car in a still from the film, ‘The Bishop’s Wife,’ directed by Henry Koster, 1947. (Photo by RKO Pictures/Courtesy of Getty Images)

I think Cary is supposed to be charming in this movie but instead I find him a bit devious. Maybe the goal of the movie is to leave the viewer trying to figure out if he is sweet or evil.

The site, The Viewer’s Commentary, had a similar feeling about Cary’s role and explains it better than I can.

“But, while I’m not certain “perfect” is necessarily the right word for Dudley as a character, I’m still not entirely convinced that the movie wasn’t actually trying to play him up as being in his right to step in on Henry’s marriage, either. This is based on the film’s affectionate depiction of his chemistry with Julia, the amount of sympathy the film has for her, and the apparent distaste it has for the stiff Henry beyond his admirable loyalty and good intentions.”

“That ice skating thing I mentioned before wasn’t some kind of non sequitur,” the post continues. “There’s a painfully long scene in which Dudley and Julia and their cab driver have a whimsical impromptu ice skating session where he romances her in front of everyone by secretly granting her expert skill while Henry toils away elsewhere, callously inattentive to Julia’s wifely needs. It would be one thing if it was intended to teach Henry a lesson about what could potentially happen, but it actually kinda left me with a gross feeling, given how wonderful it’s all supposed to be while knowing about Dudley’s infatuation – not to mention his manipulation of the situation and nonchalant demeanor when confronted about it.”

This is the scene in question:

At one point even Henry begins to wonder if Dudley is from heaven or hell and if he truly is trying to steal his wife from him.

It’s what I was wondering too and by the end of the movie  . . . well if you’ve never seen it you will have to watch it and let me know what you think.

The movie is based on a book by Robert Nathan whose other fantasy romance, Portrait of Jennie, would later overtake The Bishop’s Wife on a literary level and later became a 1948 David Selznick movie.

According to an article on TCM.com, producer Samuel Goldwyn decided to take on this movie right after winning an Oscar for The Best Year of Our Lives in 1946.

Cary was originally set to play the Bishop, but as he read the script he began to suggest edits and finally decided he didn’t have the right part. He should be playing Dudley.

Later on, though, after the final casting decisions were made, Grant wanted to switch back.

Then there was the fact that Goldwyn didn’t like the set.

Niven wrote in his future autobiography, “The day before shooting was to start, Goldwyn decided that the interiors of the Bishop’s house were not ecclesiastical enough and ordered several sets to be torn down, redesigned and rebuilt. For three weeks, while this was going on, production was halted, then, two days after the cameras finally had a chance to turn, Goldwyn decided that Seiter’s hand was a little too heavy on the tiller: he was removed, paid his full salary and after a week, Goldwyn hired Henry Koster to start again from scratch – with another two weeks of rehearsal. All this must have cost Goldwyn several hundred thousand dollars….”

Niven was already struggling through the production because his wife tragically died during filming.  Her fatal head injury occurred during a party game of “sardines” at Tyrone Power’s house. Her name was Primmie and she fell down a flight of cellar stairs after thinking she was running into a closet.

Problems further continued to plague the film when Cary and Loretta Young couldn’t get along part of the time.

Despite all of the hardships, the movie was well-received and remains a favorite Christmas film of many classic movie buffs today.

It was nominated for five Oscars but did not win any.

I’m not sure I found this movie as heartwarming as some of the Christmas movies I’ve watched, probably because I found it so difficult to read Cary in this one and was quite suspicious of him. I did, however, still enjoy the movie overall.

A few pieces of trivia about the movie for you:

I recognized the young actor who played the young George Bailey from It’s A Wonderful Life — Bobby Anderson —— in a snowball throwing scene in this film. I looked up his name and found out that Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu in It’s a Wonderful Life also played The Bishop and his wife’s daughter, Debby.

According to IMBd (I did not double check these to clarify they are true):

“At about 1:20, Henry and Julia are ready to make some Parish calls. Henry says to Julia, “We go first to the Trubshawes.” This is an example of David Niven’s attempt to mention the name of his friend (Michael Trubshawe) in every movie he made.”

“Over Cary Grant’s protests, a skating double wearing a mask with Grant’s features was used in the long shots of the complex skating routine. A skating double was also used for Loretta Young on all long shots.”

Market research showed that moviegoers avoided the film because they thought it was religious. So, Samuel Goldwyn decided to re-title it Cary and the Bishop’s Wife for some US markets, while adding a black text box with the question “Have you heard about CARY AND THE BISHOP’S WIFE?” on posters in markets where the film kept the original title. By adding Cary Grant’s first name to the title the film’s business increased by as much as 25 per cent.

