500 Blogs

This blog today marks a milestone, my 500th blog. I have written and posted a blog daily for 500 days. There have been challenges along the way, but I have learned a lot, too. Surprisingly, I have had few problems with writing the blogs. It's coming up with the photos and illustrations that's presented the biggest hurdle, and I think they are crucial to an interesting blog. Most of us are visual people.

If I had all my photos taken through the years transferred to the computer, the problem would be solved, but when I wrote for magazines, most of them preferred transparencies (slides) at that time. Therefore, most of my past photography is in this format. I have to be very careful of copyright infringement if I pull a illustration from the web. There are sites that allow this, but often their subjects are limited.

To date, I've had viewers from 28 different countries. The top ten, with the highest first is: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Russia, France, Brazil, Germany, Ukraine, Portugal, and Ireland.
I've built a base of followers, until I am getting to the point I don't have to do as much reposting as I once did. This has taken a lot of time, and I've enjoyed freeing up more time for working on my novels. 2015 has been an exciting year, and I look forward to seeing what 2016 will bring.

________________________________________

The Prince of Peace

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:13-14).

The angels that appeared to announce the birth of the Messiah told of the peace He brought. In the life He lived and the sacrifices He made to restore our relationship with God, Jesus certainly demonstrated good will and peace.


"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6).

Isaiah prophesied about Jesus' birth and said He would be The Prince of Peace. When we look through history and around us today, we could ask, "Where is the peace?"

"For he [Christ] is our peace" (Ephesians 2:14a)

It can be inside each of us, if we accept Christ as our Savior and turn our lives over to Him. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit helps us understand and find this peace. And it's a peace that passes all understanding, because it doesn't depend on circumstances. Nothing else compares. Once you experience it, you'll never be satisfied without it. It comes from a deep, personal relationship with our Lord. He is our peace!

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you" (John 14:27).

___________________________________

Book Proposal for The History Press

Some of you may remember my dilemma of whether or not to send a requested book proposal to The History Press. Their editor in New England had seen my blogs and referred me to the editor in my area to write a history book for them. 

Although I majored in and taught history, my first writing love is Christian novels. I knew how much time it would take to do the research and write a non-fiction book, and I didn't know if I wanted to carve that chunk of time out of the writing I'm doing now. In addition, I wondered if this is what God wanted me to do. I received no clear-cut answers. Finally, a Christian friend suggested that I do the proposal and pray that God either closed or opened the way, according to his will, and this is what I did.

After I wrote and submitted the proposal, the editor told me I would hear back from him in three days or a week at the most. Three weeks later, I received a kind letter saying that they were impressed with my writing and my platform, but he felt my proposal was too broad. He suggested I narrow the scope to something like "Arts and Crafts in the Blue Ridge."

My proposal had been on "Traditional Blue Ridge Culture," where arts and crafts was one of the chapters. I honestly think my proposal would have wider appeal, especially in the gift shops and tourist stops I planned to market in. I love arts and crafts and could write such a book, but as a writer, historian, or reader, I would prefer a book that covered all the basics of life in the Blue Ridge, not just one niche. This is a subject I know well, because it's my culture and the one I wrote about in my first published series, Appalachian Roots.

However, given the way this evolved, I'm considering the rejection of the first proposal as a closed door. I don't think it's something I need to commit to at this point. Perhaps sometime in the future that will change. For now, I'm excited to be writing my novels. I'm in the process of publishing the third one in the Appalachian Roots Series, Uprooted by War, and one set in Pennsylvania in 1739, When Winter is Past. This and the new series I'm writing set in early New Mexico will keep me plenty busy for a while.

________________________________________

Home for Christmas

As many of you know, I love to travel. I've been to around 40 other countries and all 50 of the United States. So far, all my novels have been set in a place where I have lived, at least for a short time. But, in all my travels, I've always managed to be home for Christmas.

The first time that I was away from home around the holidays was when I did mission work in the southern Philippines. For the fall semester, I taught English at Mindanao International Christian Academy, a high school established to educate Bible translators' children. I was in Davao for Thanksgiving, and a missionary family there graciously invited me to share in their traditional Thanksgiving meal. What a blessing this was! However, the semester ended, I managed to get everything graded and all my grades turned in, and make it home just before Christmas. My son living in Tennessee and my daughter met me at the airport in Charlotte - another great blessing!

