Musings from a Writer’s Brain–Thanksgiving Memories from Emma Lane

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cozy mystery, Emma Lane, essay, Murder at the Lookout, Musings from a Writer's Brain, Thanksgiving

THANKSGIVING MEMORIES

from Emma Lane

Thanksgiving is family, food, and thankfulness. It’s when you have this homing urge to join your people over a huge roasted turkey. When you were ten you punched your cousin in the nose for some remark he made. When you were eighteen, you were bored and wishing to be somewhere else, but mom made you stay. When you were twenty-eight, you were setting up the children’s table. And so it goes right down to Grandpa who at 90 announced he didn’t need to watch his cholesterol any more and reached for the butter dish. (I loved it when he did that.)

Our turkey is carved in the kitchen, makes it easier for serving. But when the grandchildren were young, they always expected that rooster to make an appearance at Thanksgiving. It’s a tradition as such. They are grown-ups now, but they still search the china cabinet for the collection of salt ‘n pepper shakers, each person has his/her favorite set. Our dining room table is custom made wide at the bottom to seat two people comfortably. As a result, I have no matching pad. Straw oversized placemats do an admirable job of protecting the wood surface from the heated dishes. I use a table cloth, but still enjoy the colorful cloth placemats to echo the vibrant Fall colors. With the addition of fruit cups, water glasses, and matching candles, the table arrangement is complete, waiting only for the train of hot dishes and the blessing before the feast is begun.

Turkey for everyone! White for the kids and dark meat for my hubby and me. They have always been convenient preferences. We reserve baked ham for Christmas dinner. Lima beans (butter beans) for my son, green bean casserole for my daughter. Each person has a favorite. I love yellow squash while my hubby adores sweet potato soufflé. My daughter makes all the pies, usually pumpkin and apple. The grands like the fruit cups that are sometimes surrounded by red Jell-O and sometimes by whipped cream. Dressing?? We make a raison (Crasins substitute) and walnut type topped by a couple of baked chicken parts. The recipe changes almost every time. There is a fresh veggie plate with tomatoes, celery, carrots, and sliced zucchini for nibbling. Other dishes may be added each year.

Once I had an idea to bake a mid-sized (huge) Hubbard squash and stuff it with a mixture of squash, onion with a touch of maple syrup topped with scrambled southern style sausage. It was so tasty, but a bear to get to the table. I dropped it from the menu. What memories does your family love each Thanksgiving get together?

Happy Thankful Day to you and yours from my home to yours.

Emma

How about a glimpse into my new Cozy Mystery, MURDER AT THE LOOKOUT while you digest your feast?

When is it not fun to be a blond?

What happens when a blond beauty hits town like a tornado stirring up memories and causing turmoil? Detective Kevin Fowler and his wife, the former Beverly Hampton, owner of the local newspaper, are settling into blissful married life. Although Beverly is sanguine over the demand on Kevin’s time by the good people of Hubbard, she is more than dubious when his duties include the escort of a drop-dead gorgeous female from his past.

There is some concern over the persistent vandalism of residential mailboxes, but an infamous arsonist has decided peaceful but dull Hubbard would make a great place from which to operate. He brazenly locates down the block from the detective and his wife.

What bait and tackle shop in the village has a dual purpose? Kevin ponders why two goons have invaded town shooting at and attempting to kidnap and murder three women. A state patrolman, aptly nick named Rooster, teases Fowler at the riotous scene of a traffic accident where the press, not the police, wins the day.

Another mystery and adventure with a satisfying ending unfolds in peaceful Hubbard, New York, small-town Americana, where Detective Kevin Fowler keeps an ever-vigilant watch.

AMAZON BUY LINK

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emma Lane is a gifted author who writes cozy mysteries as Janis Lane, Regency as Emma Lane, and spice as Sunny Lane.

She lives in Western New York where winter is snowy, spring arrives with rave reviews, summer days are long and velvet, and fall leaves are riotous in color. At long last she enjoys the perfect bow window for her desk where she is treated to a year-round panoramic view of nature. Her computer opens up a fourth fascinating window to the world. Her patient husband is always available to help with a plot twist and encourage Emma to never quit. Her day job is working with flowers at Herbtique and Plant Nursery, the nursery she and her son own.

Look for information about writing and plants on Emma’s new website. Leave a comment or a gardening question and put a smile on Emma’s face.

Stay connected to Emma on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to check out the things that make Emma smile on Pinterest.

 

Catherine’s Comment–Letters from Home by Catherine Castle

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A Groom for Mama, Catherine Castle, Catherine's Comments, Contemporary Romantic comedy, essay on letter writing, Letters from Home, Natiional Letter Writing Month, Sweet romance

National Letter Writing Month

Letters From Home

I ran across an old letter from my mother the other day. There was  no envelope to tell me who’d written the letter, but the moment I saw the wiggly script and rough grammar, I knew instantly who’d penned the words—or rather who’d penciled them. Mom’s words of congratulations on the birth of my daughter and the regret she felt at her inability to traverse the distance between us to be there to help me at the birth sent me hurtling back 42 years to a time when our main mode of communication was letters. I didn’t realize at the time I’d be writing a post about letters or I’d have kept the missive from Mom. Instead, I slipped it between the pages of my daughter’s baby book and gave it to her to keep. After all, the letter was about her.

