As frost and fog envelop the Central Valley in the ghostly shroud of winter, thoughts drift inward to the warmth of family, home, and the holidays. But as the Christmas tree is lit and the New Year rung in with loved ones, the season’s longest, darkest nights recall a time when ghost stories and spooky soirees were the otherworldly order of the day.
This holiday season, enjoy Festive Mayhem 3, a limited-edition anthology by seven crime writers of color.
Jingle Bells, Silver Bells, Carol of the Bells…Ring a Bell? Yep, it’s Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa/Holiday time in the Valley. It’s gift-giving time, forget-your-diet time, get-something-for-yourself time. At The Great Food Search, that means—Good Stuff! Let’s dig in!
What I love about each holiday season is that each is unlike any other before. The celebrations themselves usually stay within certain parameters but including different people in the mix or going to a new place during the season adds verve and just might open our perceptions. This is true of reading holiday stories from a variety of authors’ points of view, and in Festive Mayhem: Ten Stories of Holiday Mystery, Crime and Suspense (2020), Carolyn Marie Wilkins has collected works that celebrate diversity.
I am very aware of the countless rave reviews for Wendy Tyson’s Greenhouse Mystery series, and am thrilled to finally join in with others to voice my excitement. Although I started with the third most recent release, the synopses and revisiting of key details in the backstory or character connections made sure I never suffered from a newbie handicap.
It is such a delightful experience connecting with a favorite author, talking about their book, their motivation, style, and process, but when you are lucky to become part of that process, it just adds to the wonderful experience. I “e-met” Jenny Kales over a year ago, you know meeting someone online, when I read and reviewed her Callie’s Kitchen Mystery series highlighting On the Chopping Block and Spiced and Iced. She has been such a delightful Facebook buddy, and when she took me up on my offer to help in anyway I could with her next book, I was thrilled to become a beta reader for Secrets and Pies.
You have heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Those are relatively new. They follow a long tradition from England for the day after Christmas called Boxing Day. These are all about commerce, consumerism, and bargains. What do you do after the pre-Christmas deals and before the after Christmas exchange? Someone asked and answered the question several years ago and created Giving Tuesday.
When I stroll, I am aware that the things I see along the way are only a small part of the picture of the neighborhoods through which I walk. On the surface, I see the faces of people passing by, the facades of buildings, traffic in the streets and whatever landscape is presented. Everything seems to be working in one way or another.
For some, the holidays are a time for gathering with family and friends, gift giving, festive parties, shopping sprees, cookie exchanges, caroling and more. For others, the holidays are a lonely time, evidenced perhaps by the lack of all the joy experienced by others. For most though, the holidays are a time, good or bad, which can be filled with stress.
The Christmas shopping season is upon us and the Reedley Downtown Association is encouraging people to Shop Reedley First, starting with Small Business Saturday on November 30.
