Ponder: Visions of Christmas 2023

We generally keep our Christmas decorations up until January 6th which is noted as the Epiphany, the day of the three kings visit, the twelfth day of Christmas. As we are putting away the last of the Christmas decorations, my husband reminded me I had not posted pictures for Christmas this year. We had a whole slew of company at Thanksgiving, so visitors this Christmas were minimal and our Christmas Day was quiet with just my husband Frank, my son Alex, and me. Christmas 2023 was still festive and so here is our house decor and Christmas memories. The memories are in pictorial form for historical completeness. After all, one picture is worth 1000 words

The welcoming wreath on the front door, the snow people sentinels in the living room by the tree, the Christmas car themed area behind the couch, the Grinch area at the edge of the dining room, and the Santa chair in the family room:

Sign posts at the corners to direct:

On overview of the living room from the dining room with Simple Gifts quilt draped over a chair, and the stairway to the second floor with metal house filled with balls and trinkets:

The light fixture over the dining room table trimmed with Mickey Mouse ornaments, the vintage candy tin village on the table, a newly acquired train set journeying around the village, and the three stockings for Frank, Diane, and Alex on the chair backs.

Three nativities and Santas on the piano:









Stuffed ornaments scattered all over the house:



Alex and Frank operating the train on Christmas Eve:







Opening gifts on Christmas Day: Alex with his two banks, Frank with one of his puzzles, Diane with a Winnie the Pooh denim shirt:

Christmas night on our visit to Deacon Dave's ... a very festive and bright way to end the day.

Merry Christmas 2023!

Ponder: The Talk of Coyote Canyon

The Talk of Coyote Canyon ©2023 is another predictable, yet still engaging, romance by Brenda Novak. It is the second book in her newest series situated in Coyote Canyon, Montana. Per my 10/9/23 post, the first book in the series was Talulah's Back in Town. Some of the familiar characters from the first book are reprised in the second book. I like the feature of repeat characters and community that I already know since this setup allows me to engage in the story more quickly. 

A warning though, is that in The Talk of Coyote Canyon, Novak takes more than a chapter in the beginning to establish the relationship among the "new" key characters: Hendrix and Ellen (future eventual romantic pair), Stuart (Ellen's father who abandoned her when he remarried), Stuart's second wife Lynn (also Hendrix's aunt who took him in when he was orphaned), Leo (Lynn's son). Perhaps this familial groundwork was necessary to rule out the possibility of a genetic link between Hendrix and Ellen so they could get romantically involved after the initial period of hatred between the two was dissolved. Truth be told, I sketched myself a graph to understand it all.

Hendrix and Ellen are competitors in the business of drilling water wells. The occupation itself did not win over my interest, other than the fact that it helped established the character, determination, and strength of Ellen in a male dominated field. Interactions among characters with a Down's Syndrome character is heartwarming and thoughtful. A deserved demerit is that the in-their-head mental deliberations of Hendrix and Ellen dominated the moving forward action, more so than in other Novak works. Due to the distractions of the holidays, house guests, and some medical issues, I was in a reading slump. One of the redeeming features of this book, an effortless escapist read, is that it brought me out of those doldrums. 

Brenda Novak is a prolific author and I have read all her books in the Silver Springs series (8 books per post 7/26/21) and those in the Whiskey Creek series (10 books per post for 5/5/18).  I will continue with Coyote Canyon. Despite my misgivings about The Talk of Coyote Canyon, I will continue to read the ongoing Coyote Canyon series. 

★★☆☆☆ Ok, not great; some redeeming features; I finished it

For those who turn their nose up at romances, Brenda Novak writes some engaging thrillers, also. In my post for 1/1/2020 I reviewed three of her thrillers.