I always take time off during December and early January = being the mom of a large family is a full time job that I fit in around work and writing most of the year, but for the Christmas and New Year seasons they get all of me. Not that they particularly want me - the older ones have their own lives and families and interests and the younger ones are at an age where I am little more than a walking wallet - but they all like what I provide at this time of the year - and I don't just mean the wallet part - they like the baking days that I organize, and the late night gift wrapping sessions that the teens help with - and they like the calm that comes when the usual sport activities are suspended and we can go to movies on a weeknight evening or maybe even just go for an extra long walk with the dogs. This year we will also head to Victoria after Christmas so the younger 5 can shop till they drop and maybe we'll book a couple of nights in a hotel and ring in the New Year in that fair city.

There will also be some drama because you just can't have 14 kids + plus their families and not have someone experiencing some kind of drama - but I can provide a calm to that - the only bonus to aging is that "been there done that" is very true and so I can easily and lovingly provide hugs and strong shoulders as needed.

I won't get any writing time. I'm 2/3 through the sequel to Cleah: The Lost Fury Chronicles - but that will have to wait till after I get back to the office in January. I know the ending, of course, but I can't quite figure out how to get there from where I am so I'll at least make some thinking time and hope that my brain can work it out in the next couple of weeks.

Well fellow writers and fellow wanna be successful writers - I wish you all the best of the season - and may  you enjoy health, success, and happiness in the coming year.