Ghosts and Goblins

It's that time of year when kids and adults dress in costume.

This ancient ritual began around the 16th century in Ireland.

All those centuries ago, residents on the Green Isle disguised themselves and went to neighbor's houses. They recited songs or poems in exchange for food. Some were poor, and this became an acceptable way to get cakes and fruit.

Most folks during those days believed that spirits came out of the graves on All Hallows’ Eve. These wispy, scary spirits would seek vengeance on people who had wronged them. 

The live people dressed as the departed in an effort to thwart off evil from the bygone person. People gave treats to keep the evil from their doorstep.

 Wouldn't it be really awful if all the people we'd wronged in our life came back to haunt us once a year? As Christians, we know that doesn't happen. But they beleived it back then. Perhaps some still do.

I dressed as a witch one Halloween but will never do it again. I put on a long, black dress, a black hat, and blacked my eyes to look like a raccoon. When a kiddo rang the bell, I started screeching and opened the door. I continued to cackle as I gave out candy.

I scared those sweet little folks so badly that it wasn't fun. For me or them.

For years, everytime those children passed our house, they'd say, "That's where the witch lives."

I was too convinicing.

I'd rather influence all ages for good than for evil, and I want to be known as a Christian, not a witch.

If I were to choose a costume ever again, I'd appear as an angel. I write about an angel who is a sweet, little, helpful spirit sent to help humans. Her name is Sarah.

When people pass your house, what goes through their minds?  Do they say, "A cranky, mean old lady lives there." Or do they announce, "A sweet, kind woman lives in that house."

Enjoy your Halloween, but remember to model yourself after the Spirit of Christ.  Evil has enough personification in this world.

Sarah Helps Santa

Sarah Helps Santa!

LOOK!

MY NEW BOOK

SARAH HELPS SANTA

IS HERE!

I had so much fun writing this book. I finished it last July while the temperature hovered at 100 degrees down here in Houston. I longed for winter, a great time to enjoy a fireplace, and a cup of hot chocolate. 

Cooler weather arrived. In South Texas, it is seldom cold, but cool is nice.

Curl up and read with me. Sarah is at her comedic excellence as she helps Nick Claus. Or maybe I should say, "hinders" Nick Claus.

 Nick doesn't like frigid temps. Sitting by a fireplace with a good book is one thing, but working out in it is another.  He wants to move the North Pole operation to a beach!  He wishes to experience warm sand beneath his toes.

Sarah takes him from coast to coast and end up in our Great State of Texas.

Will Texas be the new North Pole? 

This book is fun for all ages. Kids will love the reindeer and elves.

This book is available in eBook or print.

Sarah Helps Santa: A Christmas Fantasy

Here's a sample.

Nick Claus strode into his dad’s study carrying two mugs of hot chocolate and a carafe of the sweet drink. “Glad you’re back, Dad.”

“Thanks, son. I made good time this year, and everything went off without a hitch. No bad weather anywhere in the world tonight.”

“I know, I watched you make your rounds.” Nick sigh was loud enough to be heard all over the large house.

“What’s wrong Nick? That sigh I heard sounded like it came from your toes. Got something on your mind? Want to tell me about it?”

“Might as well. I’ve been dreading it, but the clock is ticking. I guess this is as good a time as any to share my thoughts.”

“True, in two years, you’ll take over the business, and your mom and I’ll retire. It’ll be a bittersweet time for me, for your mom, too. I’m sad to leave one life behind but eager to start a new adventure, and your mom feels the same way. We Santas spend the first one-hundred years working and the next hundred years watching our sons work. We’re drawing plans now for a log cabin over on the north ridge. Your mom is getting more excited every day.” Santa gave his famous ho ho ho laugh. “She started out with a small design, but it’s growing. She drew a house with two bedrooms, and now she’s added a third one. She plans to keep grandkids when you produce some for her. We love children—spent our lives with them, but nothing is better than grands, or so I’ve been told. I’ve never seen your mom in such a dither.”

