All this week, the Riskies have been talking about the upcoming holiday season: How to deal with it, what they like about it, what they don’t like about it (Janet is our resident Scrooge, it seems, but she does enjoy a good concert).

On Monday, Diane brought up traditions, and I’d like to do the same. I grew up in an unconventional household (albeit with the requisite mother and father, no siblings), and our Christmases were . . . odd. Instead of traditional Christmas ornaments, my mother decorated our tree with seashells and porcupine fish she’d spraypainted gold and silver and decorated with rhinestones. We wrapped our gifts in newspaper and magazines, not wrapping paper, and our notes always had a stealthily-embedded clue as to what the gift was inside (my mother, however, was frequently Master of the Obvious, addressing presents of socks to me as “To Megan, From her feet.”)

I didn’t know any different, so when my boyfriend (now husband) started dating, I did what I’d always done at Christmas: Decorate my tree with random fun items, wrap in paper, write silly notes. I thought everybody did that.

Apparently not. My husband’s family is EXTRA-traditional when it comes to Christmas, which means the ornaments are perfect, the wrapping paper is Hallmark and there are no funny edges where the paper didn’t quite meet, and the notes are addressed “To Megan, Love Scott.”

In case you couldn’t tell, I do miss the funkier Christmas of my youth, but I’ve grown to love my in-laws’ traditional celebration (especially the HANDMADE DONUTS ON CHRISTMAS EVE!). When my son gets a little older, though, I’m going to get some seashells and start writing some sly notes on his gifts.

Do you have any idiosyncratic holiday celebrations? How do you feel about trying to introduce new traditions to your family? And can you believe THANKSGIVING IS NEXT WEEK?!?

Megan
www.meganframpton.com

Aaargh! It’s almost upon us, roughly slouching…

But while I am trying to ignore the Christmas Beast, at this time of year there’s one very important thing to do in preparation for the holidays and that’s to book tickets to a Christmas performance. I know we’ll all be playing our favorite Christmas CDs (or listening to the BBC’s live satellite broadcast of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols) but I urge you to get out to a real, live performance. (And by the way, the performing arts enhance the economic and social wellbeing of the community, do all sorts of good things for kids and adults, and live performance does something for you that DVDs or CDs can’t. Check out this list of reports from the Cultural Alliance of Washington, D.C. You’ll need to scroll down to Reports and Studies. Some are local, some national. And it costs about the same as a ballgame, sometimes less, to go to the opera or ballet.)

Check out what’s going on in your area. If you’re interested in traditional music and folklore, you might want to catch a performance by the Christmas Revels.

Or how about the Nutcracker? Gorgeous music and costumes, wonderful dancing, and an erectile Christmas tree!

My favorite Christmas music is Handel’s Messiah and I have fond memories of performances in England with a thumping big local choir and imported soloists (preferably with a Welsh bass). One of my most memorable Messiahs was performed in York Minster. It was freezing cold–literally. I don’t know how the orchestra kept their instruments tuned. The entire audience wore coats, hats, gloves, and scarves. The conductor announced extra cuts that would be made so we didn’t freeze to death, and at intermission we all shot out to the pub for something to keep us warm (ginger wine for me, thanks). But it was a fabulous performance in a breathtakingly beautiful setting, a memory I’ll treasure all my life.

The Messiah has been performed continuously ever since its Dublin premiere in 1742, although it was associated earlier on with Easter more than Christmas. George II started the tradition of standing for the Hallelujah Chorus. Here’s some more to read about the Messiah.

Do you have a holiday tradition that involves attending, or taking part in a live performance? Have you sung in a chorus, or danced in the Nutcracker, or been a ballet mom? What music do you like to listen to over the holidays?

Janet

Like Diane, I feel a bit torn about doing a holiday theme this week. But it isn’t really too early to think about holiday gift-giving. Or about snagging a Christmas anthology for oneself for that matter. 🙂

My goal every year is to lower stress, increase joy.

One way my family has de-stressed Christmas is by making a mutual agreement NOT to exchange presents with extended family members. When we get together Christmas morning at my parents’ house, these are the rules. Every adult gets something from his or her spouse; every child from his/her parents; the grandparents can do what they want for grandchildren (they would anyway).

It’s easy on time and budget and best of all, a radical strike against the nauseating commercialism imposed on our culture during the holidays under a false guise of increasing family closeness.

Still… there are some things I want for Christmas, of which I’ve duly informed my personal Santa (he happens to be Jewish but does a great job in the role anyway).

This year, I’d love a copy of the 10th anniversary limited edition DVD of Pride & Prejudice, with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle. As an alternate (I always have to give Santa choices) I would happily take a DVD of Persuasion, with Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds.

