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4 Stars Seymour's Christmas Wish Jane Matyger Javier Duarte Mirror Publishing 28 Pages    Ages: 3 + ..................... ...................... Back Cover: Seymour, a tiny, tiny mouse, lives at the North Pole. Each Christmas Eve, he shines Rudolph’s red nose before Santa’s big trip. This year Seymour has a special wish . . . a wish that [...]

 5 Stars “If your child or grandchild has ever wondered when Santa fits in the traditional Christmas story, now you can read them Santa’s Birthday Gift.Finally, a book that ties two holiday traditions into one inspirational tale of wonder—as Santa brings gifts to baby Jesus.” Santa’s Birthday Gift is a wonderfully crafted story that explains [...]

This week I had the distinct pleasure of visiting two schools in Washington Township, NJ, a charming little community in the northwest corner of the state. According to Wikipedia, Jean Shepherd, author of The Christmas Story, once lived here. I didn’t see any leg lamps in any windows or kids with tongues stuck to poles, so I can’t confirm that fact. But I can confirm that the kids of Port Colden Elementary and Brass Castle Elementary schools are a welcoming and inquisitive bunch, and about the best audience an author could imagine. It was Dr. Seuss’s birthday, otherwise known as Read Across America Day, and the kids were decked out in homemade shirts and hats celebrating the late, great master of Whos, and Yooks, and Sneeches, and Zooks. Too many people complain about how kids have no attention spans. Not so with this crew. They sat quietly and cross-legged in the Auditoria (or perhaps it was a Cafetorium?) and locked eyes with me as I gave a presentation on writing. I could see what they were thinking:

“Entertain us, old man. Tell us something we don’t know, because we are culturally refined and our intellects are not to be trifled with.”

When I finished, they hounded me with brilliant questions. I hope I lived up to their expectations. Don’t believe it? Proof lies in this collection of photos from the kind folks at Lehigh Valley’s Express Times. My favorite question?

“What happens at the end of The Only Ones?”

I informed the young man (probably a junior blogger angling for an unprecedented scoop) that I can’t give out such spoilers, especially since the book doesn’t hit shelves for another six months. But I respect his guts and his willingness to get right to the point. To reward that, I am offering a teaser. The Only Ones ends like this:

…him.”

Intrigued?

Here's a Christmas tall tale about the competitiveness of neighbors when it comes to decorating their house and yards for Christmas. Enjoy y'all!

That’s the Christmas Spirit!
by Natasha Wing


The Christmas season was in full swing. But what should have been a time of peace and joy, turned into a Battle of the Bulbs.
It all started when Mayor Julie Annie announced that she was awarding a trophy for the best outdoor display that best captures the spirit of Christmas.
My neighbors - Freddy Bob on my left and Travis on my right - shifted their decorating into high gear.
The great Christmas decoration competition was on, and I was stuck right smack dab in the middle of it.
First thing Saturday morning, I was jolted awake by dueling BEEP BEEP BEEPs and RAT-A-TAT-TATs.
Freddy Bob was backing a crane up to his house to string lights.
Travis was shooting off a high-powered staple gun to string his.
All day long those two stapled and pounded and cursed until their houses were covered with Christmas lights. There were so many lights, I needed sunglasses just to walk outside at night.
For my decorations, I filled the bottoms of paper bags with sand. Then placed a candle in each bag.
That night, Freddy Bob waddled across my yard over to Travis’s, tucking in his shirt and straightening his big belt buckle which read #1.
He pointed to his buckle and said, “I’m going to win that trophy, Travis, just you watch. Because I’m number one in everything.”
Including boasting.
Travis spat on the ground. His cowboy hat was titled so far back his ears were the only thing keeping it on.
He squinted one eye shut and peered over at Freddy Bob’s house. “Not if you’ve got a light out on your roof.”
“Crimminy, chimney!” cried Freddy Bob. He shimmied up the ladder to replace the bulb. From the top of the ladder he called down, “Hey, Travis! Did you know your Rudolph nose isn’t blinking?”
Travis grumbled and quickly fixed the reindeer’s nose which then lit up brighter than a stop light.
On Sunday, which should have been a day of rest, those two were at it again!
While I was putting out my luminaries, Freddy Bob was franticly setting up a winter wonderland complete with twirling ice skaters and sliding penguins.
“I can top that,” yelled Travis.
He recreated Santa’s village with real elves who were up all night hammering bang, bang, bang! Oh, the noise!
Freddy Bob shouted, “Hey, Travis! Try to beat this Christmas spirit!”
He brought in a full orchestra and a choir which played the Twelve Days of Christmas.
Freddy Bob was the conductor, of course. And there were live turtle doves, French hens, milking maids and a partridge in a pear tree.
At first it was quite something to hear. But then the same song playing over and over again drove me nuttier than a fruit cake!
If that wasn’t enough, on the other side of my house, Travis staged a live performance of the The Nutcracker.
Travis directed it himself, of course. He imported the finest dancers from New York City. They were spinning and twirling and leaping and quite frankly, were making me dizzy just watching them.
The performances went on until after midnight. What ever happened to peace on Earth?
At last, judging day arrived.
Freddy Bob and Travis worked up until the last-minute, adding spotlights and putting in speakers to belt out Christmas songs.
Silent Night this was not.
Me? I lit my

During December, KHUM radio in Humboldt County will play readings of holiday stories. This year, I wrote an original one for the station called The Christmas Tree Topper. After Mama's angel breaks, Hector is given the task of choosing a new Christmas tree topper, one that represents what Christmas means to him. The idea arose from a situation my husband and I had when we were first married, what to put on top of our first Christmas tree. To hear my story, tune into KHUM at 104.3 and 104.7 FM at 9 p.m., Wednesday, December 17.

Here's the listing of KHUM's Stories of the Season readings, all at 9 p.m.:

12/16 The Puppy Who Wanted a Boy

12/17 Christmas Tree Topper (to listen to my story now, click here and scroll down on the KHUM website to New Holiday Story by Natasha Wing and click on their link.)

12/18 Petunia's Christmas

12/22 The Mitten

12/23 "December" from A Blizzard Year

The readings will also run - one per hour - beginning Christmas Eve 6pm through the end of Christmas.

Have a wonderful holiday, full of joy, love and magic!

After watching the video on www.adventconspiracy.org I quickly realized the importance of fresh water. As noted in the video, the fact that lack of fresh water kills more people than anything is something to pay attention to. When you consider that $450 Billion was spent in America last year on Christmas gifts and an estimated 10 billion is what it would take to supply clean water to everyone. If I was to spend $450 on gifts at Christmas, then only $10 would be enough to make a difference. Image if we all did it???

Quoting the website: www.adventconspiracy.com “ $10 will give a child clean water for LIFE!”

If we spent more on personalising our gift giving with time, handmade gifts or acts of live, we could use at least some of the money saved on helping the poorest people on earth. At the same time we are restoring or building the close relationships we have.

We often take for granted what others depend on for survival – CLEAN WATER.

The donations are handled by Living Water International and I have also offered an oil painting as a draw prize for anyone who contributes to this fundraiser via my page. http://www.firstgiving.com/kayleenwest The winner will be announced publicly on my blog once the fundraising page time has expired. I will also note anyone contributing as a Thank you.

Gift Certificate for Christmas Donations

I encourage everyone to watch the short video and visit my fundraising page. Where you will find a link to download a Christmas certificate I created, should you wish to bless someone with a gift of love on their behalf.