Back in the 70s, when the letter was written, cell phones didn’t exist, at least not for common folk.  Long distance land-line phone calls cost by the minute and could get pricey real quick when you wanted to chat up the family and tell them what was happening in your life across the continent. So, we wrote letters. Lots of letters.

I lived for those weekly letters from home, because even though I’d made friends in a faraway state, I still missed my family. Seeing the familiar scrawl of my mother’s handwriting and the precise, loopy script of my mother-in-law’s hand took me back every week to my hometown, to a place that was comforting.

My mother-in-law, who was a talker in person, was no less gabby in her letters to me. Her letters tended to run at least two pages and sometimes four. Every week I knew what she’d had for their Sunday eat-out dinner after church service, and whether it was better or worse that last week’s meal. I knew what her daily activities had been for the week (sometimes she even included the chores she’d finished), whom she’d seen at church (even if it was someone I didn’t personally know), the songs the vocal groups she directed had practiced or sung at a performance. I knew what new or interesting things my sister-in-law, who was still in high school, had done and where she and her boyfriend had gone on their dates. If something was a part of my mother-in-law’s daily life, she wrote about it. When she began to run out of space, being the frugal person she was, she’d write in the margins going around the page so I had to rotate the letter to read the rest of the note.

My mother, who was less of a talker in person, tended to write about her garden, what was going on with the people I knew at church, and my two sisters’ activities.  Mom’s letters were shorter, but enjoyed just as much as my gabby mother-in-law’s dissertations.

These two women kept me connected to home for the four years my husband and I were away and unable to come home regularly.

Recently I ran across an old family letter that I hadn’t read before. In it my husband’s Grandma talks about her daily routine. Here are a couple of clips from the letter, which I believe was one of the last she wrote before her death.

In other parts of the letter she talks about how many tomatoes her garden yielded compared to my father-in-law’s garden, the weather that morning (it snowed and froze the last of the garden), who was sick in the town, and upcoming Christmas visit to her home.

Although technology like telephones, cell phones, texting, and zoom calls and emails are a nice way to connect with our loved ones in the here and now, they disappear when the call is over or we get a new cell phone, or our email server crashes or says we have no more storage room on the server. All those words and conversations can never be reread or shared in their entirety. We can’t see the hand of the person in the email, only typed letters, or, in the case of text messages, a I  ♥ U in the signature line. Handwriting is unique to each person and often displays some of a personality, something a typed page will never reveal to the reader.

I feel sorry for those who have no written letters from home. Discovering the letter my mother sent me at the birth of my daughter brought back a flood of memories about that time frame as well as a mental picture of my mother. Rereading Grandma’s words took me back to the time when she was alive and reconnected me to her. And rereading the letters from my husband while we were dating and when he was on business in another city floods my heart with emotions.

April is National Letter Writing Month. Let’s all take some time this month and create new memories with the old-fashioned activity of letter writing. Choose a family member or friend who doesn’t live near you and surprise them with a letter from home, filled with newsy bits of information they might like to tuck away for a future re-read.

Tell them you love them. Tell them you miss them. Tell them about the work-a-day stuff of your life and anything you think might entertain them. You might be surprised at the pleasure putting words to paper gives you. And, you might inspire them to answer with their own letter of reply.

Happy Writing!

Catherine

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing and was writing letters long before she began writing fiction. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.

Check out her award winning book A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble

A Groom for Mama

By Catherine Castle

Beverly Walters is dying, and before she goes she has one wish—to find a groom for her daughter. To get the deed done, Mama enlists the dating service of Jack Somerset, Allison’s former boyfriend.

The last thing corporate-climbing Allison wants is a husband. Furious with Mama’s meddling, and a bit more interested in Jack than she wants to admit, Allison agrees to the scheme as long as Mama promises to search for a cure for her terminal illness.

A cross-country trip from Nevada to Ohio ensues, with a string of disastrous dates along the way, as the trio hunts for treatment and A Groom For Mama.

Musings from a Writer’s Brain—I’m Looking Over My Four-leaf Clovers by Catherine Castle

Tags

award-winning books, Catherine Castle, five-leaf clover, four-leaf clover lore, four-leaf clovers, lucky clovers, Musings from a Writer's Brain, St. Patrick's Day, The Nun and the Narc

St. Patrick’s Day is coming up in 2 days, March 17. Do you have your lucky four-leaf clover yet?

I’ve got mine.

In fact, I have thirty-five four-leaf clovers, several which were found in one day. I’ve probably found more than thirty-five since I only began pressing my finds between mailing tape in 1987.

I’ve been looking for these lucky charms all my life. Hunting four-leaf clovers was a pastime of my mother, who searched most of her live and rarely found one. As a teenager, I often gave my finds to her or gave them away to other people who couldn’t find them as easily as I could.

