I'm Dreaming of a Hot Christmas

Christmas 1987. My grandfather had passed away in '85, and my grandmother decided to pay for our plane tickets to come spend the holidays with her in St.Pete Beach, Florida. The year before, the temperature was -1 degrees when we left Indiana, and we laughed at the Floridians when we landed, for 50 degrees felt wonderful, and they were bundled in coats, shivering! In 1987, however, it was a wonderful 80 degrees, and after opening our gifts, my mother, sister, and I donned our swimsuits and hit the beach.

The water, however, was freezing! I have three wonderful pictures which perfectly describe my sister's brave plunge. In the first, I am standing ankle-deep in the surf, and she is heading out, up to her knees and looking doubtful. In the second, I have retreated so my toes are barely being dipped (I don't do cold!) and she is up to her waist, with an I-don't-think-this-is-such-a-good-idea expression. I am not in the third shot, as it is a close-up of her face as she dipped her body and went in up to her neck. The expression says it all: AAAKKK!

My grandmother's church was giving bus tours of the Christmas lights, so we boarded on later that evening and it seemed strange to see these wonderful displays without snow around them. And a week later, we went to the Boat Parade and watched the boats slowly going down Tampa Bay, all decked out with colored lights.

It would be six years before I would return to the Bay area, and I would love to go back again:)

On the To-Do list:
-Kick the family out of the house so I can wrap!
-Laundry, as we will be gone Monday and Tuesday. No rush to get it done; I can do some more tomorrow.
-Take inventory of the cookie situation and make more if necessary. Otherwise, make fudge, Magic Cookies (1 batch without the coconut and walnuts!), and brownies. Still haven't made any, as we were devouring birthday cake the past two days.
-Make arrangements for the neighbor to feed the dog while we're away.
-Straighten the house so we don't come home to the baby's toys scattered all over the place!

Sommer took inventory of her writing accomplishments yesterday. While my list is not as impressive as hers, I'm pretty proud at what I've accomplished in '07:

25 queries sent (and rejections received)
2 books written
1 book published
3 writer's groups joined
20 books sold (or more...won't get my statement until March)
3 successful signings (would have been 4, had the car not broken down, but was needed somewhere else!)
15+ new encouraging friends, both in person and online
2 websites...my author's and this blog

With that said, time to let my prancing dog outside so she can do her business and head downstairs for my weekly dose of 90210. Have a great day:)