Christmas decorations are still up, but it’s time to make some plans for the New Year!

Is this something you like to do? Do you set resolutions? Plan to join Weight Watchers? Sign up for yoga classes at the local rec center? Set a budget to improve your finances? Maybe plan a trip or two?

Every year, always, I set plans in motion. Some goals I achieve, some I lose interest in working on by mid-January, but others, are a constant work in progress. I love the process of planning for a new year—and it always begins with my writing goals. Seeing as I abandoned writing in August due to my diagnosis, I’m a bit wary of setting goals too far in the future, and I have tons of self-doubt about whether I can ever achieve my former productivity, but I am going to set some goals anyway as something to shoot for. And I’ll go for pie-in-the-sky because I’m an optimist, and if I have to adjust later, ah well. I have to have goals and starting points to remain motivated.

So, for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle to keep that gray matter functioning, then tell me whether you have any goals for the new year, big or small. 

UPDATE: The winner is…Beckie!
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Believe it or not, I was searching for a Night Before Christmas kind of image and came across an illustration that took me down a rabbit hole. There is another Night Before Christmas story, written in the second volume of an 1832 collection of stories, Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka by Nikolai Gogol. It’s much darker than the lovely poem we read to our kids. It’s set in the Ukraine and begins with a witch flying across the sky and the devil stealing the moon and hiding it in his pocket. He wants the sky dark because he has a beef with a blacksmith of a small village and wants to be able to sneak up on him. When he comes down to the town to search for the blacksmith, he finds the witch, who hides him when townsfolk come searching for him. It’s a tale with twists. The blacksmith is in love with the village beauty, who sends him on a quest to steal the Tsarina’s slippers before she agrees to marry him. The witch ends up capturing the mayor and another man and hiding them in coal sacks. The blacksmith, after pretending to be dead, overpowers the devil, and forces him to fly him to see the tsarina (the future Catherine the Great), and she gives him the slippers. All ends well of course, and there is an opera dedicated to the story by Tchaikovsky…but Google it if you want to learn more.

In the meantime, I (and you) have learned there is another Night Before Christmas tale out there!

Solve the puzzle to see Solokha and the Devil! Then, for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me whether you’d love to see the other Night Before Christmas story given a bit of sunlight so more people know about it! Would you prefer to see it in a film? Or rewritten as a children’s fairytale?

UPDATE: The winner is…Beth!
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Counting down the days until Christmas, trying to come up with holiday-themed posts, can be hard! I do love movies, though. I read all day long (editing, writing), and when I want a break, it’s not a book I gravitate to. I love movies. I love the full immersive experience. Lights off, volume up. After Thanksgiving, I get serious about hunting down holiday movies to watch with the family, and we’ve watched quite a few, so far: Elf, Hot Frosty, National Lampoon’s A Christmas Vacation… I know we’ve watched a couple of others, but they escape my mind.

Last night, the 15-year-old and I sat down to watch my favorite (and yes, it is a Christmas movie!), Die Hard. Get this. She’s 15—and had never seen it. When it was over, she said, “Best Christmas movie ever!” I feel so vindicated. LOL

Because there’s still time to fit a few more movies in, I’m looking for your suggestions. I listed the new film, Red One in the puzzle below, because I’m hoping to talk my family into watching another action flick with me (my favorite genre!). For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, give me some more suggestions for holiday movies to watch!

UPDATE: The winner is…Mary Preston!
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It’s in the 50s outside, so not horribly cold, but it’s raining—and it looks like the rain will continue all day. So, we’re planning on staying inside and watching some TV, playing some video games, and maybe I’ll get some work done now that I’m feeling better after Monday’s chemo… It’s nice, actually, to have days like these when we’re not tied to the clock and rushing around like mad.

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, tell me how you like to pass a rainy day! Enjoy the puzzle!

UPDATE: The winner is…Kristal Allen!
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I have all my gifts, other than gift cards, purchased. One thing I don’t have to worry about is getting the stocking stuffers. That’s Mom’s job now. She’s assembling her bits. They include some of what I’ve listed below in the puzzle. With a bunch of girls, hair ties are always needed. Small, collectible figurines like Pikachu and Hello Kitty get squeals from the 11-year-old. She also likes those plastic insert decorations for her Crocs.

I remember the day when nuts, oranges, and candy canes were the filler.

If you were stuffing a stocking for someone, what might you include? Answer in the comments below for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card.

UPDATE: The winner is…Ani!
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I used to be one of those shoppers who waited until the last dang minute to do all her shopping in one marathon of a day—even sometimes on Christmas Eve. I’d head to the mall with a list and hope there were still treasures to find. It was stressful as hell. My daughter broke me of that habit.

She begins in summertime, a few gifts at a time, with a more and more refined list until she pretty much has everything on her list purchased well before Thanksgiving. As soon as she starts talking about it, I follow her lead and begin purchasing gifts one at a time in a leisurely fashion until I’m done. I have all the gifts bought for folks in the house. The only things left to buy are gift cards to mail or email, and I’ll be done.

Another thing my daughter does very, very well is keeping track of when sales happen at her favorite stores. Like yesterday’s… She headed to the city to hit Bath & Bodyworks annual candle sale. She stocked up on candles for her house and a few to gift. She brought me one home that’s gorgeous—a Bridgerton-themed one with a pretty glass topper. Candles that usually go for over $25 apiece, she was able to purchase for $9. And we use those candles. I have one burning on my desk right now. She even wrangled her hubby into going with her. He was a good sport to pose for this picture…

He’ll kill me if he sees me posting this! LOL

Anyway, I thought about Christmas shopping and my old mall days. You wouldn’t catch me dead in the mall these days. I love to roam the online sites and like it even better when I can find gifts from local artists or crafters. For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, then tell me whether you’re braving the mall this year, whether this was or is a thing you like to do…

UPDATE: The winner is…Krystal!
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We have several trees around our house. It seems we “grow” more trees, large and mostly small, every year. Many of the ornaments are ones we’ve inherited or collected over the years. Some are handmade by the children. All hold memories.

For a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card, solve the puzzle, and then tell me about one ornament you have that you cherish!

Open Contests

1. Memory Puzzle: Dead Horse Bounty Hunters (Contest) — This one ends soon! Win a FREE book!
2. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Turkey Day is Coming! — This one ends soon! Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Anna Taylor Sweringen/Michal Scott: Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar Nelson — More Than a Famous Poet’s Wife (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
4. Gabbi Grey: Audio Love (Contest) — Win a FREE audio book!
5. Saturday Puzzle-Contest: Advent begins tomorrow! — Win an Amazon gift card!
6. November into December (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!