I also have three five-leaf clovers, which appeared after we fertilized our yard one year. I also found several of them on the same day. They were gigantic compared to the run-of-the-mill clovers that inhabited our weedy yard. I thought the fertilizer put the regular clovers on steroids. I later learned that five-leaf clovers are believed to be even luckier than their four-leaved counterparts. If I’d have known that I’d have purchased a lottery ticket or three the day I found those babies!

I remember one time, after showing my daughter and her friend a few of my mounted clovers, the two of them decided to search in our yard for their own lucky clover. After a while they came in, disappointed because they hadn’t found anything. I took them outside, looked down at a couple of dense clover patches and then pointed to one of them.

“Search here,” I said. Within a few minutes each of them had discovered a four-leaf clover.

“How did you know where to look?” my daughter asked.

“I didn’t,” I replied. “I just looked down and I saw them.” They left clutching their clovers in awe of me.

Irish tradition says three-leaf clovers are associated with St Patrick’s use of the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish; three leaves for the three persons of the Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Celts thought four-leaf clovers would ward off bad luck. In the Middle Ages, children who carried a four-leaf clover in their pockets believed they could see fairies.

Other traditions tell us that those who find a four-leaf clover are destined for good luck. Three of the leaves in the clover represent good omens for faith, hope, and love. The fourth leaf means luck for the finder, a fifth leaf even more luck.  If you should find a six-leaf clover you can add fame to the mix, and a seventh leaf adds longevity, according to Wikipedia. Considering there are 10,000 of the three leafed varieties for each lucky four-leafed clover (or 5,000 to one, depending on whose research you believe), I feel blessed to have found as many four-leafed clovers as I have.

My husband just thinks I’ve found so many because I’m good at recognizing patterns in the clover, but I’m not so sure. I’ve searched on occasions and not found a single lucky clover.

I do think I’ve had a blessed life, but I don’t believe I can attribute it to those thirty-five clovers. I would say, however, that the three main leaves of the four-leaf clover that represent faith, hope and love are the drivers for my blessings. If you have those three things in your life, you’ll feel lucky no matter what life throws at you.

May you have the Blessings of Life that faith, hope and love bring you,

and the luck of the Irish today and always.

Catherine’s published books have also been lucky. Her debut novel, The Nun and the Narc is an ACFW Genesis Finalist, a 2014 EPIC finalist, and the winner of the 2014 Beverly Hills Book Award and the 2014 RONE award, as well as placing in several other contests.  Her sweet romantic comedy/drama A Groom for Mama, is the recipient of the 2018 Raven Award.

Check out this blurb from The Nun and the Narc.

The Nun and the Narc

by Catherine Castle

Where novice Sister Margaret Mary goes, trouble follows. When she barges into a drug deal the local Mexican drug lord captures her. To escape she must depend on undercover DEA agent Jed Bond. Jed’s attitude toward her is exasperating, but when she finds herself inexplicable attracted to him he becomes more dangerous than the men who have captured them, because he is making her doubt her decision to take her final vows. Escape back to the nunnery is imperative, but life at the convent, if she can still take her final vows, will never be the same.

Nuns shouldn’t look, talk, act, or kiss like Sister Margaret Mary O’Connor—at least that’s what Jed Bond thinks. She hampers his escape plans with her compulsiveness and compassion and in the process makes Jed question his own beliefs. After years of walling up his emotions in an attempt to become the best agent possible, Sister Margaret is crumbling Jed’s defenses and opening his heart. To lure her away from the church would be unforgivable—to lose her unbearable.

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.

Musings from a Writer’s Brain–Celebrate Your Name –Even If You Change It by Catherine Castle

Tags

C;elebrate Your Name Week, Catherine Castle, essay about names, humor, Musings from a Writer's Brain, name changes, Names, nicknames

March 7-13 is Celebrate Your Name week. Established in 1997 by American onomatology hobbyist Jerry Hill, Celebrate Your Name Week (CYNW) is a week for embracing and celebrating your name.

Before you say, “Why would I want to celebrate my name?” think about this–your name identifies you. It is the one thing that will be in your life now and forever. It can define your ethnicity, your heritage, how you look at yourself, and sometimes how others look at you. If you hate your name you can change it, but the original moniker will still be on your birth certificate. Your name will be used throughout your life to identify you in a myriad of ways: on your driver’s license, bank accounts, health accounts, mortgage deeds, insurance policies, social media accounts, professionally, and friends and family will say your name hundreds of thousands, or even millions of times, over the course of your life.

Think about your name or names if you have a middle one. Do you know what they mean? Do you know how you got them? Do you know how long it took your parents to decide on what to name you? How important was your name to those who named you? Have you ever wanted to change your name, and if so why? How did that change work out for you?

I know the answers to a few of those questions. My birth names mean pure and peace. I was named after both of my grandmothers, whose names at the time of my birth were very old-fashioned. My aunt Ella, on my father’s side, always addressed me by my first and my middle names. I suppose she didn’t want me to forget my paternal grandmother, whom I never met. I can still recall my aunt’s voice addressing me. She was the only one who ever called me by both names and somehow it became extra special to me.

I don’t know how long it took my parents to decide on my name or whether they had chosen it before I was born or after. Back then you had to have male and female options, since the gender was a surprise until the baby arrived.