“In Britain the film was selected for that year’s Royal Command Film Performance screening. Princess Margaret and her sister, the future Queen Elizabeth, both attended the screening of “The Bishop’s Wife” on November 25, 1947, at the Odeon Theatre in Leicester Square. According to David Niven, “The audience loved every second of it, and the Queen and Princess Margaret told me afterwards and at great length how much they had enjoyed it.”

Have you ever seen The Bishop’s Wife? What did you think of it?

*This post is part of the Comfy, Cozy Christmas Link Up for 2024. If you have a Christmas/holiday post you would like to share you can find the link HERE or at the top of the page here on my blog.

Last Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot of 2024!

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 9 Comments

This link-up is hosted by Marsha in the Middle, Melynda from Scratch Made Food & DYI Homemade Household, Sue from Women Living Well After 50, and me.  Look for the link party to go live on Thursdays at 9:30pm EDT. 

This is a link-up where we not only allow you to share your past posts, but we encourage it. So, share away!

I can not believe this is the last Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot of 2024! How did this year go by so fast? I believe I’ve been a co-host for this link up for about a year…maybe more? I’ve sort of lost track of the months.

Thank you to Marsha for allowing me to be a part of this link-up each week.

We hope to see you all again January 9th for the first link-up of 2025.

Look for a new and improved Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot with the new year! We will be featuring a new blogger each week along with our individual favorite picks. If you’re interested in being featured please drop us a line at momssundaycafe@gmail.com. And you will be on our list!

Let’s get to our last “most clicked post” ever:

|| It’s Ok Not To Love Christmas by Is This Mutton ||

And here are a few highlights I chose for this week. There are so many great posts each week that it is really hard to pick a few to highlight so I hope you will take a little time out of your day to go click on a few and tell them you enjoyed their posts.

|| This That December 2024 by The Apple Street Cottage ||

|| Nativity Bracelets. Sharing the Christmas Story with Littles by Our Grand Lives ||

|| Wandering About Wellington by Thistles and Kiwi ||


|| The Bellagio Presents Christmas by Adventures in Weseland ||

|| Top Ten Books to Read in a (Snow) Storm by Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs ||

I’m so glad you are here and participating in our weekly link-up of family-friendly, fun, educational, interesting, crafty, fashionable, and “whatever else” posts. I hope you’ll tell your followers about our link up (free to copy and paste the graphic) and visit the bloggers who participate each week. 

Now it is your turn to link up your favorite posts. They can be fashion, lifestyle, DIY, food, etc. All we ask is that they be family-friendly. You can link up posts from last week or even from years ago. You can share up to three links each week.

We are always looking for additional hosts so let us know if you want to help out!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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

My books aren’t making money and I’m never going to be famous but writing fiction is fun

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 8 Comments

I am very excited to be getting closer to the release of Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree.

I don’t have an exact release date just yet but the manuscript is in the editing stage with corrections being made.

From there it will go through another round of edits and another round of corrections and read throughs by beta readers, formatting, etc. etc.

It is all very exciting and overwhelming at the same time but I’m leaning more toward exciting at the time of writing this post.

Maybe you’re new to the blog and don’t know that I write books and self-publish them. Sometimes I share chapters on here, but I haven’t been doing that recently.

Instead, my books are available on Kindle Unlimited and for reasonable prices on Amazon at this time.

Self-publishing books is not a lucrative business for me.

I am also not a famous author (not that was ever my goal).

Sometimes people complain I have a typo or suggest that I am endorsing something I am not endorsing and that gets weird and makes writing books not so fun.

Most of the time, though, writing books is fun.

xr:d:DAE3o75X378:112,j:5600037989,t:23052723
xr:d:DAFKV3Wvnc8:11,j:33709073929,t:22082516

I like sharing stories that I have crafted in my own brain.

I like when people like my creations.

I have especially been blown away by the support of my Gladwynn Grant Mystery books.

If you don’t know, Gladwynn Grant is the main character of the series and she’s loosely based on my grandmother, whose middle and maiden name she bears.

Gladwynn’s grandmother, Lucinda, who she lives with, is based on a combination of both of my grandmothers.

Gladwynn is a reporter at a small town newspaper, which is a job I did for 14 years at four different newspapers. Gladwynn, however, is not me.

She is very different from me.

She is tall, brunette, beautiful, loves fashion and makeup, and full of confidence.

I am none of those things. I like to look at fashion but I never really worried much about how I look. How I ever landed my husband I have no idea. I guess he’s attracted to troll-like women wearing baggy clothes who don’t know how to brush or fix her hair.

