I can't believe it--the shopping is done and the presents are wrapped. I even sent out
Christmas cards. Of course there are still meal preparations, neighborhood gifts to deliver, some shirts to iron, and a few phone calls to make, but basically, I'm ready. I'm not ultra efficient; I just have an early deadline. You see, there won't be time for shopping and wrapping and all of those things tomorrow. I have the most important Christmas preparations to do when I arise in the morning. It's my day to serve all day in the temple. Wednesday is my day to concentrate on serving the Lord. There couldn't possibly be a better way to prepare for Christmas.

I love the beautiful rich language of the nativity story in the King James version of St. Luke. Reading it was part of my Christmas lesson at Primary Sunday and it will be part of our Christmas Eve family celebration Thursday night. My younger grandchildren will dress up like angels and shepherds, one of my two granddaughters will cradle a doll as Mary, and Joseph will be a grandson who hasn't had a turn for a few years. As our family shares the beautiful story of our Savior's birth and share this Christmas celebration, we will draw closer to each other and to Christ whose birth we celebrate.

Merry Christmas from me to all of you. May you share in the joy and warmth of this wondrous season.

AND THE WINNER IS . . . . . .

TRIBES is the winner of a Christmas book. Please let me know by Friday which book you would like along with your mailing address. Send it to bhansen22 at msn dot com.

The prize for the last half of December contest will be a little different. The winner will get the audio (CD) version of High Country by me or your choice of any of the books not chosen by earlier winners this year.

This seems to be my year for attending Christmas concerts. First there was the Christmas Orange concert with Marshall MacDonald. I loved it, but there wasn't much leg room between seats. Then we went to the Tabernacle Choir Concert with Natalie Cole and David McCullough. Fabulous! Then we were given tickets to the Messiah performance at Salt Lake Community College South. It was different. I barely recognized a couple of the numbers and the rest not at all. The songs were all jazzed up and sung as Southern gospel songs. This Sunday, a granddaughter is singing in her ward's Christmas program in the morning, then our own will be presented by the choir in the afternoon. Every time I get in the car or turn on the radio at home, there's Christmas music. I'm not complaining. I'm hearing it better than I ever have before.

Something happened a year and half ago, to me a small miracle, and I suddenly started hearing sounds I'd never heard before and I could even tolerate being in the same room as a violin. I've always been tone deaf and unable to hear in the upper ranges. Suddenly I discovered street lights chirp, birds outside my office window sing, and dozens of other small sounds I had been oblivious to. Along with this has come a new awareness of music. It's kind of fun to hear songs I once studied so intensely in order to appreciate them at all, now sounding so glorious.

I loved Christmas music even when I didn't hear it well. I especially like Silent Night and O Holy Night. I think Handel's Messiah, not the jazzed up version, is beautiful. I'm enjoying some of the lighter songs too like Little Drummer Boy. I think the music of Christmas brings the many facets of the season together. Through the pop songs we share the fun and magic, through the spiritual hymns our souls are touched bringing us closer to understanding this greatest of all gifts, the birth of our Savior.

We're all so busy, but take a moment to consider the small miracles in your life or share the ways Christmas touches you.

OH THAT CHRISTMAS LETTER!

Love them or hate them, Christmas letters are a part of Christmas. Personally I love getting them, even if it's just a couple of lines scrawled on the bottom of the card. Some say they're brag fests, others are "woe is me." Most, fortunately, are a great way to catch up on what is happening in the lives of people we care about. I love the inclusion of photos too. Some are original, some are poetic, some touch the heart, and some are just plain funny. We've all seen the Elf Me cards on line, which are cute and often funny. One of my daughters posted her Christmas letter online this year which I found amusing. You can take a peek at it here http://keepingupwiththehansens.blogspot.com/ , but I think the funniest one I ever received came from a niece and it was a little late. It read:



Merry Christmas from the Chandlers!

If, by chance, this card is late
Just credit it to Chandler fate!