I do know that it was very important to my mother that people called me Catherine, not Cathy. While in high school I shortened my name to Cathy and introduced myself that way at school. Catherine was too long to write on homework papers and very old-fashioned at the time. I wanted to be hipper back then. At church, and in front of my mother, I was always Catherine.

That dichotomy caused me a lot of problems. Although I cautioned any boy to whom I gave my home phone number to ask for Catherine—not Cathy, they invariably forgot. When Mom got to the phone before I did, which was often since she had a phone beside her easy chair, I’d hear, “Sorry, there’s no one here by that name.” Then she’d hang up the phone and glare at me. I lost a lot of potential boyfriends and dates that way. One icy answer from my mother and they never called back. I think they thought I’d given them the run-around with a wrong number. As the years went by, I grew out of my Cathy phase and now I have to correct people when they shorten my name. I still answer to Cathy at my high school reunions. Mom’s not around anymore to glare at me in disapproval and it’s just easier for those few hours to answer to the nickname.

My grandmother was called Cat by her brothers. I used to think that was a horrible nickname and cringed whenever I heard her addressed that way. When my nieces and nephews came along, Cat was easier to say than Catherine, so I adopted Grandma’s nickname. It shocked the heck out of my family when I gave those babies the okay to call me Cat.  Now I’m Aunt Cat to all of them. I now eschew the high school nickname I gave myself and love the birth name I once hated. Ain’t life funny?

When I began my fiction-writing career, I changed my name again. I kept my first name, because I like it a lot now. I’ve grown into it. I also thought keeping my first name would be less confusing at writing conferences. If someone called me Nancy I might think they were talking to another person and unintentionally ignore them. That would be bad.  I did, however, choose a different last name—one that would fit easier on a book cover and had a nice alliteration to my first name. My pen name is Catherine Castle. With that name change I became an author of sweet and inspiration romance.

 I still remember the first time a stranger in a bookstore asked, “Are you Catherine Castle?”

Startled, I looked at her and said, “Yes, I am.” No one had ever recognized my author persona before and I wondered how she knew me.

She must have seen the question in my gaze because she said, “I recognize you from your picture on your website.”

I left the bookstore with a big grin on my face that lasted for several hours. A complete stranger knew who Catherine Castle, the author, was! 

Shakespeare wrote, in Romeo and Juliet, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet…” This popular quote is often used to imply that it didn’t matter that Romeo’s name was associated with the house of Juliet’s family’s sworn enemy.

I suggest that your name does matter and that your name affects who you are. A boy named Sue will have a very different life than one named Chauncy. So if you love your name, or are just indifferent to it, embrace it. Take a few minutes this week to celebrate your name. Find out everything you can about your name. Dig into its history. You might be surprised as to why you are named what you are and how your name has made you who you are.

If you need to change your name for some reason, choose wisely. In the Bible, when a name change happened it often reflected some new aspect of one’s life, a thing that changed them and defined their new life paths. Your name can define you, too. So make your new name a good one.

Celebrate name week—Celebrate!

Catherine Castle is very picky about how she chooses the character names for her books. She once wrote an entire book inserting the name Mother 2 into the pages because she couldn’t think of the right name for that antagonist character. Her critique partners thought it was a real hoot, but when she finally came up with Mother 2’s name—Tiberia—they all agreed it fit her perfectly.

In her book A Groom for Mama, she named one of the characters in honor of a dear friend who battled cancer. You can read a sample of the book on Amazon. Here’s a peek at the blurb.

A Groom for Mama

By Catherine Castle

Beverly Walters is dying, and before she goes she has one wish—to find a groom for her daughter. To get the deed done, Mama enlists the dating service of Jack Somerset, Allison’s former boyfriend.

The last thing corporate-climbing Allison wants is a husband. Furious with Mama’s meddling, and a bit more interested in Jack than she wants to admit, Allison agrees to the scheme as long as Mama promises to search for a cure for her terminal illness.

A cross-country trip from Nevada to Ohio ensues, with a string of disastrous dates along the way, as the trio hunts for treatment and A Groom For Mama.

Available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.

Catherine’s Comment–A Winter Wonderland Table Setting from Catherine Castle

Tags

Catherine Castle, Catherine's Comments, clean romance, essay, Holiday table settings, inspirational romantic suspense, The Nun and the Narc, Winter wonderland

.

Christmas is over, but don’t put your Christmas village away just yet or those special winter themed dishes you may have lying around, like these adorable Norman Rockwell tumblers pictured below.

Instead, use these selected pieces to create a winter wonderland table setting and this charming centerpiece.

For this table setting you’ll need

• Your winter village accessories. I used my skating rink, the snow covered trees and bushes, and as many village figurines I could find that showed people playing in the snow. If you don’t have a skating rink, don’t worry. Just add some more of your snow covered village buildings to make up for the lack.  The point is to create a winter scene. And who doesn’t think a Christmas village isn’t wintery?
• Some cotton batting for the snow
•  A white tablecloth.
• 4 blue plates. I had 4 turquoise blue plates that looked great on the table. If you don’t have 4 colored plates, mix with white, or use all white plates against a blue tablecloth. The point is to make a striking contrast between the dishes and the tablecloth.
• Cute wintery napkins. I pulled some darling snowmen out of my stash.
• Clear bowls. I had some with snowflakes on them.
• 2 white candle in glass holders

• 

• 

Snowman napkin and snowflake bowl

Since I was using a smaller 48” diameter table, I set my skating rink at an angle to give more room for the village pieces.  If you have longer table you could spread the figurines out along the length of the table.

