We’re just days away from 2020! Do you have any plans to celebrate the ringing in of the new year?
I’ll be hanging out with Guinness the Therapy Dog and his sister, Lucy. I expect fireworks in the neighborhood and both need a little reassurance when they hear the loud banging sounds.
I’m excited about the new year. To me, it represents a clean page in my journal and I can’t wait to write out my plans, hopes, and dreams for the next twelve months.
Enjoy the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020! Sonja
It has been three days since Christmas, we’re still celebrating Hanukkah, and gift day for Kwanzaa is still four days away.
That’s a lot.
I hope you found everything you wished for under the Christmas tree and that you will find what you hope for as a Hanukkah gift or on January 1.
Today is also National Call A Friend Day and Card Playing Day.
What a great reminder to call those who are right next door or too far away. You could invite your neighbors over to play a nice game of whist or Hearts!
Poker?
Or you can play solitaire.
Let me ask you, what is the best part of the holidays?
This easy-to-read illustrated book was recently released and is a wonderful story of one of America’s founding families.
This story tells of the early days of John Wing as he goes to Oxford University in England to study theology.
As a non-conformist minister, John Wing traveled through Europe as he escaped religious prosecution in England under the courts of Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth I. He intended to travel to the American colonies but died before he could achieve that trip.
His wife and sons made the trip several years later and arrived in Boston, an event that was notable enough to be entered into the diary of John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Widow Wing and her sons first settled in Plymouth Colony and then moved and helped found Sandwich, Massachusetts on Cape Cod.
You can find a direct link to the ebook or the softcover in the left margin of this website, or you can search for my name, Sonja Danielson, on Amazon.com to see my complete catalog of available titles.
Today is the first day of Kwanzaa, which honors African heritage here in the United States. The holiday is observed for one week and ends on January 1, when gifts are exchanged and tables are laden with good food. The week-long celebration can include singing, dancing, storytelling, and drumming.
This holiday was created in 1966, making it new on the U.S. holiday calendar. A professor of African Studies at California State University, Dr. Maulana Karenga, began the holiday in response to the 1965 Watts Riots in Los Angeles, California. He wanted to help return the African-American population to feeling like a community.
Kwanzaa follows seven core principles: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.
To observe these principles, Kwanzaa uses symbols: nuts, fruits, and vegetables to symbolize the crops and the work to maintain them; a placemat to show the foundation upon which people have built their lives; an ear of corn for fertility and to promote children and the future; seven candles, usually red, green, and black, to recreate the sun’s power, which is essential for the harvest; and a candleholder to represent ancestry.
The unity cup is used on the sixth day to honor ancestors and to represent unity and remembrance.
Gifts are given on the seventh day and handmade gifts are encouraged.
If you celebrate Kwanzaa, I hope you have a memorable week. Sonja
The day Christians wait for has arrived as everyone, young and old, wake up and look under the tree for gifts labeled for them.
It’s also the time to remember the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. This is the day Christians celebrate his birth and remember that he died on the cross to save mankind from sin.
My Christmas wish for you is to enjoy your family, spend time together, and tell a story or two to learn where you came from. Family history is an important part of being together.
Tonight is the night when Christians observe the birth of Jesus Christ.
It’s also the night that Santa Claus comes down the chimney. He fills stockings and leaves gifts under the Christmas tree.
Santa’s ride is immortalized in the poem, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’. It’s one of my favorite things to read. I’m a sucker for a good story written poetically, which is why I love Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets.
As a gift to you, dear reader, I have put together some deals for the next two days. Effective immediately, The Fairies of Carlow: The Gilding ebook and The Voyage ebook are available for no charge. That’s right. They’re free only until the night of Christmas.
I also scheduled special pricing on The Fairies of Carlow: The Commoner for today and tomorrow only.
Click the links on the left-hand margin of this website, or search for my name, Sonja Danielson, on Amazon.com and you will automatically get the free ebooks or the specially-priced ebook for The Commoner.
I wish you a peaceful and happy Christmas with all the glad tidings of the season.
I wish you a peaceful and happy Hannukah, also, with all the amazing things the holiday brings.
That’s right. This handsome boy will be on Tucson’s Channel 13 tonight. They are planning a feature on the library’s Read-to-a-Dog program and will be ‘interviewing’ Guinness.
He’s fluffed and brushed and ready for his spotlight!
I can’t wait to see him!
I hope you see the story and leave a comment here. He and I read everything and can’t wait to see your thoughts.
We’re also gearing up for Christmas! There may just be a gift under the tree or what you use to present gifts for the holiday (if you put your laptop there!). This is my holiday gift for you, dear reader.
To all of you who observe Hanukkah, I hope you enjoy the season.
Hanukkah is an eight-day celebration that observes that Maccabean victory in their revolt against the Greek-Syrians.
On each of the eight nights, a candle is lit in a menorah. A ninth candle is used to light the other eight after a special Jewish story and followed by a hymn. The menorah is usually placed in a window to remind those passing of the story of Hanukkah.
Lots of games are played during Hanukkah, with the dreidel being the most popular.
Popular and traditional food eaten during Hanukkah include fried potato latkes and deep fried doughnuts, called sufganiyot.
Today is also the winter solstice, which makes it the shortest day of the year. It’s a good time to begin the Festival of Lights.
Not only is it Humbug Day, but also Look On The Bright Side Day. They seem diametrically opposed. But if you are familiar with Charles Dickens’ ‘A Chrismas Carol’, you know that Ebenezer Scrooge began as a humbug type of person and by the end embraced the Christmas spirit.
I hope that wasn’t a spoiler!
I recommend reading the book. If you can’t manage that, then watch one of the many movies. I love the older black-and-white version, someone else I know likes the Muppets’ Christmas Carol movie, while others like the Bill Murray-helmed ‘Scrooged’.
Every one of these stories tells a story of redemption. It’s never too late to make a change in your life. It doesn’t matter your age or your history. Embrace the good and reject the pressure and the bad of this season, no matter which holiday you celebrate.
It’s a time of remembrance and hope. Don’t get so caught up in your ‘to-do list’ that you forget the importance of slowing down and enjoying some time with your thoughts and family.
As a writer, you will spend a lot of time with your characters, so you should really like them. Most stories take multiple rewrites and if you get tired of your characters, so will your readers.
I love Guinness the Therapy Dog and it is fun to write about him during all his adventures. I equally loved each of the fairy princesses in The Fairies of Carlow series and their handsome princes (and one particularly handsome farmer).
I hope you have the chance to read all of The Fairies of Carlow books. I think you will enjoy each of them. Sonja