So Gladwynn is based loosely on me but only on the part that she works at a small town newspaper.

A lot of people think that the reviews on a self-published/indie book are from friends and family of the author. This was actually said one time in a reading group I used to be a part of.

My family and friends have not reviewed my books. Actually, most of my family and friends have not even read my books. That hurts a little but people are busy. I’m not going to say that none of the reviews I have on the Gladwynn books are from friends because that would not be true. There are two or three reviews from friends I’ve connected with online.

There are also reviews from people I have never met or even heard of in my life and those are the reviews that have blown me away.

People really like my book? Wow. That’s super mind-blowing to me.

My books are simple stories, sometimes cheesy. They are not award winning. They are not the best written and even when they are edited I somehow seem to mess up on making the corrections and eliminating the typos.

Yet people have supported them and have said they look forward to more.

I would love to write books and just share them on Amazon for 99 cents since I don’t know how to share them for free, so people can read them and just have fun reading them or not reading them. After all, they only spent 99 cents on it so if they don’t like the book then they aren’t out much.

Charging only a dollar for a book makes a book look cheap, though, so I’ve been told, so I charge a little more.

If I make money from the sale of the books it does help my family. I’m able to put a little money toward groceries or a bill and that helps.

But people reading my book and saying they like it is like getting paid in a different way. It’s paying me back for all the long hours of writing, the nights laying awake with ideas prodding my subconscious, begging to be written down. The time I asked my children if I could have some time to finish the story I’d started because I wanted to see how it finished. The time I took suggestions from early readers on  how to fix a plot hole. The time I took to fix all the edits my editor (ahem..husband) and Mom suggested.

When readers tell me they liked my book it’s like someone saying, “Your ideas weren’t stupid. Your love of writing is something I’m glad you have because I’ve benefited from it too by reading a story I enjoyed.”

If you’re one of those people who have enjoyed my little stories – thank you for taking the time to read them! If you’re one of those who left me a review on Amazon or Goodreads or sent me a note to tell me you liked them – thank you!

If you want to read my books, you can find them here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lisa-Howeler/author/B07Y3W52FD

I can’t wait to keep sharing more of my creations with my readers – whether they be friends, family, or strangers.

Books on my Winter 2024-2025 TBR

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 16 Comments

|| Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. ||

(Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.)

Today’s prompt was: Books on My Winter 2024-2025 to-Read List

I am now listing my “planned reads” as “possible reads”. I look at this list as a list I can choose from in a season but it is not a strict list. I have 17 books on my possible winter reads but have brought it down to ten for this post.

I like to choose a mix of cozy and mystery reads for winter, but …. Honestly, I do that for every season.

  1. Christy by Catherine Marshall.

I have already started this one and I am enjoying it.

Description:

That Cutter Gap is right rough country. Watch yourself out there. . .

The train taking nineteen-year-old teacher Christy Huddleston from her home in Asheville, North Carolina, might as well be transporting her to another world. The Smoky Mountain community of Cutter Gap feels suspended in time, trapped by poverty, superstitions, and century-old traditions.

But as Christy struggles to find acceptance in her new home, some see her–and her one-room school–as a threat to their way of life. Her faith is challenged and her heart is torn between two strong men with conflicting views about how to care for the families of the Cove.

Yearning to make a difference, will Christy’s determination and devotion be enough?

Since its first release in 1967, Christy has sold an astonishing 10 million copies. Now the beloved story is available in a special 50th anniversary edition which includes an afterword reflecting on the success of the book and how many people Christy’s story has reached, as well as added features like a character list and a town map to enhance the reading experience for fans old and new.

2. Little Men by Louise May Alcott

I started this one in the fall but held it for winter.

Description:

Little Men by Louisa May Alcott is a heartwarming sequel to the beloved classic Little Women. Join Jo March and her husband, Professor Bhaer, as they open Plumfield, a school for boys. Immerse yourself in this charming tale of childhood, growth, and friendship.- Engage with Alcott’s gentle and insightful storytelling.- Delve into the lives of the endearing and mischievous boys of Plumfield.- Reflect on themes of education, character development, and the joys of childhood.- Experience the warmth, humor, and moral lessons woven throughout the narrative.-

3. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

I’ve heard a lot about this one – not sure if it will live up to the hype or not.

Description:

Four septuagenarians with a few tricks up their sleeves
A female cop with her first big case
A brutal murder
Welcome THURSDAY MURDER CLUB

In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club.

4. Tooth and Claw by Craig Johnson

This is a novella from the Walt Longmire Series.