Honestly, the pictures I took did not do the table setting justice. It was so darned cute I wanted to leave it up all winter. But since that’s the table we eat at all the time, hubby would not have been happy.

snowman salt and pepper shakers

I hope you’ve enjoyed this Winter Wonderland table setting. If you don’t have a village, look at your Christmas decorations and see what you do have that represents winter. Some other options could include crocheted or plastic snowflakes, set on angles, in a snow bank of white cotton. Or maybe you have some snow-flocked small evergreen trees you could place in a cotton snowbank. Do you have a snowman collection? Use them. Let this setting inspire you.

Have a Happy New Year!

How about starting off your new year with a new read? Check out Catherine’s multi-award winning book The Nun and the Narc.

The Nun and the Narc

by Catherine Castle

Where novice Sister Margaret Mary goes, trouble follows. When she barges into a drug deal the local Mexican drug lord captures her. To escape she must depend on undercover DEA agent Jed Bond. Jed’s attitude toward her is exasperating, but when she finds herself inexplicable attracted to him he becomes more dangerous than the men who have captured them, because he is making her doubt her decision to take her final vows. Escape back to the nunnery is imperative, but life at the convent, if she can still take her final vows, will never be the same.

Nuns shouldn’t look, talk, act, or kiss like Sister Margaret Mary O’Connor—at least that’s what Jed Bond thinks. She hampers his escape plans with her compulsiveness and compassion and in the process makes Jed question his own beliefs. After years of walling up his emotions in an attempt to become the best agent possible, Sister Margaret is crumbling Jed’s defenses and opening his heart. To lure her away from the church would be unforgivable—to lose her unbearable.

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.

Catherine’s Comments—An Elegant Poinsettia Themed Table Setting from Catherine Castle

Tags

candles, Catherine’s Comments, Centerpieces, Christmas Table Décor, dishes, Holiday table settings, Mismatched Dinnerware, Poinsettias

Image from Pixabay

The table decorating elves have been busy at my house with a new place setting for your holiday meals.  Unlike the playful setting of last week, the elves and I decided to go for an elegant, poinsettia theme this Friday. Since red is the classic poinsettia color and gold makes for an elegant contrast to red, the elves and I chose the colors red, gold, and white.

Layering has been the part of Christmas theme so I started with a white table cloth. Searching through my placemats I added red and gold plastic poinsettia placemats topped with either a red or white contrasting plate. Don’t be afraid to use plastic items if they look elegant. A poinsettia napkin, placed so the flower shows, carries the flower theme onto the plain plates.

I dug through my candleholders and found a pair of heavy, square gold glass candle holders and then I paired them with tall red candles. I didn’t like the effect of the gold against the white table cloth, so to make the gold pop, I opened up a paper poinsettia coaster and placed the candles on top. If you don’t have a paper poinsettia coaster you could use a red napkin or, if you’re crafty, cut a poinsettia from construction paper.

If you don’t have gold candle holders search through your Christmas decorations for any gold items you might have. A strand of gold, or gold and red, beads artfully laid or looped around the base of glass candleholders would carry the gold theme onto the centerpiece. Or place your candle and holder in a white bowl or saucer and surround the candle with red and gold ornaments. To keep wax from dripping on the ornaments you might want to place a wax catcher, known as a bobeche, at the base of the candle.  

Clear glasses to mimic the effect of crystal completes the setting.

Well, that’s the table setting for this week. Be sure to come back next week for a new setting.

Happy Holidays!

After you’re done searching for your table setting items, take a break and check out Catherine’ multi-award-winning Inspirational Romantic Suspense book The Nun and the Narc. Available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

The Nun and the Narc

By Catherine Castle

Where novice Sister Margaret Mary goes, trouble follows. When she barges into a drug deal the local Mexican drug lord captures her. To escape she must depend on undercover DEA agent Jed Bond. Jed’s attitude toward her is exasperating, but when she finds herself inexplicable attracted to him he becomes more dangerous than the men who have captured them, because he is making her doubt her decision to take her final vows. Escape back to the nunnery is imperative, but life at the convent, if she can still take her final vows, will never be the same.

Nuns shouldn’t look, talk, act, or kiss like Sister Margaret Mary O’Connor—at least that’s what Jed Bond thinks. She hampers his escape plans with her compulsiveness and compassion and in the process makes Jed question his own beliefs. After years of walling up his emotions in an attempt to become the best agent possible, Sister Margaret is crumbling Jed’s defenses and opening his heart. To lure her away from the church would be unforgivable—to lose her unbearable.

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.

Catherine’s Comments—A Festive Candy Cane Table Setting from Catherine Castle

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A Groom for Mama, Catherine Castle author, Catherine's Comments, Christmas table settings, clean romance, Holiday table settings, romantic comedy, Sweet romance

Christmas is fast approaching!

