Love, Life & Bubblebath

By A.J. Llewellyn

I have so much to be thankful for this year and I am kinda excited it's my turn at the wheel here at The Many Shades of Life and Love on this special day because it is my favorite holiday.
I never celebrated it until I moved here in 1984. I was a student then and living with a family who fell on severely hard times almost as soon as my dad organized for me to stay with them.
The mom, who was a district rep, lost her job at Avon and in short order, she lost her car and a bunch of other stuff.
It was the first time I realized how many people here live "one paycheck away from disaster."
I could have called my dad back in Australia and said, "Get me out of here" but I felt a sense of loyalty when she was trying so hard to make things good and fun for her family and for me. I remember that Thanksgiving looked kinda lean. She bought turkey parts because they were cheaper than the whole bird and a ton of vegetables.
Since I am a vegetarian I got to enjoy tasty sides and confess that candied yams became one of my many food obsessions.
Dessert was - and we still make jokes about this - a packet of M and Ms which we all shared. I think I got three.
The best surprise was that the next day we went out and bought a Christmas tree. I'd never had a live, fresh tree in my life since Christmas in Australia is summer and at that time, they didn't exist.
In hindsight, it was an extravagance, but it was one I will never forget.
I buried my face in that tree and I think my enthusiasm transmitted itself to everyone in the family.
I love Christmas because it was the last time I saw my mom laughing and happy and able to sit up before colon cancer claimed her.
But Thanksgiving is the time I also love because her dear friend who has also since succumbed to the Big C wanted so badly to give me a chance at having a mom and a loving family here in the US.
And she did. I am still close to her kids and I still make egg salad sandwiches the way she taught me. I think of her often and I cannot smell any kind of bubble bath without thinking of all the bottles of it she had in her massive bathroom.
She was a generous soul who gave everybody samples of Avon and who was a fantastic saleswoman but this current economic climate isn't the only time people have lost jobs.
I learned from her that there are valuable, treasured moments each and every day and to gather them, much like you would shells on the sand. And I do.
I am grateful to have good health (in spite of my sweet tooth and a tendency toward high stress) and I am thankful my animals are in good health.
I am grateful for my friends and family - scattered all over the world.
I am most especially grateful to my lovely friend CR Moss who approached me to be a contributing member of this blog. She is an awesome lady and an incredible writer. I will never forget that she once emailed me, a total stranger then with articles on Hawaii that she thought would inspire a book or two.
They did.
I am grateful to know all the other authors I also share this blog with. Lynn Crain is another awesome author and a sweet woman who really is one of the first I got to know through our publisher at eXtasy Books and of course my writing partner Stephani Hecht, the lovely, lavish Erin Sinclair and I often chat and Jambrea Jo Jones I've seen emerge from M/M fan to full-fledged author. Patti Shenberger, Celia Jade, Courtney Breazile and the adorable Annie Alvarez are also terrific, talented people.
We have some newbies on board I don't know yet but I look forward to doing so.
Most of all, I wish all our readers a wonderful day, whether you eat turkey or you don't, think fondly of your loved ones whether you always get along with them - or you don't.
I wish you a happy, peaceful, beautiful day.

Aloha oe,

A.J.

A Day To Be Thankful

As everyone knows, tomorrow is turkey day here in the US. Thanksgiving commemorates a special time in early US history when Pilgrims were down on their luck the Wampanoag Indians came to their aide and taught them the ways of the land. It was 1620 and almost half of the colonists of Plymouth, Massachusetts had died that winter the Wampanoag came. It was a tough time for all made better by the presence of friends and family.

During the early years, many states had a day of thanksgiving but few were on the same day and all were declared by the state governor. Three weeks after Gettysburg, Abraham Lincoln finally consolidated all those days down to the last Thursday in November. In the mid-19th century, Sarah Josepha Hale, writer of Mary Had A Little Lamb, went on a campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Her wish was granted when in 1941, Congress made our day of thanks, a national holiday for all to enjoy.

This year, I have a lot to be thankful for in my life. I have a great local writers group, a wonderful critique group, fantastic readers who tell me I’m great. I have a fantastic family and this year I’ll be traveling to California to spend time with my husband’s family for a traditional holiday with tons of his family I haven't seen for almost a year. I also found out about five months ago that this time next year I’ll be a grandmother of twin boys. I have a lot to be thankful for and believe me, I am.