Description:

In the tradition of Wait for Signs and The Highwayman, Craig Johnson is back with a short novel set in the Alaska tundra where a young Walt Longmire and Henry Standing Bear face off with powerful enemies who will do anything to get what they want.

Tooth and Claw follows Walt and Henry up to Alaska as they look for work after they both returned from serving in Vietnam. While working for an oil company in the bitter cold of winter, they soon encounter a ferocious polar bear who seems hell-bent on their destruction. But it’s not too long until they realize the danger does not lurk outside in the frozen Alaskan tundra, but with their co-workers who are after priceless treasure and will stop at nothing to get it.

Fans of Longmire will thrill to this pulse-pounding and bone-chilling novel of extreme adventure that adds another indelible chapter to the great story of Walt Longmire.

4. World Traveler by Anthony Bourdain

I’ve read Kitchen Confidential and really enjoyed it. I always was a huge fan of Anthony’s various travel shows.

Description:

A guide to some of the world’s most fascinating places, as seen and experienced by writer, television host, and relentlessly curious traveler Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain saw more of the world than nearly anyone. His travels took him from the hidden pockets of his hometown of New York to a tribal longhouse in Borneo, from cosmopolitan Buenos Aires, Paris, and Shanghai to Tanzania’s utter beauty and the stunning desert solitude of Oman’s Empty Quarter—and many places beyond.

In World Travel, a life of experience is collected into an entertaining, practical, fun and frank travel guide that gives readers an introduction to some of his favorite places—in his own words. Featuring essential advice on how to get there, what to eat, where to stay and, in some cases, what to avoid, World Travel provides essential context that will help readers further appreciate the reasons why Bourdain found a place enchanting and memorable.

Supplementing Bourdain’s words are a handful of essays by friends, colleagues, and family that tell even deeper stories about a place, including sardonic accounts of traveling with Bourdain by his brother, Christopher; a guide to Chicago’s best cheap eats by legendary music producer Steve Albini, and more. Additionally, each chapter includes illustrations by Wesley Allsbrook.

For veteran travelers, armchair enthusiasts, and those in between, World Travel offers a chance to experience the world like Anthony Bourdain.

5. The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

I read The Fellowship of the Ring last year and am looking forward to reading the second installment and catching up with the characters.

Description:

The Two Towers is the second part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic adventure The Lord of the Rings.

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.

This continues the classic tale begun in The Fellowship of the Ring, which reaches its awesome climax in The Return of the King.

6. The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emma Orczy

I’ve wanted to read this one since seeing a movie based on it.

Description:

First published in 1905, “The Scarlet Pimpernel” was written by Baroness Emmuska Orczy. The novel is the first in a series of tales that follows the fictional main character infamously known as the Scarlet Pimpernel.

The story is set at the time of the French Revolution, which occurred in the latter part of the eighteenth century. This revolt involved the overthrow of the French monarchy. A notorious Englishman sympathetic to the crisis in the aristocratic ranks helped sneak French royals out of the country to safety across the English Channel. This Englishman was known by the name of the Scarlet Pimpernel because upon making a clean escape from the French patrols, he would leave a note describing the caper, and it would be signed with a red, star-shaped flower the English called a scarlet pimpernel.

7. The Sign of the Twisted Candles (A Nancy Drew Mystery) by Carolyn Keene

This will continue my reading of the original Nancy Drew Mystery series.

Description:

Another exciting mystery begins for the  young detective when her friends Bess and George ask her to investigate a rumor that their wealthy great-granduncle, Asa Sidney, is virtually a prisoner in his own mansion. But solving the mystery and befriending Carol Wipple, the sixteen-year-old foster daughter of the caretakers of the old mansion, nearly costs Nancy the friendship of Bess and George.

It takes all of Nancy’s sleuthing ability as well as diplomacy to save it. Nancy braves one danger after another to bring to justice the swindlers who are stealing Asa Sidney’s fortune. With only the sign of the twisted candles to guide her, Nancy uncovers hidden treasure and an amazing letter that ends a family feud and brings.

8. Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

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.

9. The Mystery of the Flying Express by Frank Dixon

This will be my first Hardy Boys book and it’s an original my husband picked up at a used bookstore. I’m so excited to read it.

Description:

A sleek new hydrofoil is scheduled to start ferrying passengers between Bayport and Cape Cutlass. But business enemies of the hydrofoil owner have stirred up a hornets’ nest of violent opposition among small boat owners. Fearing sabotage, he begs Frank and Joe Hardy to guard the Flying Express on her maiden trip.

