Christmas and Solstice Greetings from Patricia Forsythe and Virginia McCullough

Hello Everyone! Most everyone agrees December is the busiest month of the year, with plenty of important days and holidays leading to celebrating the New Year. In Virginia’s case, that means the excitement of anticipating the January release of SOMETHING TO TREASURE. This month we decided to join forces and give our take on favorite holidays in this season of light and hope. Patricia offers her look at Christmas and Virginia adds her thoughts about winter solstice. May every December day be filled with joy, light, and hope! 

It’s Almost Christmastime

By Patricia Forsythe

Everyone I know has a special way to celebrate their favorite holiday at this time of year, usually involving family and friends. Whenever we go through our boxes of decorations, we are reminded of where we bought them, who gave them to us, or which child made which ornament. They are all precious memories. I have added a picture of one of my most beloved ornaments, a macrame angel that I swear I’m going to work into a story someday. It was made many years ago by a friend named Mary, who had the same sweet smile and big blue eyes she painted on my angel. I have no idea whatever became of her, but I think of her each time I take my angel from the box and hang her near the top of my tree. 

For many reasons, the past couple of years have been hard for a lot of us, and I think that’s why Christmas this year seems so precious. Opening up our containers of decorations, untangling the strings of lights, sharing gifts, food, and fun helps us recall happier times, and create fond memories to bring out and treasure during future hard times. 

So, I’d like to say Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and a Blessed New Year to you all, as well as a thank you to Mary, wherever you are, for the memories and the angel.

It’s Almost Solstice Time

By Virginia McCullough

For obvious reasons, the magical December holidays in the northern hemisphere involve light, first its absence and then the chance to joyously welcome its return. Last year I was in Iceland for the winter solstice, and that trip saw us trekking through the snow in the dark in search of morning coffee. Then, still in the dark, we’d wander around Reykjavik’s downtown streets filled with all sorts of fun shops—and a wealth of bookstores. We’d stroll along the waterfront at sunrise, around 11:30 a.m. and explore museums and galleries until sunset, around 3:30 p.m., when we (and everyone else, it seemed) relaxed in the fading light with hot chocolate or a cup of spiced wine. 

To offer day trips to the famous waterfalls and lava beaches, the local tour companies had to schedule the highlights within that four-hour window of light, and that meant starting out early. No lazing around ’til noon to take a quick trip out to the countryside!

As dark as Iceland is in the winter, we noticed that most homes and shops celebrated light with candles everywhere and fairy-lights and strings of bulbs wrapped around windows and doorways and even picture frames and tables. We came home from this magical adventure understanding exactly why Reykjavik’s New Year’s Eve fireworks are legendary. They started around dinnertime and went on well past midnight in one long show of light against the otherwise dark sky. 

The solstice isn’t much of a holiday in our modern era. It’s not even widely marked, although some do honor the occasion with various kinds of rituals. Mostly it’s simply noted as one of the panoply of holidays this time of year, and we like knowing the light will last a tiny bit longer each day until June 21, when the whole cycle toward the shorter days starts again.

But the winter solstice is my second favorite holiday, the first being Thanksgiving, which kicks off the season. I especially enjoy the winter solstice because, like the sunrise and sunset, we don’t have to acknowledge it or do one thing to make it happen. No need to plan, shop, wrap, cook, and make lists about it—and we can’t even pretend to “manage” it. The solstice doesn’t depend on anyone believing in it; like the phases of the moon and the changing tides, it just is. No one can claim ownership of the solstice, but we can all share the day.

For sure, solstice (and many other natural phenomena) has a legacy. It’s led to speculation about the still hazy meaning of Stonehenge and other ancient stone circles, to give just one example. And ways of celebrating the return of the light have carried over through the ages to the evergreens and Yule logs of Christmas or even the Hanukkah menorah representing the oil lamp in the temple. I grew up surrounded by all these symbols of the season, and my whole life has been richer for it. 

I wish you all a Happy Solstice wherever you are and whatever winter holidays you celebrate—may you have lots of light and love during the next festive weeks and in 2018! 

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Patricia Forsythe is the author of more than three dozen romance novels, some written as Patricia Knoll. She loves telling the stories of how two people overcome their differences to find their 'happily ever after'. Her current book series, Oklahoma Girls, includes At Odds With the Midwife, The Husband She Can't Forget, and His Twin Baby Surprise.                 

Virginia McCullough is happily anticipating her January Heartwarming release, SOMETHING TO TREASURE (available for pre-order), the second of her Two Moon Bay series. (Book 1, GIRL IN THE SPOTLIGHT, was released in June.) Virginia’s novels are stories of hope, healing, and second chances, and they introduce readers to characters who could be their neighbors and friends struggling with everyday life issues. 

A ghostwriter for many years, Virginia wrote over 100 books for physicians, business owners, professional speakers and many others with information to share or a story to tell. A vagabond by nature, she’s moved around a lot, and now lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where she enjoys hanging out with other romance writers and hunkering down during the long winter to write and read. Her other award-winning romance and women’s fiction titles include THE JACKS OF HER HEART, AMBER LIGHT, and GRETA’S GRACE. 

Visit Virginia on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/virginia.mccullough.7 and her website: www.virginiamccullough.com.  You also can participate in Virginia’s Prism Book Tour, January 8-13, and put your name in for a chance to win something fun.