Merry Christmas! 2012

Originally published December 2012

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Once again, PM's Chronicler has been remiss in her duties. But Chronicler and all her alter egos wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! This space will soon be filled with more exciting musings, but for now, enjoy your holidays!

Emeralda, the 2012 tree, "breathes" in the hovel. Then she gets some lights. Then ornaments and tinsel. And she becomes the most beautiful tree in New York!

Mom's favorite bird was the cardinal, and she had lots of cardinals on the family Christmas tree. I always tried to put her special ones at the top of the tree. This cardinal is for her.

This snow man ornament just makes me happy! Every now and then my eyes find him on the tree and I just have to smile.

And the newest ornaments, the blue egg and the purple egg, of course represent renewal, but they also represent a very sweet sale at Macy's! Glittery and gorgeous, they surround the golden egg ornament from last year.

Join Chronicler as she sings carols around Emeralda, the 2012 Christmas tree now proudly ensconced in the hovel. Chronicler, PM, Alabaster, Peppermint Paunch, Rudy, Lapis, Geranium and all the other Christmas Crew wish you and yours the very Merriest of Christmases and the Happiest of New Years!

And after you've checked out the tree, you might want to read (or reread) the last Saga, the one that covered Christmas 2004 and 2005. Catch a Christmas Starfly, the Quest for the Ancient Monster is ever so exciting, and you can read it here.

Catch a Christmas Starfly, The Quest for the Ancient Monster, The PM Saga, Book XXVII: In which Alabaster sets to work on the "Missing Link Project." The Starflies spread the light and love. 

Merry Christmas! Have a Cookie!

Originally published December 2012

For the past 30-plus years (give or take a score), your Chronicler has baked Pecan Snowball Cookies at Christmastime. For many years, it was a Christmas Eve tradition, but now they're made in time to take to parties and to share with friends. This link takes you to the recipe. I advise doubling the recipe. These are just too good to run out of.

I want to add a recipe for Banana Bread, too, since it is so tasty!

Merry Christmas 2011

Originally published December 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

PM, Alabaster, Lapis and Geranium, not to mention Peppermint Paunch, Clyde Elf and Santa himself, wish you all a very Merry, Merry Christmas and a love-filled New Year.

Chronicler's continued dereliction of duty does not mean that Purple Monster and the Christmas Crew have not been working all year to spread love and joy to all they encounter. It's just that there's no Saga this year, more's the pity.
 

MERRY CHRISTMAS, TO ONE AND ALL!

"Simple, declarative sentences,” said Purple Monster, glaring at me via her Web camera. "That's all that's required, my dear Chronicler, simple declarative sentences. There is no need to write the Great American Novel nor a Saga worthy of a Pulitzer Prize. What is required are simple declarative sentences, subject, verb, object. That's all you need to tell my story. The rest — adjectives, adverbs, clauses (other than Santa), and so on — they're just time-consuming distractions that weigh too heavily on your creative instincts."

I might be willing to take acting lessons from PM, given her extraordinary talent. Or singing lessons, since the lilting lavender North Pole Ambassador  is renowned for her vocal exquisiteness. But writing lessons? Did not PM try to write her own saga one year, and fail miserably? Yet here am I yet again, facing the wrath of the greatest sleigh-puller who ever led St. Nick's annual conveyance, because yet again, I have failed to write a Christmas Saga. I deserve the criticism. But is she right? Should I just have put one noun, one verb, and maybe one object together and churned out a chronicle of the amazingness of the Christmas Crew this year as they prepared to deliver joy, presents and good cheer around the world?

See PM.

See PM BOING!

BOING!, PM, BOING!

Hmmmm.

Doesn't work for me.

But I do understand PM's frustration. She could be a grandmother before her Chronicler gets her act together. Lapis Snowflake and Geranium Amethyst are pretty grown up now, and love and snerkling and all things Christmas Monsterland have been going on without your Chronicler's literary observations.

Ah, well, maybe next year. In the meantime, this year's tree in the hovel is named Elvira, after Elvira Fernhat, the lovesick elf who still holds Clyde Elf in her heart. A beautiful tree, with enough ornaments and glitter to light Manhattan. So your Chronicler, bereft of holiday inspiration, does have an abundance of the Christmas spirit.

Once again, the magical critters of the North Pole and Christmas Monsterland wish all of you the very merriest Christmas and a New Year full of creativity and love and joy.