Only 21 days!

This holiday has always been a big deal at my house. When I was younger I’d change out all the knickknacks, take pictures off the wall and exchange them for more Christmassy themes, and deck the house out to the hilt.

I don’t quite go to those extremes anymore, as arthritic knees and a bad back have slowed me down. But, every year I put up a different themed Christmas tree. either special ornaments from our childhood and family and friends, Southwest themed, crocheted stars and tiny metal candle holders with little red candles, the simplicity of poinsettias in the branches, gold travel ornaments from places we’ve visited, all white, all red, and whatever else I can think up. Or, I might put up my fiber optic tree, or the vintage aluminum tree my husband inherited from his grandmother, complete with color wheel. On occasion I’ve had them all up at the same time.

My sideboard can groan under the weight of my Christmas village, my Nativity collection, My Southwest Christmas figurines, or I could just have a rustic collection of candles and Christmas décor.  I fill every available pot and vase I can with silk Poinsettias and holly.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I have lots and lots of tree and Christmas decorations. My Christmas décor obsession is as bad as or worse than my dish fetish.

My table is no different. Most of the time I use my Corelle holly plates, but recently I’ve been venturing out into different table settings. I think it has something to do with the ease of setting a holiday table. Unlike the Christmas village which takes a couple of days to set just right, my dinner table goes up in a much shorter time—once I decide what I’ll do, that is.

Some of my blog readers have requested more table settings. So, I’m going to show off my new combinations in the coming weeks. In the upcoming posts I’ll be featuring tablecloths, placemats, napkin rings and Christmas decorations I’ve pulled from my decoration stash—and of course the mix and match dishes that started this whole blog series.

First up is a Festive Candy Cane Table. This would be a cute table setting for the kids’ table, or as a more casual adult setting. You could also surprise the family on a December night with this cheerful table setting. After all, the Christmas season lasts for a month. Why wait until Christmas Day or Eve to celebrate the season?

Here’s how I made this table setting: I started with an inexpensive plastic striped tablecloth I picked up a few years ago from our local Big Lots discount store. Then I added red and white plates and white salad bowls—some of the same dishes I’ve used in previous table settings.

I kept the centerpiece festive and kid friendly with a metal spiral tree decoration. The candle at the base of the tree is a faux battery lit candle, a safer choice for the children’s table, and it won’t destroy the charming ornaments suspended from the spiral branches. To make the centerpiece pop and pick up the green in the table cloth, I centered the tree on a round woven placemat. If you don’t have a plethora of placemats, like I do—another obsession of mine—you could use a green napkin, or two napkins set at 45 degree angles to each other to form an eight-point star. For a little more festive flair I created contrasting red and white bows from pipe cleaners and scattered them on the place mat.

To continue the candy cane theme I made candy canes from red and white pipe cleaners.

To make the pipe cleaner candy canes, twist a red and white pipe cleaner together from top to bottom the form the cane. To form the loop that holds the napkin, gently bend the pipe cleaner in half. Align about 1/4^th of the bent section with the bottom of the cane, then fold the straight remaining section at a 90 degree angle to the cane. Wrap it around your finger to form a circle. Loop the end of the circle around the cane to secure the circle and form the napkin holder section. Curve the top of the cane into a loop so it looks like a candy cane. Roll up your napkin to fit in the circle and arrange the cane so the top is level with the napkin edge.

If you don’t have any pipe cleaners, you could tie a ribbon around a real candy cane and then loosely wrap and tie the napkin in the ribbon. I didn’t have any candy canes, but I did have pipe cleaners so I improvised. Have I mentioned that I’m a crafter, too? I have lots of interesting things in my basement. 🙂

Lay your candy cane napkin in the center of your plate to finish off the table setting, and invite the family and friends to dinner!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s Festive Candy Cane Table Setting, and I hope I’ve inspired you to set a fun and festive table at one of your Christmas holiday meals. Come back next week for another Christmas Table Setting.

Happy Holidays,

Catherine

If you enjoyed Catherine’s creative holiday table settings, why not check out one of her creative books. Her award-winning sweet, romantic comedy, with a touch of drama A Groom for Mama is a fun read and would make a great gift for the romance novel lover in your family. Here’s a peek at the blurb.

A Groom for Mama

By Catherine Castle

Beverly Walters is dying, and before she goes she has one wish—to find a groom for her daughter. To get the deed done, Mama enlists the dating service of Jack Somerset, Allison’s former boyfriend.

The last thing corporate-climbing Allison wants is a husband. Furious with Mama’s meddling, and a bit more interested in Jack than she wants to admit, Allison agrees to the scheme as long as Mama promises to search for a cure for her terminal illness.

A cross-country trip from Nevada to Ohio ensues, with a string of disastrous dates along the way, as the trio hunts for treatment and A Groom For Mama.

