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My Christmas Look Back Tree and how it inspired my holiday novel by Jina Bacarr

August 11, 2019 by in category Jina’s Book Chat, Writing tagged as , , , ,

Christmas Historical romance novel My WW 2 time travel romance back to 1943

I’ve spent Christmas where it snows . . . where it doesn’t . . . and where it’s truly a winter wonderland in the German Alps. The magic only gets stronger over the years for me because each Christmas I have another memory to hang on my tree.

Not a real tree, of course. But what I call my Christmas Look Back Tree.

I can pull up fun memories, funny moments, heartfelt goodbyes, and most of all the true spirit of the season. The star at the top of the tree shines year after year to give me hope.

For there’s nothing like the warm goodness and comforting embrace of family and friends to experience the real joy of the season. Like a cup of hot cocoa with cinnamon sticks that never gets empty.

So, why am I telling you this in August? It’s back to school time, vacation days lingering, time to BBQ and eat burgers and messy corn on the cob. Because I’ve been spending a lot of time recently in a little town in Pennsylvania called Posey Creek.

At Christmastime — during World War 2 in 1943.

I found that in order to create a time and place that existed only in my heart, I relived my own Christmases Pasts far removed from that time, but the sentiment, the hopes, dreams, and needs of my heroine come from a place within me. That I went back to my Christmas Look Back Tree to dig deep into my feelings to mold my heroine.

More on my story next time, but for this post I wanted to write about that even when we write about a time and place we never knew, it still comes from the heart, from our passion to tell a story that reflects a bit of us, even if we don’t know it at the time.

For me, it was Ma. My heroine’s mother. Her strong bond with her mother, her need to see her again (she goes back in time to reconnect with her mother who’s gone when the book opens), also reflects my desire to do the same.

You see, my mother passed away a few days before Christmas many years ago…

So, when we talk about my upcoming release, CHRISTMAS ONCE AGAIN, you’ll understand how joyous I felt writing those scenes when my heroine reconnects with her mother once again…if only for a little while.

Travel back in time to 1943…

NEXT TIME:

News about Christmas Once Again release in October now up for pre-order:

US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07V1QT9Z6 

UK: www.amazon.co.uk/Christmas-Once-Again-Jina-Bacarr-ebook/dp/B07V1QT9Z6

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Quarter Days: Yuletide

December 28, 2018 by in category Quarter Days by Alina K. Field tagged as , , ,

Winter Solstice

An Arch Druid

’Tis the Fourth day in the Twelve Days of the great feast of Christmas and I’m back to talk about celebrating the winter holidays in the British Isles where the stories I’ve been writing are set.

A week of binge-watching the series Shetland gave me a good appreciation of the closeness of Scotland to Scandinavia. Given the Celtic and later Viking influence, It’s no wonder that many of this season’s customs date back to pagan festivities marking the winter solstice. The word Yule (as in Yuletide and Yule Log) comes from the Norse word “jul” or “houl” meaning wheel.

Saturnalia

Ancient Rome also celebrated the winter solstice in the Saturnalia festivities of ancient Rome. I mentioned in my December post last year that the early Christian church built a religious holiday, Christmas, around this natural time of ancient celebration. Many of the Christmas traditions—Yule logs, mistletoe, feasting–date back long before the designation of December 25th as the birthday of Jesus.

Hogmanay

Though we’re a week out from the shortest day of the year, nights are still long, so why not keep partying? The seventh day of Christmas, December 31st brings us to the celebration of the new year. In Scotland, reaching back to their Norse roots, the locals celebrate Hogmanay with torchlight parades, bonfires, and lots of good whisky.

My favorite Scottish New Year’s tradition is the First Foot.

Needed: a tall, dark, and handsome man

Tradition says that if the first person to cross the threshold in the new year is a tall, dark, handsome man, the home and all who dwell therein will have good luck in the coming year. (No red-headed men, please—they’re considered unlucky!) I saw this set up in a blurb for a Christmas romance this year, and then promptly lost the link. If you recognize that story, please mention it in the comments below.

Whatever winter holiday you celebrate, I hope you’re surrounded by family and friends. I wish you many blessings in the New Year. Have a Happy Hogmanay!

The Misteltoe Bough, by Francis Wheatley
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‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

December 24, 2018 by in category Apples & Oranges by Marianne H. Donley tagged as , ,

For your Christmas Eve listening pleasure a selection of readings of The Night Before Christmas. First up Stephen Fry.

Next up is Stan Lee:

LeVar Burton reads the poem with illustrations from Tomie DePaola.

Elton John!

I was surprised to find Bob Dylan in my list, but here he is:

Even William Shatner had a version:

The Learning Station’s animated version with music:

This one is NOT the traditional version of the poem but John Cleese’s version in which Santa gets captured and the reindeer eaten and . . .well I won’t spoil the ending. It made me laugh, but if the ideas of capturing Santa or eating reindeer makes your blood boil don’t listen.

Which one was your favorite?

