Category: General

Holiday Blog Event: Joyfully Jay – Kids, The Holidays, And Pecan Pie.

bookHello everyone! I am so excited to be here today and thanks so much to Andy for inviting me over to his blog!

My name is Jay and I run a m/m romance review blog called Joyfully Jay.  In my real life I am a suburban mom of two wonderful girls, ages 10 and 12 1/2.  Yes, we are right on the cusp of having teenagers, and let me tell you, the view is scary from over here!  But they really are fabulous and my husband and I are so lucky to have them in our lives.

Andy asked me to share my thoughts about kids and the holidays with you guys.  I love the traditions of the holidays, the way we reach back to things we have done time and again and can look forward to every year.  I enjoy teaching my kids about the meanings of the holidays, and why they are important to us. I think it helps them not only to appreciate our own celebrations, but also to build the foundations for their own holiday celebrations in the future.  I love the opportunity to see family, to have a break in our regular routine, and to have something exciting to anticipate. Continue reading Holiday Blog Event: Joyfully Jay – Kids, The Holidays, And Pecan Pie.

Holiday Blog Event – Schedule

So I’m a few days late with the schedule. I meant to do it sooner, but there never seems to be enough time this during the holiday season.  That made me a bit behind in confirming with everyone their dates, so I held off until now.

The theme of the Event is Parents and Christmas. The participants are all all parents – or soon to be parents, some are even grandparents. Those posting are practice different religions, live in many different countries, and run the gamut of orientations. The goal was a diverse group so I could get a wide variety of posts. I think I’ve achieved that mix.

Here is the list of everyone participating and the days their post will appear. There will be no Holiday Posts on Wednesday as that is my Flash Fiction day. The exception will be Christmas Day.

If you follow my blog you’ll get email notification when each post goes live. Or you can follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Google+.  I’ve also created a tab at the top of my blog for easy access to every post.

 
December 1  – Andrew Q. Gordon
December 2  – Anne Tenino
December 3  – M.A. Church
December 6  – Anyta Sunday
December 7  – Nephylim
December 8  – Lena Gray
December 9  – JJ (Joyfully Jay)
December 10 – Elizabeth North
December 12 – Lily Velden
December 13 – Wade Kelly
December 14 – Alicia Nordwell
December 15 – Chris T. Cat
December 16 – Cate Ashwood
December 17 – Shira Anthony
December 19 – Amy Lane
December 20 – Melanie Marshall
December 21 – Lorraine Fico White
December 22 – Rick R Reed
December 23 – Festivus Special
December 24- Becky Condit
December 25 – Andrew Q. Gordon
 

Holiday Blog Event: Lena Grey – Memories of a Christmas Past

Memories of a Christmas Past by Lena Grey

The Christmas season is a magical time of year, when we allow ourselves to suspend our disbelief and let the spirit of our childhoods reign. It presents us with an excellent opportunity to put aside our differences and come together in peace and harmony. Continue reading Holiday Blog Event: Lena Grey – Memories of a Christmas Past

Holiday Blog Event: Nephylim – A Pagan Christmas

A PAGAN CHRISTMAS

Well, actually it’s called Yule and should really be celebrated on the 21st December, the Winter Solstice. However, I didn’t think it was fair on children to ask them to celebrate their festivities four days early. Children, being the ‘live in the now’ creatures they are, could easily have all their presents on the 21st and still get upset because they don’t have Christmas Presents on the 25th. So, we moved Yule on by a few days.

We still celebrate with a ritual on 21st, but so many of the rituals and symbolism have been ‘stolen’ by Christmas it’s really all blurred into one. Continue reading Holiday Blog Event: Nephylim – A Pagan Christmas

Holiday Blog Event: M.A. Church – Traditons

Traditions… then and now

One of my favorite traditions has been trimming the tree. *laugh* Okay, yes, it’s a pain getting the tree down from the attic, setting it, and so on. When the kids were young, I’d haul it down a day or so after Thanksgiving. They were off for Thanksgiving break and that Saturday we’d get started on the tree.

That was *always* the first thing done. And man, I had boxes of ornaments. Ornaments from the very old, the very expensive… to things made by the kids in school. Our tradition was the kids helped me dress the tree—it was naked when it came from the attic, so it was up to us to dress it. That’s what the kids called it, lol. Continue reading Holiday Blog Event: M.A. Church – Traditons

Holiday Blog Event: Anne Tenino – Gotcha Day

I’d like to thank Andrew not simply for inviting me to be part of his holiday blogging extravaganza, but mostly for reminding me of one of my most significant holidays ever. It was Thanksgiving, 2002. I spent it with my husband, three-year-old daughter and mother-in-law in Hong Kong, where we went for a week before traveling on to mainland China to adopt our younger daughter.

2002 was actually my second holiday season in Hong Kong, and my husband and his mother had been there before, when his brother was living and working there. He and his girlfriend actually lived on an island about an hour outside of Hong Kong by ferry, called Cheung Chau (you can see it from Lantau for anyone who’s been there, but it’s very small). They had left Hong Kong back in 1997, but we went out to Cheung Chau to visit it for Thanksgiving in 2002 anyway. Continue reading Holiday Blog Event: Anne Tenino – Gotcha Day

December Holiday Blog Event.

As ‘lil q gets older, she’s understanding more of what goes on around her. Right now Christmas isn’t anything to her, but as witnessed by her getting her classmates to sing happy birthday to her six weeks after her birthday, she obviously has the ability to comprehend holidays and special occasions.

I wanted to do something to celebrate the holiday on my site, but rather than put up 25 holiday posts from me, I’ve asked a group of people to contribute something instead. The only common theme for all of these posts will be they all come from parents. Not gay parents or parents of gay children, just parents. They’re will be gay parents, straight parents, parents with gay kids and straight kids, some with transgendered and some from grandparents.  Some are Christians, some Jewish, some pagan and something none of the above. My hope was to get a diverse group of people to contribute.

I’ve not seen most of the posts yet, so I’m anxious to see what I get.  As the end of each post, I’ll let you know who’s next. I’ve asked people if they have a favorite holiday song to include with a link.

Since this was my idea, I’ll start the event tomorrow.

Comments are welcomed and encouraged.

-AQG

Me and Papa at the Playground

Sunday the weather was beautiful, so ‘lil q and I went to the playground.  I’ll add a few videos tomorrow.