Sherry:
Christmas is a time for celebrating,
and while we are celebrating the true meaning behind the festivities
I like to add a personal tradition of my own. Taking time out to
look back over the previous twelve months and be thankful for*all* of
it.
So one of the Christmas traditions I
have set myself is Gratitude. This may seem like a strange
and too personal a tradition for it to count, but it has become an
integral part of my Christmas. I’ll try to explain why.
There comes a time when life appears to
get on top of you and feels like it’s out to break you. I had such
a year during 1992/3.
“Everything comes in threes.” So
the saying goes. I heard that almost more often than I had hot
dinners at the time. What no one mentioned was that threes also come
in multiples of three! Suffice to say, it was a *bad* year! But,
and I do mean ‘but’, tough as it was to get through, it was also
a period of some of the sharpest and most numerous lessons I’ve
ever experienced.
It may sound odd to say ‘thank you’
for such turmoil, but in retrospect it made me who I am today. I met
people I may never have encountered if I hadn’t had to go to court
because I’d been burgled. My marriage is stronger now because back
then it was tested to the point of destruction. And I am more
prepared to face my shortcomings :-) Yeah! I have shortcomings. So
many of them, they all come out to party while I’m busy looking for
the key to keep them locked in the cupboard! LOL.
Seriously, gratitude was something that
hovered off on the periphery of my life. Yes I paid lip-service to
‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Now I learned the true meaning of
deep heartfelt gratitude for things and people I may never meet but
play an integral part in my life.
I’m talking about all those people
who ensure I am kept safe when out on the streets, and for the lights
and heating I come home to every day. The people who deliver my
mail, empty my bins every week. The night workers, who are rarely
seen but help to keep things running smoothly during the dark hours.
I’m talking about the nurses, police,
firemen and rescue crews who are prepared to put their own lives on
the line for others, as well as everything else in my life.
So every year, I take time out to
meditate on all these things.
http://sevennightwriters.blogspot.com/2011/12/when-you-meditate-upon-star.html
I have often found that when I stop,
really stop to list all the events in my life, the good far outweighs
the bad, but more often than not I discover I’ve paid more
lip-service to the bad than it deserves.
Every New Year I promise myself I’ll
redress the balance, but like diets……
From Now Until Forever
Blurb
For Prince Liam, families meant bad
news, unwanted commitments, and the loss of his personal freedom.
Love spawned white picket fences, slippers at the hearth with a wife
and kids making demands, so why did those images disappear when he
met Melanie Babcot?
Melanie Babcot fought hard to escape
the horrors of her youth and vowed to remain single and free, so when
paid to protect Prince Liam from insurgents why did her personal
pledge fly out the window?
****
EXCERPT:Liam
Fitzwilliam Gasquet stared in amazement at the blooming patch of red
milliseconds before the pain exploded in his arm. Some trigger-happy
idiot had fired in his direction. Indignation didn’t have time to
take root before another bullet kicked the dust at his feet.
Not ‘trigger-happy’.
Intentional.
The rebels had found the fourth and youngest son of Jean-Phillipe Gasquet, ruler of the tiny kingdom adjacent to the Swiss border. When had they discovered his whereabouts?With a reluctant sigh, he faced the truth of it. They hadn’t ‘found’ him at all. They’d followed him.
Not ‘trigger-happy’.
Intentional.
The rebels had found the fourth and youngest son of Jean-Phillipe Gasquet, ruler of the tiny kingdom adjacent to the Swiss border. When had they discovered his whereabouts?With a reluctant sigh, he faced the truth of it. They hadn’t ‘found’ him at all. They’d followed him.
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About the Author:
Multi-published author Sherry Gloag is
a transplanted Scot now living in the beautiful coastal countryside
of Norfolk, England. She considers the surrounding countryside as
extension of her own garden, to which she escapes when she needs
"thinking time" and solitude to work out the plots for her
next novel. While out walking she enjoys talking to her characters,
as long as there are no other walkers close by.
Apart from writing, Sherry enjoys
gardening, walking, reading and cheerfully admits her books tend to
take over most of the shelf and floor space in her
workroom-cum-office. She also finds crystal craft work therapeutic.
Contact
My Website: http://.www.sherrygloag.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/SherryGloag
Brea, thank you for letting me join in your 25 Days of Christmas. :-)
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