I wanted a special wish for my friends and readers to carry you into the New Year 2014. This writer said it best and exactly what I wish for each of you!!!

(((Hugs)))

Ann

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO MY READERS!!!!!! I love writing but it would be futile work without wonderful readers.

Today, my mind raced back to Christmas as it was during my childhood. Funny...it doesn't seem that long but, in reality, it's a LONG time ago. Memories are very personal and reflect not only what happened but how we feel about what happened. Two people in the house may remember things that happened entirely different. Memories have smells, feelings, tastes, and sounds special in our minds.

The youngest of the seventeen babies that my mother gave birth to, and the baby of the eleven she raised to full grown, I remember fruit and nuts in my "shoes" (never stockings). Go figure. If we had a tree at all, it was a cedar tree cut from our woods and probably decorated by my older sister that was still at home for part of my childhood years. Even though I don't remember toys or gifts very much, I do remember listening for reindeer and sleigh on the roof.    My mother had a penchant for "old Christmas" which was January 6th. She did not "work" on that day, and it had every bit the significance to her as December 25th. I wish I knew if this was something her parents did and, if so, why.   New Years was heralded with black-eyed peas and hog's jowl, having the significance of wealth in the coming year. The more you ate, the more money you would earn!!! It was also why, come midnight, the peas were ready and we ATE before we headed to bed, getting a head start on others around us Another New Year's thought from Momma...whatever you did that day, you would be doing all year long.

I can't help but wonder what items of significance stand out in my children's memory in our Christmas through the years. In our several moves, the house is not what I remember. It's us. Together. Watching the joy in my children's eyes...now my grandchildren. It's not a DAY, it an experience. In my mind's eye, it is what I think God sees when we recognize His sacrifice to give us a gift that will keep on giving from one generation to the next.

To remember is the seam that sews the fabric of my life into a warm coat that keeps me warm on a cold day, and connects my past with those around me.

Let's make another memory this season and hide it to pull out later and wrap ourselves in.

(((Hugs))))

Ann

All 27 of us. Can't wait.

Smile at everyone you meet today. :)

((((Hugs))))

Ann

Working Title: "Better Times in Dugan Holler".

Last night, I made tentative plans for some to go with me to traipse over Dugan Holler to soak up the feeling of the land. I will look and feel deeply, and catapult myself into the second quarter of the 1900's in the holler where Lottie and her family have come to live.

(((Hugs)))))

Ann

Middle Tennessee Book Festival

The weather seems to have cooperated and the moisture moved out before the colder temp arrived. Therefore, the book festival will take place. Hope to see lots of readers tomorrow. I will be speaking at 10:00 a.m. at Maury County Regional Library in Columbia TN.   There will be over 15 authors with many genres represented.

(((Hugs)))

Ann

Middle Tennessee Book Festival

The weather seems to have cooperated and the moisture moved out before the colder temp arrived. Therefore, the book festival will take place. Hope to see lots of readers tomorrow. I will be speaking at 10:00 a.m. at Maury County Regional Library in Columbia TN.   There will be over 15 authors with many genres represented.

(((Hugs)))

Ann

Middle Tennessee Book Festival

The weather seems to have cooperated and the moisture moved out before the colder temp arrived. Therefore, the book festival will take place. Hope to see lots of readers tomorrow. I will be speaking at 10:00 a.m. at Maury County Regional Library in Columbia TN.   There will be over 15 authors with many genres represented.

(((Hugs)))

Ann

I will be in Columbia TN at the regional library for this event. I will be speaking at 10:00. Hope some of you in the middle TN area will be there. :).

Middle Tennessee Book Festival
December 7, 2013

Schedule:

10AM:  Event begins. The public is invited to come meet and visit with the authors, buy books, or
get their already-purchased books signed.

10AM-1:15PM:      Speaking Schedule

Ann Robbins Phillips— 10AM in the Community Room
Tim Kent— 10:30AM in Room B
Nancy French— 11AM in the Community Room
Jeff High— 11:30AM in Room B
Jeff Hardin— 11:45AM in the Community Room
Kathy Rhodes— 12:15PM in Room B
Carolyn Jourdan— 12:30PM in the Community Room

1:30pm:                  Event ends