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Carols, Cookies & Books

December 10, 2018 by in category Charmed Writer by Tari Lynn Jewett tagged as ,

I’m currently in holiday mode, which means All Christmas, All the Time. Everything else has become an ‘in-between’. Bill paying is in-between decorating the house. Chores are in-between gift-wrapping and last minute sewing, and writing is in-between baking thumb prints, cut-out cookies, and cranberry orange bread.

And all the while I have either Christmas music or holiday movies playing in the background. So, if you’re sick of hearing Andy Williams singing, It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, or Bing Crosby’s version of Silver Bells, you might not want to hang out here , and if you don’t know who Andy Williams and BingCrosby are, come over for cookies, hot cocoa and some classic holiday sounds.

Our boys are grown and on their own, so we’re no longer cuddling up with warm cookies and a stack of Christmas books and reading them together. No Christmas story from my favorite Bible Storybook. No The Giving Tree, by Shel Silverstein. No Christmas in The Big Woods by Laura Ingles Wilder. It made me a little sad that I wouldn’t be sharing all of those special stories with my children.

As I fingered a tattered copy of Dr. Seuss’s, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I realized that just because I might not have a child on my lap (or three) that it didn’t mean that I couldn’t share these stories with other kids. So, I decided that this year when I donate toys to our local Sheriff’s Department, I’m also going to donate brand new copies of some of our favorite books. I hope that reading them will become a holiday tradition for someone else. Something that they can do together in-between all of the bill paying, chores and other things that have to be done.

What are your favorite holiday books, classic or new? Children’s books or adult? We all need something that brings back the wonder and the magic of this special season. So put on some Christmas music (here’s a link to Billboards Holiday 100 to get you started), put some cookies on a plate and curl up with a good holiday book. And don’t forget to tell us what you’re reading!

Oh, and the photo is Hunky Hubby in his holiday finery!

Happy Holidays everyone, see you next year!

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Quarter Days: Christmas

December 28, 2017 by in category Columns tagged as , , , , ,

Greetings to my fellow history nerds. It’s time for another installment of my quarterly blog on historical topics.

In past posts, I talked about the English Quarter Days of Midsummer’s Day and Michaelmas.

Father Christmas with the Yule Log, 1848

To refresh your memory, Quarter Days were the four days during the year when rents were paid, servants hired, and contracts commenced. The last Quarter Day of the calendar year was the grand holiday of Christmas. Though the Quarter Day was December 25th, Christmas celebrations went on for twelve days.

Kissing under the Mistletoe

Christmas Romance

We romance authors flood the lists every year with Christmas novellas, and not just the contemporary lists. Christmas Regency romances abound and sell well. But how to get the details right for our hero and heroine? How did the Christmas celebrations aid or interfere with a Regency hero’s wooing? How did they celebrate Christmas?

Before the Regency

As I pointed out in an earlier post, Christmas falls around the time of the winter solstice. The pagan festivities of the season were Bacchanalian revels of feasting and drinking and other wicked practices. To encourage some order, the early Christian church designated December 25th as a religious holiday.

So, people went to church…and then they feasted, drank, and engaged in other wicked practices.

Under the Puritan rule that resulted from the 17th century English Civil War, the observance of Christmas was banned. The Lord High Protector of England, Oliver Cromwell, and his Puritan cohorts decided that English people needed to be protected from carnal delights of holiday celebrations. Christmas became a regular workday. Anyone celebrating could be subject to penalty.

The Puritans carried this attitude across the Pond. Christmas was illegal in their American colonies also.

With the restoration to the throne of Charles II (a man greatly given to Bacchanalian revels), Christmas was also restored in the English calendar of holidays.

The Man Who Invented Christmas

Christmas as we know it was documented by Charles Dickens, author of A Christmas Carol. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I’ve dipped into the book by Les Standiford. In the story of Scrooge and Tiny Tim, Dickens brought to life the quintessential picture of a Victorian Christmas.

But if you’re writing a Regency-set Christmas romance, don’t pull out your copy of Dickens and copy his story world. To quote a post I wrote a couple of years ago:

Decorating with evergreen boughs and mistletoe (and kissing under the mistletoe!), wassailing, acting out pantomimes, and singing carols, were very likely part of the Regency holiday celebration…Christmas trees and Santa Claus did not become popular until Victorian times.

Click on the link to read the rest of that post.

A Visit from St. Nicholas

Or, as we know it, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, was written by an American, Clement Clarke Moore, in 1823. Dutch and German holiday traditions influenced the celebration of Christmas earlier in America than in England. Prince Albert, Victoria’s German prince, is credited with popularizing the Christmas tree in England.

Pictures worth a thousand words

Dickens brought us A Christmas Carol in 1843, but check out this series of illustrations by cartoonist George Cruikshanks. Even before Scrooge made his appearance, the early Victorians were holding over-the-top celebrations of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

No matter what holiday you celebrate, I wish you all the best in this season of holidays! I’ll be back in March to talk about Lady Day.

 

 

All Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

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