But as I’m offering thanks for what I have, I will be expressing my sorrow over so many unfortunate families where someone has lost a job, a home and the things that matter most. I know that if my in-laws go to feed the homeless, I will go with them this year. My wish is that next year it will be better for the millions who are down and out. And I'll be helping out at home as well with some of the programs in my hometown this year.

I am also thankful for RWA, MWA and SFWA who so diligently looked after their authors in the recent Harlequin debacle. As of this writing, RWA had officially kicked Harlequin out of their acceptable publishers ranks and while I may not agree with how it was done, I certainly agree that it HAD to be done. RWA had no other course of action and while that sucks for many of our well loved authors the rules apply to everyone. Nora Roberts, the best known romance author ever, threw her towel in with RWA and the romance world cheered her on. As a romance writer I’ll have to see just how this all is going to pan out before I decide if I’m ever going to submit to them.

Yes, I am very thankful for many things.

Now for the fun things...this week the winner of my new book, The Haunting of Maggie Grey...is Tracy D (booklover0226). Email me at lynncrain@cox.net to get your prize. Next week, I’ll be giving away The Thing About Elves.

Have a great week and a great Thanksgiving!

Lynn

It Isn't Really A Party Unless There's a Fight

By A.J. Llewellyn

As somebody who grew up in Australia, with no Halloween, no Thanksgiving, no Twinkies or Tootsie Rolls or M&Ms and tiny corner "milk bars" instead of massive supermarkets, moving to California in 1984 was an adventure I have never stopped appreciating.
My favorite of all the American holidays became Thanksgiving. Partly because my first Christmas here I was so broke my two room mates and I shared a packet of M&M (plain) between us. We tried desperately not to beat up the fourth room mate who'd eaten our carefully collected stash of vegetables we thought we'd hidden in the bottom of the fridge.
The following year, a new friend invited me to Thanksgiving and I met one of the loves of my life, candied yams.
I adore Thanksgiving because I always believed all Americans celebrated it. I loved that a total stranger could be included in a family meal and I loved that you couldn't offend anybody the way you can inadvertently offend by saying, "Merry Christmas."
So I was stunned on Monday when one of my dearest friends told me her 5 year old son - and my cherished and adored Godson (I have 11 Godchildren by the way) - was caught in the middle of political correctness run amok.
I was astounded to learn that a mother at Condit Elementary School in Claremont, CA objected to the school's annual Thanksgiving celebration. For months, these five year olds have been preparing their own Pilgrim and Indian costumes out of construction paper.
They love this holiday.
It's a long-standing, 40 year ritual for Condit and Mountain View Elementary Schools.
According to Mary Raheja, who says she is of the Seneca tribe (They however, say she is not enrolled on their books) it's like celebrating the Holocaust.
She wrote this to her child's teacher: "I'm sure you can appreciate the inappropriateness of asking children to dress up like slaves (and kind slave masters), or Jews (and friendly Nazis), or members of any other racial minority group who has struggled in our nation's history."
WHAT??!!
Raheja found a few parents to side with her while the The school's superintendent David Cash ruled that after 40 years, yes indeed, dressing up for Thanksgiving is racist.
How ridiculous!
I was so pleased to find on Monday that 90% of the children turned up in their costumes, according to my friend, oblivious to the controversy.
David cash was under police guard and heavy public criticism but in the end, Thanksgiving went as planned and I saw the photos. The kids looked adorable and learned a valuable lesson, the art of completing a task and having people admire their handiwork.
I was pleased that the entire world has NOT gone mad. These are five year olds. Plenty of time for them to learn what happened AFTER that legendary first pot luck meal.
This morning, I lay in bed listening to the news, learning that for the first time ever, a Native American tribe, the Oneidas, is having a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Other tribes have participated before but this will be the first tribal float. I wish I could be there to see it in person and will have to settle for television.
I found myself smiling, remembering my first and only Thanksgiving in New York. My brother was living there in a shabby one bedroom apartment on Hudson Street opposite the White Horse Tavern, where Dylan Thomas slipped off his barstool and died.
We woke up, played Bob Marley and sloped off to the Parade, caught up in the pageantry...and later on as we strolled through Little Italy, the pastries.
That to me is what Thanksgiving is all about. Parties, parades and an extra scoop (or three) of yams with my veggies.
Have an awesome Thanksgiving!

A.J.