I think this past holiday season was one of my most enjoyable ever. There were blips on my personal radar, some of which were big enough to be called blops. But all in all, it was quite special and lovely. I got a little bit silly one day and bought a pair of Santa leggings at a local shop. What fun I had wearing them! (As one friend pointed out, they'll work as long underwear for the rest of the winter.)



Gift exchanges, of which there were two, were...interesting.
On the morning of the first one, I posted on a Facebook group, requesting recommendations for a daily meditation book. About three hours later, in the gift exchange (which was random), I unwrapped All in All Journaling Devotional, by Sophie Hudson.

It was the only book in the exchange. Talk about serendipity, right? So far (day two) I'm really enjoying it.

At the second exchange (Have I told you how hard it is for me to purchase items for these events? Minimalism is great. I live it daily. Impetuous purchases, for the most part, aren't my bag. Okay, except for those Santa leggings)... Anyway, at the second gift exchange, due to some confusion, I ended up empty-handed. Which was, I realized later, completely perfect! I didn't need any of the items passed around that night. Yay!

The Movie-a-Thon
The Christmas movie-a-thon is finally over, I hope, with the viewing of Christmas Angel in the House.
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Watch it, and prepare to cry happy tears at the end. Bonus: Hayley Mills, still beautiful and facelift-free, has a small but integral part. Yay for being who we are!
The Lead-Up to 2018
As I may have mentioned a few [dozen] times, I finished up both of my series with the autumn 2017 release of book 9 in the Serendipity, Indiana series, and book 9 in the McClains of Legend, Tennessee series. I took some time off in November and December, to (among other real-life stuff) think long and hard about what to do next.
What a treat to finally erase everything from my marker board, and have a clean slate for 2018's possibilities. In fact, I wrote about the end of year process on the Sweet Romance Reads blog. You can read it here. I talked about leaving things behind when starting the new year. 
If you go to that website and squint at my blog post, you might be able to see what my #oneword365 is. If you don't want to squint, I'll tell you. My word this year is Intention. Last year's word, mindfulness, was very helpful. I still get sidetracked, but not as easily as before.
On January 1st, I hosted a lunch for a small group of friends. Because my walk-up apartment is not safely accessible for some of these folks anymore, we used the meeting room of the new local bookstore. We sat and talked and ate and laughed for about three hours. It was a great start to the new year, calories notwithstanding. 


Today, I got back to work on my as-yet-behind-the-scenes project, with my nifty low-tech tools (such as the marker board) to keep me motivated and on track. My plan is to do what I can to make 2018 my best year so far. It's not all about me, either. I believe my books can, and do, lift readers' spirits and give them a break from reality. I know that makes them worthwhile. So my resolve is also about helping you, my reader, in the best way I can.
How's that for a plan?
Magdalena