Olivia's December Newsletter

 Making the Christmas Holiday Special by Building Traditions

One of the best things you can do for the Christmas holiday is to build your own family traditions into the day. Family traditions are something that can be enjoyed by both adults and children, year after year. 

The first thing you want to do when you are planning to build your own family traditions is to think about what you did with your own family growing up and what you enjoyed most as a child. Are there things from your childhood, and the childhood of your spouse, which you can use to build lasting traditions for your own children? Starting with family traditions and then building your own is always a good idea.

Early in the holiday season is the time to decide if your family traditions will include a visit to relatives or if you will spend the Christmas holiday at your own home. Some people prefer large gatherings for Christmas, while others prefer to spend a quieter day at home with their own children and spouse. Whatever you and your spouse decide is fine, as long as you are both in agreement with each other.

One fun tradition you can build is acquiring your Christmas tree. You always have the option of fresh or artificial. For an artificial one you can build a tradition of everyone helping to put the tree together and place the ornaments on it. If you will be using a fresh tree, you can go out as a family to cut it down, either in a local forest or tree farm, or even always buy your Christmas tree from the same lot each year. You can then build traditions around who puts on what ornaments and who ultimately puts the topper on the tree. 

If you will be using a fresh tree, invariably you will have branches that you will need to be trimmed off of the bottom. Make it a family tradition to decorate with these fragrant bows around your home or have your children make and decorate a wreath with them for your front door, or even for an elderly neighbor.

Another wonderful way to build tradition into your Christmas holiday is by remembering those less fortunate than your own family. It is always important to teach your children about giving to others and the fact that it is just simply a good thing to do as a human being. You can show this at the Christmas holiday season through gifts to an angel tree child or even through donations to a local food bank. Often quality foods are on sale during the holiday and it is a simple thing to pick-up some extra food items and then donate them to your local food bank. Just this simple act can be the difference between another family having food or not on the holiday.

Churches and banks in my own local area often have a tree with paper “angel” stars on them. These are children who are in foster homes or in families who cannot afford gifts for them for the holiday. It can be a great family tradition to select a star or two from the tree and have your children help you shop for the gifts. This teaches empathy in your children and also shows them that the holiday is not all about what they receive, but also about what they give to others. 

Another way to build family traditions is through the food you make and serve at the holiday time. I know that in my own family, the Christmas holiday is the only time which we bake sugar cookies from scratch and decorate them. In fact, we usually take an entire afternoon and dedicate it to baking treats. Your children will look forward to this each year. 

As you can clearly see, building your own Christmas traditions doesn’t have to be hard or extremely time consuming. However, if you take the time to think out the holidays, you can build in some traditions that will last a lifetime and even generations.

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Sunday, December 17th!

1:30- 4:30 Augusta, Morris Museum of Art

Titles will be available for purchase in the Museum Store on December 1st.

https://www.themorris.org/.../pen-to-paper-local-author.../

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Thursday, February 16th at 7:00pm!

I'm coming to The Center for African American History, Art & Culture for a book chat and signing. Mark your calendars!

Become a member, donate or support this wonderful center dedicated to the Immanuel Institute's building and to be an educational resource with interactive programs of sight and sound that educate and inspire.

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The Christmas Quilts

Add 15 Points to your Kindle Rewards with this holiday limited release. https://amzn.to/3hYMoXy

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Santa's Big Helper

Pssst... Back for a limited time only. Come believe in the magic of the Holiday season with Nick and Hope.

https://amzn.to/3gm3qhP

Coming January 24th!

Mr. Slow took his time in life. Love, family, and the job were functions performed by the man he needed to be. A phone call in the middle of the night transformed him into the man he’d always wanted to be. Everything he ever wanted for himself was within his grasp, but he was reluctant to reach for the happily ever after he craved.

Abigail Barnes was the cherry on top of the ideal sundae. A woman who is not willing to be tied down by any man, for any reason. When her cousin goes missing, she makes the one phone she’s been dreading for nearly five years. She needed to call the man who turned her emotions on end, making her want all the things life didn’t have time to give her, but she needed his help.

Arriving in the middle of the night to help the woman who made him lose sleep, he discovered the two of them shared more than three hot nights in a cheap hotel in Mexico.

Prepare to turn the pages and learn of the man the technicians call Mr. Slow, but also the man, Gabriel Neary, the Archangel, calls his cousin.

Pre-Order is up https://amzn.to/3XA7Dz8

https://books2read.com/u/3J61Dv

Guys, there are scenes in this book that will make you fall hard for this man. The interactions between him and this little angel will make you sigh.

Mr. Slow is arriving in January.

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Just My Size

I wrote this story for a special contracted project which fell through and I was like yip, yip, and yeah! So, somewhere around mid-month, I am going to drop it for a fun weekend read.

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Festive Holiday Ice Cubes

I love this idea, but I'm not sure about the pine needles. I think this would be really cool with mint leaves or rosemary sprigs. You could even add those with the pomegranate seeds to a cocktail.

Jarcuterie Cups

These “jarcuterie” cups are our twist on individual charcuterie plates – easy-to-pack and simple-to-eat pairings that make the perfect gift for any occasion.

To make 8 jarcuterie jars, you’ll want to start by preparing the cheese. Cut the Pepper Jack cheese into 3 inch long sticks about ½ inch thick or open 8 Pepper Jack Snack Sticks. Slice your Seriously Sharp Cheddar cheese lengthwise into ¼ to ⅓ inch thick slices, and cut out festive shapes using a star-shaped cookie cutter (or other decorative shapes).

To assemble the jars, start by skewering one olive and two or three pieces of salami folded in quarters. Repeat so you have one salami skewer for each jar. Next, skewer several raspberries and blueberries to mostly fill the skewer. Repeat so you have one fruit skewer for each jar. Add about 1/4 cup of nuts to the bottom of each jar.

Finally, place the skewers, breadsticks, dried apricots, and cheese pieces on top of the nuts in each jar, and garnish each jar with a small stalk of rosemary.