Startling developments plunge the teenage detectives into a dangerous chase by sea, air, and land in pursuit of a gang of hardened criminals who operate by the signs of the Zodiac. Tension mounts when the Flying Express vanishes – and so does Sam Radley, Mr. Hardy’s skilled operative. Peril stalks Frank and Joe’s every moves as they hunt down the terrifying gangleader Zodiac Zig and his vicious henchmen.

10. The Ghost and Mrs. Muir by R.A. Dick

I saw this movie a couple of years ago and thought I would try the book.

Description: The book that inspired Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s cinematic romance starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison—one of the most passionately romantic movies ever made. • With a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Adriana Trigiani.
 
Burdened by debt after her husband’s death, Lucy Muir insists on moving into the very cheap Gull Cottage in the quaint seaside village of Whitecliff, despite multiple warnings that the house is haunted. Upon discovering the rumors to be true, the young widow ends up forming a special companionship with the ghost of handsome former sea captain Daniel Gregg. Through the struggles of supporting her children, seeking out romance from the wrong places, and working to publish the captain’s story as a book, Blood and Swash, Lucy finds in her secret relationship with Captain Gregg a comfort and blossoming love she never could have predicted.
 
Originally published in 1945, made into a movie in 1947, and later adapted into a television sitcom in 1968, this romantic tale explores how love can develop without boundaries, both in this life and beyond. 

Do you have a list of books to choose from for this winter?

Christmas Movie Impression: Trading Christmas

/ Lisa R. Howeler / 9 Comments

It’s fun to recommend Christmas movies I have watched, and I have recommended this one — Trading Christmas — in compilation posts other years but thought I’d break it out for a separate post this year.

Trading Christmas is an older Hallmark movie (2011) and I know I might be scolded for this but I find the older Hallmark movies so much better than the more modern ones.

The movie is based on the book of the same title by Debbie Macomber.

I stumbled onto this one by accident about four years ago and have watched it every Christmas season since then.

It stars Tom Cavanaugh and Faith Ford and it has humor, sweet moments, romance, and it’s about a writer so you know it interested me.

Like I said, it is a Hallmark movie and (again) I know that they have a reputation for being poorly written and cheesy but this, like Signed, Sealed, Delivered holds up pretty well and is worth the watch. Will there be a trope or two you roll your eyes at? Yeah, probably, but I think Tom Cavanaugh’s sarcasm and snarkyness (a new word?) will help heal those wounds.

The premise behind the movie is that Emily (Faith Ford) was expecting her daughter Heather (Emma Lahana) to come home from college for Christmas, but Heather wants to go somewhere else with her boyfriend this year. She doesn’t tell Emily she’s going to be traveling with her boyfriend, though, just that she’s staying in Boston, where she attends college. With that news, Emily must decide what to do with herself.

She doesn’t want to stay in her small town and Christmas-centric house alone. After all, her husband passed away six years ago, and she’s always had her daughter home with her. Her friend Faith (Gabriella Miller) calls to talk and when Emily talks about how sad she is that Heather isn’t coming home, Faith tells her she should do something bold this year for Christmas and let her daughter grow up on her own.

Faith takes this advice to heart but still wants to see her daughter, so she signs up for a house trade with a man named Charles (Tom Cavanaugh) who lives in Boston. Emily lives in a beautiful house in a tiny town and Charles lives in a studio apartment in Boston. A small town away from everything is exactly where Charles wants to be because he’s trying to rewrite his latest novel.

Emily and Charles both run into their own snags once they arrive at their swaps. First, Emily’s daughter isn’t in Boston when she arrives, but instead has gone to Arizona with her boyfriend.  Second, Tom’s brother Ray (Gil Bellows) calls the police on Emily because he thinks she has broken into his brother’s apartment. He’s the one that suggested Charles swap houses with someone, but suggested Charles not tell anyone where he was going. He didn’t know Charles wouldn’t tell him either.

Ray, by the way, is a perfect gentleman after he accidentally almost has Emily arrested.

Charles, however, is not a perfect gentleman when Faith shows up at Emily’s house thinking she will surprise Emily for Christmas (because Faith didn’t tell her about the trading houses thing either). This creates some hilarious interactions and arguments during which Charles tries to send Faith home but can’t because there are no buses leaving the little town until Christmas Day.

As I mentioned above, this is one I really enjoy watching each year.

I own this one, but I just found out yesterday that it is currently free on YouTube (that’s as I am writing this in December 2024). You can also watch it on Amazon with a premium subscription, Apple TV for purchase, The Roku Channel, Vudu, and YouTube Premium.

*This post is part of the Comfy, Cozy Christmas Link Up for 2024. If you have a Christmas/holiday post you would like to share you can find the link HERE or at the top of the page here on my blog.