A Groom for Mama is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing, reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

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Come Ye Thankful People Come, essay, Happy Thanksgiving, hymn

http://Thanksgiving Fall Pumpkin – Free photo on Pixabay

There’s nothing that says Thanksgiving to me like the classic song Come, Ye Thankful People Come. I played it in church for the first time last Sunday and that’s when it felt like Thanksgiving had arrived. I tried to embed a YouTube version so you could hear the music, but WordPress and YouTube aren’t talking. So I’m posting the lyrics instead. I hope the song will lift your Thanksgiving spirits and help you to remember to be thankful this year, in spite of all the bad things we’ve endured. May God Bless You this Thanksgiving and in the coming days.

 

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come

Text: Henry Alford, 1810-1871
Music: George J. Elvey, 1816-1893

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1. Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home; all is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin. God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied; come to God’s own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home. 2. All the world is God’s own field, fruit as praise to God we yield; wheat and tares together sown are to joy or sorrow grown; first the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear; Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be. 3. For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take the harvest home; from the field shall in that day all offenses purge away, giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast; but the fruitful ears to store in the garner evermore. 4. Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring thy final harvest home; gather thou thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin, there, forever purified, in thy presence to abide; come, with all thine angels, come, raise the glorious harvest home.

Catherine’s Comments–Fantastic Seasonal Tables Using 20 Mismatched Dishes by Catherine Castle

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award-winning romance, Catherine's Comments, decorations, dishes, essay, home decor, table settings, The Nun and the Narc

I’m channeling Martha Stewart today with a home décor post, so bear with me this Friday morning.

As we head into a most unusual holiday entertaining season chances are there will be fewer people around your tables. Fewer guests don’t mean you should back down on the fancy table arrangments.  Instead, why not get creative and try something different?

I don’t know about you, but when I have company, I like to set a fancy table. It’s one of the reasons I have ten different sets of dishes and several different sets of glassware. I can set a Disney table, complete with themed flatware and napkin rings; go native American with my Indian patterned dishes; have an indoor garden party with my garden dishes; set two different themed Christmas tables; or celebrate the Fourth of July Americana style. I also have two sets of patterned Corelle®, a plain white Corelle set, and plain colored stoneware that will span several seasons.

I know, I know. That’s way too many plates, cups and bowls for one person to own. But, much to my hubby’s chagrin, it’s a quirky fetish of mine. I collect dishes like most women collect shoes. I can’t bypass a single display of dishes without lusting after them. I realize most women don’t have access to such a wide variety of dishes, aside from Martha Stewart perhaps. But even if you don’t have a bazillion complete sets of dishes, you can still set a pretty table

Having said that, I decided to challenge myself and my overabundant dish fetish. Instead of using a complete set of one of the ten dish settings I have, could I create four seasonal table settings using only four white dinner plates, 8 solid primary color luncheon plates, and 8 assorted bowls and 4 clear glasses?

With no patterns in the dishes to help set the seasonal mood, I decided to use patterned placemats. Placemats take up less storage room than dishes and cost less to replace if they get stained or you just want a change. Seasonal paper napkins and decorative elements gathered from around the house for centerpieces rounds out the table. Since white contrasts best with colored or patterned placemats I used the white dinner plates as the base for the place settings.

Thanksgiving is coming up soon, so I’ll start with that holiday.

When the temperatures drop and autumn rolls around, bring out the warmer colors of yellow and red to contrast with the warm wood tones of your table. A circle of leaves around a tall candle works as a centerpiece and draws in all the colors of the plates into the palette. If you have fall placemats they can be used under the dishes. I only had two matching autumn placemats, so I chose to forego them on this table setting. Instead of white bowls I used some red and green ramekins to pull in more fall color.

Christmas brings out the traditional, cheery colors of red and green. I interspersed green ramekins with the white bowls for a touch more green in this palette and to make the bowls pop on the red plates. Using green napkins in the glasses looks like you have tiny evergreen tree on your table.

Spring bursts onto the table in shades of yellow, white, and turquoise. A vase of airy pink flowers adorns the center of the table, and a cocktail napkin containing all four colors ties the place setting together. If you’re having an Easter dinner, a pretty Easter basket filled with battery operated candles would be the perfect centerpiece, or unwrap that giant chocolate bunny you bought, set him on a plate with your homemade Easter eggs and fill in the empty spots with Easter grass. This is one centerpiece you won’t have to store.

Celebrate summer’s freedom holiday with a red, white and blue theme. A candle in a star shaped dish sets center stage. If you have them, a few sparklers set in small balls of clay around the candle would be an interesting touch. (I didn’t, so I just went with the single candle.) Placing blue and red napkins in the glasses gave the hint of fireworks to the table settings.

I was sorely tempted to break out the garden dishes to create a summer garden party theme, but since I figured most people don’t have an assortment of flower and veggie shaped dishes, that would be cheating on the challenge.

With 20 dishes, not counting the clear glasses, I’ve created four attractive seasonal place settings. Now, the trick will be to not let the hubby see what I can do with only 20 dishes. Because if he finds out, I’ll have no more excuses to buy tableware.

Which one of these table settings do you like best? I can’t decide. I may just have to see how many more I can create using a few unusual pieces. Oh! New antiquing idea—searching for unique seasonal serving pieces to set off my five-color scheme place settings. Then I think I’ll have some dinner guests over—once COVID is gone.