“That’s just it, Dad. I can’t think about children. Holy Mackerel. I’m supposed to have a wife, one is required for this job, and I don’t even have a girlfriend.”

Santa picked up the snow globe and shook it. “This is a mighty fine gadget. We can’t see the future, but we can see what’s happening in the present. I know whose being naughty and nice.” Santa’s well-known ho ho ho laugh burst forth again. “Looks like all the kiddies are nice right now. Look at them down there. Happy with their new toys and tech contraptions. So, you’ve seen prospects for a wife on this gadget, have you?”

Nick took the globe from Santa and honed it to a beach near Malibu. “The ladies in southern California are real beauties. They’ve got blond hair, voluptuous figures and they’re really smart. I’ve watched them enjoy fun activities and wished I could join them. Their laughter alone would make a guy happy. I’d like one of those California lovelies for a wife, but it’s impossible. We’re too different.”

“How’s that, son?”

“They wear bikinis. They can’t dress like that in our place. They’d freeze faster than a popsicle.”

“That’s true. We gotta wear clothes up here.”

***

Santa held up three fingers. “Here’s the last requirement. Even if you relocate, the Santa family needs lineage to carry on. If you don’t find a wife, you can’t produce an offspring; therefore, you must adopt a son to carry on the Santa tradition. We Santas marry and produce sons to carry on the world-wide business. That’s one ritual you can’t break. You can’t expect retired santas to forever do your job. You’ll need to adopt a son, live as a single dad, and groom your son to take over one day. Can you agree to these terms?”

“Find a suitable locale so I can move our entire operation. At the same time obtain a wife. If I don’t find one, I must adopt a boy baby?

“That’s the deal.”

“All within a year?”

Santa nodded.

Nick shook his head. “Dad, you’re driving a hard bargain.”

“True, but you’re the one whose procrastinated and now is asking to relocate the family business. That’s never been done before.”

With a sharp inhale, Nick extended his hand and his dad shook it.

 “Nick, son, you’re lonely. Cold and lonely. A wife warms a bed. If I were you, I’d find one. Cuddling on long, frozen nights is delightful.”

“I can only imagine. I’ll go as soon as possible. Maybe start in California. If I fail there, I’ll try another state. Florida or Texas are in my mind too. I check the daily weather reports. Southern states experience nice climates. I’ll keep you posted, but keep your fingers crossed for me.”

“Son, I don’t cross fingers, but I’ll say a prayer. You’re gonna need a lot of help considering the conditions you just agreed to.”

Nick hooked a finger in his belt loops. “You got that right. I hope there’s a guardian angel up there who’ll take me under her wings.”

Sarah beamed down at Nick and stretched her wings. “I’m not a guardian, but I’m experienced in finding mates for earthlings. I’ll help you.”

Let me know what you think! Writers love reviews and I hope you'll leave one.

Sarah Helps Santa

What is Happiness?

https://pixabay.com/en/george-burns-gracie-allen-398326/

Happiness? A good cigar, a good meal, a good cigar and a good woman - or a bad woman; it depends on how much happiness you can handle.

George Burns Quotes

George Burns, and the love of his life, Gracie Allen, acted together in theater more than forty years.  Gracie was a good woman. 

George was the straight man to bumbling, childlike Grace. After his wife’s death, Burns continued to act in various mediums. On of my favorites is the movie he stared in with John Denver and Teri Garr,  Oh, God!

He and Gracie appeared to enjoy making the public laugh with

Gracie’s irrational thinking. What made perfect sense to Gracie was pure comedy to us.

My scatterbrained angel, Sarah, is similar to Gracie. She is sweet, naïve, good-hearted, and totally funny.

Have you read any of my Sarah books? 

The news is filled with sad events. Worrisome events. It's time to escape with wholehearted fun. Take a happy break with Sarah.

