Holiday Memories

Hey everybody!  Glad that you stopped by. If you look to the left you will see Cover for RJ Scott's Blog Hop for December 1st and 2nd.  If you click on it, that will take you to a list of everyone who is participating in her hop.  There are a lot of contests going on so make you check it out.

For Silver hoppers there is a list at the bottom if you are looking for today's snowflake.

Today, I am sharing a little bit of my holiday memories and running a contest for today and tomorrow.  Leave a comment listing my favorite gift and one of my hated foods along with your email address.  If you get them right, I'll draw names for a $5.00 amazon gift card or you can pick a book from my back list or a copy of my January 2013 release.  Good luck!

The holiday season has changed for me as I have matured (gotten older, aged, wizened…yeah, I'm not young anymore, just youngish). 

As a child, it was about the surprised on Christmas morning from Santa Claus. The holiday season always started with the music and the classic TV shows that we watched every year like clockwork: Charlie Brown's Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Jack Frost, Frosty the Snowman, A Christmas Carole, 

Miracle on 34^th Street, It's a Wonderful Life (at least a half dozen times). The extended family got together and we could play with our cousins, compare toys, and eat an insane amount of pie, cake, and cookies. We helped mom make all the holiday candies: caramel apples, peanut brittle, rice crispy treats, divinity (super yum), several different types of fudge, brownies, and some concoction of cookie dough, chocolate chips, caramel, and brownie mix. We 

ate like there was no tomorrow and were still stick thin because playing outside was a must.

Nostalgia hits me hard around this time of year and I find myself thumbing through the picture albums and texting people saying, "Hey! You remember when…" I had tried to recreate the holidays of my youth and never could. There were different people, different places, and different customs. Recreating the food didn't set the atmosphere because everything had changed and I 

had to find my own typical holiday. When you're a kid, burning to grow up and get out on your own you don't take into account that everything changes, you don't realize that you can't pick or choose.

Creating your own holiday experience is very much a journey to learning who you are as an individual. I slowly moved away from mimicking the holidays of my elders and found my own traditions for reasons that were personal and important to me. I still enjoy visiting and eating holiday dishes I don't typically have. But it doesn't bother me 

anymore that holidays at my house were different.

Of course there's somethings that I don't miss (the yucky corn casserole, baked beans, or candied yams). I do wish I was able to get together with my extended family. We are all spread out in different cities and states. The upside is I can indulge in my secret love of fruitcake without being picked on. (I seriously don't understand the stigma surround the dessert.)

As a child my most favorite Christmas was related to the very first picture on this post. It was the year that I got my very own Tonka Truck.  Count them, there were three trucks under the tree and the only thing I remember is that I got a truck just like my brothers.  Those were the metal ones, too.  Tonka tough!  We'd race them by bracing both hands on the sides and running down the sidewalk. My shoelaces would frequently come undone and one day I was running the truck, my laces wrapped around the back wheels and I went face first over the top of the truck into the cement. I still loved my truck!

Thank you for sticking around and listening to me ramble through my holiday memories.  I broke out the photo albums and attached some family remembrances.  I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday season!  xoxo

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Email: lexi.ander.author@gmail.com

Here is your list and GOOD LUCK!

Lexi Ander
Link: http://bit.ly/TQylNf

Sarah Bella
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William Cooper
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D. McEntire
Link: http://bit.ly/U0T8Ow

T. C. Archer
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Tarah Scott
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The Mischief Corner
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Lily Harlem
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Maria MoonStar
Link: http://bit.ly/U0QJDC

S.A. Garcia
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Marie Ashley
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Eve Tesoro
Link: http://bit.ly/RKyiCQ

Silver Blog
Link: http://bit.ly/Wi7uyq

Scarlet Blackwell - author of Homeless at Christmas
Link: http://bit.ly/105J6z4

NJ Neilsen - author of A Moon-Runner Christmas
Link: http://bit.ly/T8ETth

TN Tarrant - author of A Not So Straight Christmas
Link: http://on.fb.me/U72w5h

Karly Maddison - author of A Puppy for Christmas
Link: http://bit.ly/T8rHDE

Toni Griffin - author of A Very Holland Christmas
Link: http://bit.ly/QPwBXG

Cheyenne Meadows - author of Christmas with Mesa
Link: http://bit.ly/ZPfDKx

Heidi Lynn Anderson - author of Christmas Longing
Link: http://bit.ly/U0Rnkq

LM Brown - author of Someone Like You
Link: http://bit.ly/UMtXnb

Vicktor Alexander - author of Chocolate Vanilla Swirl
Link: http://bit.ly/RKyO3J

Jannie Lund - author of Clear as Glass
Link: http://bit.ly/SCpA7T

Piper Whitney - author of Fractured Heart
Link: http://bit.ly/T4jzlg

Nicole Dennis - author of 7 Days of Christmas
Link: http://bit.ly/SW7Rc6

Kim Fielding - author of Joys R Us
Link: http://bit.ly/105Kz8z

Silvia Violet - author of Needing a Little Christmas
Link: http://bit.ly/XmrQIb

Elyzabeth M. VaLey - author of Punishing Santa
Link: http://bit.ly/T8ECGK

Freddy MacKay - author of Snowed
Link: http://bit.ly/UMqEfI

Annabelle Jacobs - author of Snowflakes and Strangers
Link: http://bit.ly/S23OxE/

Pelaam - author of Christmas Magic
Link: http://on.fb.me/Wjy5Lw

Rebecca Leigh - author of The Angel's Fall
Link: http://bit.ly/ZP8wBK

N Phillips - author of The Christmas Mix Up
Link: http://on.fb.me/108x33S

Grace Roselyn - author of The Treasure of Christmas
Link: http://bit.ly/QlEWCG

Ellen Heights - author of Three Men and a Christmas Goddess
Link: http://bit.ly/XokyDJ

Mathilde Watson:
Link: http://bit.ly/U73dvb

Andi Anderson
Link: http://bit.ly/QQzKGO

Lillian Frances - author of When Love Flue In
Link: http://bit.ly/T8EYNw

Azura Ice - author of Wrapped Around Your Handlebars
Link: http://bit.ly/TQx5tz

Ashlynn Monroe - author of A Most Unexpected Gift
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SJD Peterson
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EM Lynley
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Gregg A. Endless
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Elinor Gray
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Emma Paul
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Caitlin Ricci
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Vona Logan
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M.A. Stacie
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Dawn H. Hawkes
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Meredith Russell
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R.J. Scott
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Lisa Worrall
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Trillium
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Jessica E. Subject
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RC Bonitz
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