What about you? How do you create inviting dinner tables?

Now that you’ve got some great table settings lined up, relax with Catherine’s multi-award-winning inspirational romantic suspense novel The Nun and the Narc.

The Nun and the Narc

By Catherine Castle

Where novice Sister Margaret Mary goes, trouble follows. When she barges into a drug deal the local Mexican drug lord captures her. To escape she must depend on undercover DEA agent Jed Bond. Jed’s attitude toward her is exasperating, but when she finds herself inexplicable attracted to him he becomes more dangerous than the men who have captured them, because he is making her doubt her decision to take her final vows. Escape back to the nunnery is imperative, but life at the convent, if she can still take her final vows, will never be the same.

Nuns shouldn’t look, talk, act, or kiss like Sister Margaret Mary O’Connor—at least that’s what Jed Bond thinks. She hampers his escape plans with her compulsiveness and compassion and in the process makes Jed question his own beliefs. After years of walling up his emotions in an attempt to become the best agent possible, Sister Margaret is crumbling Jed’s defenses and opening his heart. To lure her away from the church would be unforgivable—to lose her unbearable.

You can find her award-winning book The Nun and the Narc on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

About the Author:

Multi-award winning author Catherine Castle loves writing. Before beginning her career as a romance writer she worked part-time as a freelance writer. She has over 600 articles and photographs to her credit, under her real name, in the Christian and secular market. She also lays claim to over 300 internet articles written on a variety of subjects and several hundred poems. In addition to writing she loves reading, traveling, singing, theatre, quilting and gardening. She’s a passionate gardener whose garden won a “Best Hillside Garden” award from the local gardening club. She writes sweet and inspirational romances. You can find her award-winning Soul Mate books The Nun and the Narc and A Groom for Mama, on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Follow her on Twitter @AuthorCCastle, FB or her blog.

Wednesday Writers Christmas Reads–The Texan’s Surprise Return by Jolene Navarro

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Christmas reads, Christmas traditions, Jolene Navarro, Tamales, The Texan's Surprise Return, Wednesday Writers

Welcome to Wednesday Writers.

Christmas is coming and there’s nothing I like better during the holiday season than a good Christmas romance (or movie). So, on Wednesdays and Thursdays I’m filling out the year with a variety of Christmas romance book posts. Today’s guest is Jolene Navarro. She’ll be sharing her book The Texan’s Surprise Return and a bit about her family’s Christmas tradition.

BTW, Jolene, you’re talking about one of my favorite foods–TAMALES!

Hola from the Texas Hill Country. I’m Jolene Navarro and I’m honored to be visiting today. As a writer I love pulling from family traditions. My stories are a celebration of family. In my current release, The Texan’s Surprise Return, not only do they eat tamales on Christmas Eve, they make dozens upon dozens on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

It’s one of my favorite scenes. The hero is trying to reconnect with his family after a near death experience that created a brain injury.

Four generations (including his triple sons) gather in the kitchen to create an assembly line as they make each tamale. This is a common holiday event in the Navarro house.

Growing up my family didn’t make our own tamales, but when we gathered for Christmas Eve the main attraction was the tamales. Growing up, I thought everyone celebrated Christmas Eve with tamales.

Since then I learned it was more of a Texas thing. But I still take our traditions and customs for granted. That was brought home recently when I created a potluck list for my writing group, I included tamales (by the dozen) to sign up to bring. They are listed as such: Tamales doz.

One of our new members asked what that meant. She is from far up the east coast. This is the answer she received from another member: “1 dozen tamales…it’s considered a holiday food around here. Forget drugs. A good tamale maker/supplier is worth their weight in gold. LOL (Although, HEB works in a pinch).”

This is true. The best tamales I’ve ever eaten were made by my husband’s family, led by his mother. She made spreading the masa onto the corn husk look easy (it’s not). They made them with a mix of beef and pork (Fresh from the ranch). They can come stuffed with chicken and bean too.

The best and the most fun way to make them is with generations working as a team and lots of laughter.

Do you have a custom or tradition that you family celebrates that the rest of the country is not aware of? Maybe you are from Texas. Do you celebrate with tamales?

 

The Texan’s Surprise Return.

by Jolene Navarro

His greatest Christmas gifts…
“Is that you? You’re…you’re alive.” An unforgettable family reunion for the holidays.
For three years, Xavier De La Rosa’s family thought he was dead. Now Xavier is back home in Texas for Christmas and finds a wife he can’t remember and adorable triplets he never knew existed. Can Xavier reclaim his memories and the love he left behind…before he returns to the job that nearly killed him?

 

 

 

You can find Jolene’s book at Amazon

 

About the Author

Jolene, a seventh-generation Texan, knows, as much as the world changes, people stay the same. Good and evil. Vow-keepers and heart breakers. Jolene married a vow-keeper who showed her that dancing in the rain never gets old.
Her life, much like her stories, is filled with faith, family, laughter, dirty dishes and all of life’s wonderful messiness. She loves spending time with her four kids, and can be found at jolenenavarrowriter.com

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https://www.instagram.com/jolenenavarro