In the midst of trauma, anger, sadness, unrest, God brings us relief. He gives us comedy. Laughter eases tension. God created fun for us so we could laugh and enjoy a little R&R. God make our minds, bodies, and spriits to need relief from stress. He gave talent to people like George and Gracie to provide a respite from troubles. 

I try to do the same with my Sarah books.

Sarah is happiness. Take a comedy relief break with Sarah.

My Sarah books are available in eBook, print, and some audio.

You don't have to buy them in order. One of my favorites is the second book in the series, Sarah: Laney's Angel.

Sarah's Books

Mark Twain said

When I was younger, I could remember anthing, whether it happened or not. -Mark Twain

Writers make up stuff. Twain was a humorist/speaker/writer. Perhaps some of the stuff he told us about came from his imagination, but then again, maybe he told us about real life happenings and claimed it happened when it didn't.

Huh?  Confusing, right? Recollections can mislead us.  We can convince ourselves of truth that isn't truth.

As we age, we tend to misremember events, forget people, and wipe sins from our minds. Most of us experience this problem.  You run across an old friend and your mind scrambles to come up with a name.


Old age is a socially acceptabe excuse to call frineds by the wrong name. And if you can't remember the name, it's permissable to make up one.  

I know a lady who calls everyone "stranger." She'll say, "Hi, stranger, it's been a long time." They think she's merely being friendly and affectionate. Truth be told, she can't remember their name.

Now, here's a helpful, positive detail.

God remembers to forget. ON PURPOSE! He doesn't recall all our nasty details. He forgives sin and forgets about it. Because He chooses to do so.

Now, how about this.

God remembers us and loves us. ALWAYS! He forgets our sinful nature, but remembers us. There may come a time when we forget our own name, but God won't. He always remembers. We will never be a stranger to Him.

Comforting, right?

FAITH AND HUMOR

Compliments: Need Them?

My hubby, back in the day, was an extraordinary shortstop. He also played outstanding basketball.

Guys and gals reach an age where we can no longer play sports, even for fun, and hubby is there now, but he watches them 24/7. Drives me crazy. I like to catch  a number of games, but not as many as him.

I was following him out of a building the other day and I said, "You're looking good, and I can tell you are an athlete by the way you walk. Can you tell I was a runway model by the way I walk?" 

He cracked up. He knew I was kidding about being a model. I think one must be extra tall, like very tall, and skinny to be a model, I'm 5'5'' and never have been on  a runway in my life. 

However, the point is this: I gave him a compliment and hoped for one in return.  

Do you ever do that?

Compliments are a way to encourage another person.

But they need to be real. Fake ones won't do. Artificial misses the mark.

Did you know God enjoys compliments? Yep! It's called praise.

We thank Him often, and that's a form of praise, but why not tell him something like this: 

"You are awesome." 

"There is none like You."

"You expressed that very well." 

"You are a magnificant artist."

"You did a great job."

"I appreciate your mercy."

"I'd like to introduce you to everyone I meet. 

You're such a good friend."

Give Him the kinds of compliments you'd like to hear someone say to you.

You smile and feel good when you receive a compliment, right? Can you imagaine the pleasure He takes in one?

FAITH AND HUMOR

The Treadmill of LIfe

I hope you'll pop over and read E A West's blog today. I'm talking about treadmills on her blog. The real kind that give physical fitness and the life kind. Do you ever want to stop and get off either one?

Check it out. E A West Blog

You'll find my typical humor there. You'll also see an excerpt from Sarah and the Angelic Magical Makeover. 

See you over on the E A West site.

Editors Needed!

Don't you love comical captions? Writers make off-the-wall headlines when we try to be concise.  We also make mistakes in manuscripts, and it's not always our fault. Autocorrect can be the culprit.

I once wrote this sentence for an article. "Her statement was incongurous with her body language."  Autocorrect changed it to: "Her statement was in congress with her body language."

I'm sure Autocorrect changed it because I misspelled inconguruous.

I changed the sentence to: "Her statment was odd with her boby language."