The Research Nerd in me would like Life in Wellington’s Army, by Antony Brett-James and/or Wellington’s Rifles, by Mark Urban, among others. Sharpe videos are always a good idea, though Santa always wonders why I find them so intriguing. Santa does not share my passion for . . . um, history.

I’ve also informed Santa of the gaps in my collections of Laura Kinsale, Loretta Chase and Judith Ivory. I’m giving a copy of Julia Ross’s latest release, Clandestine, to my best friend and asking for one myself (will pick it up after Christmas if need be). I’d also like to try something by Anne Stuart. I have met her at conferences and enjoyed her warmth and humor and it’s positively a sin that I haven’t read one of her books yet.

Gourmet coffee, chocolate, candles, and artsy earrings always work for me, too.

Now for my dream wish list item: a Pause Button to make everything stop for a while so I can catch up. On manuscripts, house projects, my TBR list. Maybe I’d even take some time to paint my toenails…

So, for another chance at one of those 3 autographed copies of MISTLETOE KISSES, let us know any or all of the following:

What is your holiday shopping strategy? Any tips for stress reduction? What’s on your wish list? What’s your dream gift?

Elena
LADY DEARING’S MASQUERADE, RT Reviewers’ Choice, Best Regency Romance of 2005
www.elenagreene.com

This week the Riskies have graciously allowed me lots of extra attention because of the release of Mistletoe Kisses, Harlequin Historical’s Regency Christmas anthology. See the intervew with the other authors of the anthology here.

We also have a contest, giving away THREE autographed copies of Mistletoe Kisses. All you have to do is comment on our blogs this week – from now to Saturday. Say more than, “Great blog” please; we love to hear from you. Winners will be announced next Sunday Nov 19. See contest details here.

I apologize for talking about Christmas before Thanksgiving, I really do! But the Historicals, like other Harlequins, are only on the bookshelf in stores for one month (longer at online stores and eharlequin.com) and if we waited until the “proper time” you might not be able to find Mistletoe Kisses at all.

During the Regency era Christmas had some of the same customs we still follow today. Decorating one’s house with evergreens. Hanging mistletoe and kissing under it. Even one that surprised me–roast turkey for dinner.

In my family growing up we, unfortunately, did not have a wassail bowl, nor did we have a yule log, but then in some of the houses where we lived, we didn’t have a fireplace so maybe that was a good thing. We did cut greenery from our yard and use it to adorn our mantlepiece and to create centerpieces for the table, like Elizabeth and Zach in A Twelfth Night Tale. And we always had a live tree (a later tradition than “our” time period). We decorated our tree on Christmas Eve and took it down on New Year’s Day.

My favorite tradition has always been to decorate the Christmas tree. As a child, my sisters and I loved to unwrap our tree ornaments, to find our favorites, the ones we remembered having our whole lives, the ones we made ourselves, the ones that were souvenirs from various trips. We always had a certain way to hang the ornaments, showing our favorites in the front and those dumb plain blue ones my mother bought one year to the back. In my family growing up, the annual debate was always whether we ought to have the lights blink or not. I always voted for no blinking.

With my husband and children, decorating the tree has never been quite the valued experience it was when I was growing up. Maybe it was because Christmas had become more hectic -school parties, parties for every other activity my children were in, church pageants, work parties, Christmas shopping, visiting two sets of relatives. In fact, I always thought the time between Halloween and Christmas passed like a blur. So now that my children are grown, I often decorated the tree myself, an artificial tree so the cats won’t eat it. (I do have a great memory from my childhood when our cat knocked down the tree on New Year’s Eve just as my parents were getting ready to go to a party)

Thing is, I still love it, the tree decorating. I have some of those same ornaments from my childhood and some really lovely antique ones that were given to me long ago. My tree has twinkling lights now. My tastes have evolved with the technology.

I do not like the hectic nature of the holiday still, but I love the beauty of the season. I love the decorations, the holiday music, the Christmas Story. I love Christmas movies and TV episodes that celebrate the holiday. I love that we honor the winter holidays of all faiths now, making the season a time for loving everyone.

Last Christmas I had the additional joy of writing my Christmas novella during the holiday season. It was wonderful inspiration, both enriching my holiday and inspiring my writing.

So this year it is a great joy to share the story with you. I hope you all enjoy A Twelfth Night Tale and the other novellas in Mistletoe Kisses.

This week the Riskies are going to be talking about our favorite holiday customs or other holiday related themes, so this is an opportunity to share yours with us (and earn chances to win Mistletoe Kisses)

Tell which you would vote for and why: Live tree vs Artificial; Twinkling lights vs Non-Twinkling lights. Or share any pet-related tree stories. The Riskies want to know…

(Holiday) Cheers!
Diane