The year that Jim and I spent teaching Bible translators' children at Oaxaca Christian School, we were able to fly home for Christmas, although we had driven down there. The school had a long Christmas break, and we enjoyed the trip. I'd had a grandson born that October, and I hadn't seen him yet, so that made our return even more special.

HERE'S WISHING YOU AND YOURS A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS, AND MAY YOU MAKE WHEREVER YOU ARE FOR CHRISTMAS HOME !

______________________________________

Saying "Merry Christmas"

A controversy arose in the early 2000's over whether to say "Merry Christmas" or change it to "Season's greetings," or "Happy holidays" to keep from offending people of other religions. I have traveled to around 40 other countries and been exposed to different religions. I have never found someone in a Muslim, Hindu, or Buddhist country who objected to saying "Merry Christmas." For the most part, they seem much more tolerant than many Americans.

In India, I sat down at the table of a Hindu family for dinner. The father told me it was fine to go ahead and say grace, if that was my custom. I listened to a Hindu priest say that he had no trouble believing in Jesus and his miracles. Of course, he believed in a multitude of Hindu gods also. It didn't offend me when one of my Muslim students in the Philippines celebrated Ramadan, and she even attended Christian chapel programs every Friday, so she could go to the best private school in Davao City.

I find it interesting that in a recent poll (2013), the states west of the Mississippi often didn't have a problem with saying "Merry Christmas," while more people in the East were very outspoken against it. One article thought the reason is that the largest percentage of Christians reside in the East, and therefore a faith-based Christian message was presented more often. Those who opposed Christianity (not usually those of other religions, unless you count atheism as a religion) want to change this.

I find the whole controversy sad. It boggles my mind that people want to take the mention of Christ from Christmas. Isn't He the whole reason for the holiday in the first place? I also find it amusing that the word "holiday" is a shortened form of "holy day," so "Happy holidays" is still religious, isn't it?

___________________________________

The Christmas Pickle 

Legend says that in an old tradition from Germany parents hung a pickle on the Christmas tree where it couldn't easily be seen after their children had gone to bed on Christmas Eve. The first child to spot the pickle on Christmas Day would receive a special blessing or extra gift.

However, many refute the story, because most Germans know nothing about it today. I know I hadn't heard of it before, and at least one of my ancestors was German. It seems, either the practice is so old that it's long been lost and forgotten, or it's a hoax. There's also various other stories on the origins of the Christmas pickle.

Skeptics say that the story was invented as a marketing ploy by Woolworth stores after they'd ordered a shipment of glass ornaments from Germany in the shape of vegetables around 1880. Even after they quit ordering the ornaments from Germany, they continued to order them from France and encouraged the story. Yet, there doesn't appear to be enough hard evidence to indicate this is the real reason for the legend. 

There's also other stories about Die Weihnachtsgurke or the Christmas pickle. Some link it to a Bavarian prisoner in Andersonville prison during the Civil War. Others say it comes from either the Middle Ages or the Victorian Era and involves two Spanish boys. The truth is that no one knows for sure where the custom originated, but some families still have fun with it. Pickle ornaments can still be purchased today, especially at places like Berrien Springs, Michigan, the Christmas Pickle Capital of the World. I found one at a dollar store.

____________________________________

An Almost Christmas Birthday

When people find out that my birthday is on December 22, they usually offer their condolences. They make comments like, "Your birthday must have got lost in Christmas," "I bet it seemed as if you never had much of a birthday with Christmas so near," or "How awful for you to get birthday and Christmas presents so close together." 

However, I never minded it. In fact, there were several things I liked about having a birthday a couple of days before Christmas. I was always so excited about Christmas, and, by my birthday, presents were wrapped and under the tree. With my eager anticipation, it was hard to wait, but I always got to open at least one present early - my birthday present. In addition, in 55 years, I never had to go to school on my birthday. (I was a teacher, so I had a long school career.)

When I was born, my father hadn't been home from the military long, and money was tight. I don't think my parents had much for Christmas that year. I was their Christmas present, and Mama always said that I was her best Christmas present ever. Even with it coming so close to Christmas, my parents always managed to made my birthday seem special.

_________________________________