Those poor grandparents in this headline! I wonder how they got cooked? Boiled? Fried? Baked? How bad did they taste?

How in the world did the original Bible authors write so well without editors, authocorrect, or a computer?  They didn't even have an old-fashioned typewriter!

We find no printing errors in the Scripture, but of course, translators may have corrected a weird phrase or two.

The Holy Word tells us about human life in its raw form. The writer didn't mince words about a lot of events. Some are funny, others are odd, some are down-right bizarre. I was reading in Genesis the other day about Tamar. She dressed as a prostitute and got pregnant by her father-in-law. On purpose! Can you imagine?

Now, that's a YUK story.  Talk about a woman doing what she had to do. You've heard it said, "Grin and bare it?" I doubt she did that. She probably grimaced when she bared it. You'll find the true tale in Genesis 38:1-10. 

Tamar had twins, one of them was named Perez, and he became the ancestor of King David.

God has a sense of humor, doesn't He?

Faith and Humor

Dogs Are Relatives

Meet my granddog, Mindy.

She came all the way from Kentucky to see me this past week. She's such a good granddog. She always remembers to stay on tile and never get on the carpeted areas.

When it came time to go home, she looked at me with big, sad, black eyes. She can't hear much these days, and like a lot of older folks, her arthritus bothers her, but she never complains, and she's still a sweetie. She understands what's going on.

The trip takes about 16 hours to get back home to Kentucky. Her parents divided the trip into two days, and they stopped often to let her excercise. At one point on the second day, she walked around in the rest area, but when it came time to return to the truck and the road, she merely looked at them as if to say, "I'm not getting back in there."  So they walked around some more.

She loves to beg me for food, and I sneak her a bite when her parents aren't looking. Her "real" food was in the utility room, but she didn't want it. My hubby called her to her bowl. He looked down at her; she gazed up at him, and then he pointed to the food. "Mindy, eat your dinner."  And she did!  Children should be so obedient, right?

Grandchildren are the delights of our life, agree? Well, so is my granddog. I can spoil her as much as I want and then she goes home.

It becomes her parents job to undo the favored treatment I gave her, and I had so much fun spoiling her.

Love you, Mindy girl!

Faith and Humor

Laney's Got an Angel

Laney doesn't know it, but Sarah is on the job.

Beautiful, talented, and stubborn, architect Laney Taylor battles her attraction to the handsome and wealthy—but mulish—homebuilder, Cannon Carlson. After all, he is her employer, and business and pleasure don’t mix, do they? 

Sarah, a klutzy, perpetually direction-challenged angel who craves cheeseburgers and fancies red stilettos, is sent to Houston on assignment. She’s to bring these obstinate people together, but she faces major challenges, especially since Laney is threatened by a mysterious stalker who plans to kill her.

To protect Laney, the Commander of Heaven dispatches a second, more seasoned warrior angel, Tomas, to Earth with divine instructions to protect Laney. But will hit-or-miss Sarah get in his way? Can Sarah unite Cannon and Laney romantically together?

Oh merciful heavens! What will Sarah do this time?

On Amazon

My Cooking Needs Help

I'm featured on Mary Balls blog today. I hope you'll pop over and share a recipe. The winning recipe recieves a free Sarah eBook!

Mary Balls Monthly Smiles

I've never been a good baker. In fact, I'm lousy at it.  Please post a recipe on Mary's blog.  Here's a picture of the bread I tried to bake.

  

See?  This is just one sample.

In Sarah and the Angelic Magical Makeover, Sarah's friend, Valerie does all the cooking. She learned the hard way that Sarah has no clue when it comes to the kitchen.

Valerie needs a new lifestyle, and Sarah comes along to help her with a fitness schedule, healthy eating, and a makeover. Of course, Sarah brings disastrous results, but she manages to get the job done.

We learn in this book that God loves us just the way we are. He doesn't care about gender, size, or hair. His love is unconditional.

Faith and Hope