We ordered the photos in November's third week
And, as our luck would have it, there was a tweek:

"The machine broke down" the printer guy said,
They had to get a new one. Guess the old one was dead!

Then they lost our order, failing our trust
And our pictures sat around collecting dust!

Then they called to say that the cards with our faces
Had all been delivered to the wrong places!

I demanded my money, or some compensation
And they just smiled and gave the poor explanation
That there was nothing they could do.

The boss was gone, and they were alone
And they tried to call, but his wife wasn't home.

So, they offered to print our letter for free
And include a picture of another family!


I accepted their offer; what else could I do?
I had to get this card off to you!

Hence the happiest of holidays is our Christmas wish
To you from the Chandlers, and these guys with the fish!

Oh well, our pictures finally came. Happy Valentine's Day!


Last night my husband and I and my cousin and her husband attended the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performance with Natalie Cole and David McCullough. It was fantastic. I was particularly impressed with the organ solo by Richard Elliott. Talk about multi-tasking! We planned to eat at the Lion House before the performance, but the line was so long that after an hour wait, we gave up and hurried to the conference center for the performance. The line didn't look so bad after the performance so we tried again. Success this time and we had a delicious late dinner. We planned a liesurely stroll through temple square to see the lights after the performance, but the sidewalk was so slippery and the temperature so cold, we didn't linger.

This contest ends Tuesday. The winner will get a Christmas book (see earlier post listing prize books). If you've already left a comment on an earlier post or signed up as a follower, you're already entered in the drawing. You can enter again and improve your chances of being a winner by commenting on this post.

A WRITING PET PEEVE

Books, plays, and movies have a lot in common. There's a whole different world that opens up on stage or in the pages of a book. Most people read, attend the theatre, or go to a movie to escape for a time into a fantasy world, to discover something new, or to see the ordinary from a different perspective.

I can't imagine attending a play where all of the action takes place off stage and only the emotional reaction of the major character is shown to the audience. Yet I just read a book like that. I usually read several books a week, but I struggled through this one for nearly three weeks. I kept telling myself it had to get better. Afterall, the author is a well-known and popular writer. It didn't get better and I felt cheated.

Most writers leave some of the action off stage, especially less important transitional material, but I suspect most readers want and expect something to actually happen before their eyes. Info dumps are a form of off-camera action and most readers are quite adamantly opposed to this devise. I suspect most readers are equally annoyed as was I, when they get only the reaction and not the action.

Of course action novel fans expect to see something happen, but what about character fans? Am I wrong to think these readers expect to see growth and change in the characters rather than just be told that the experience caused a change?

Writing a book is a lot like staging a play or producing a movie. Each scene is plotted out with a goal or objective the point-of-view character is trying to achieve. We see the steps he or she takes to achieve the goal. Usually a disaster occurrs to prevent achieving the goal or the goal is reached and the result isn't as expected. Then comes the sequel portion of the scene. There is a reaction, followed by the formulation of a new plan or goal. The story falls flat if the reader sees only the zooming ahead to achieve goals and it falls even flatter if the audience only glimpses reactions without any of the action. If the writer can visualize the story and allow the reader to see it unfold, the story will be much stronger and far more rewarding than the book I just finished. Remember to show---not tell. Put the action on the stage.

I'd love to hear other readers views on showing vs. telling, reaction without action, or any other peeves readers find objectionable. The current contest ends next Tuesday. Comments on my blogs on the V-Formation also count in this contest.

Book Signings

I'll be signing at the West Jordan Seagull Book store on Dec. 5 from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Then I'll be at the Family Center in Taylorsville from 2 to 4 p.m. Come see me!

TWO WINNERS And a new contest begins

Two grandsons came to play today and while they were here they picked the winners for both contests. The winner of a copy of Stolen Christmas is Elizabeth Morgan. The winner of my regular contest is Jolynn Reads. Please send me your snail mail addresses to bhansen22 at msn dot com and JoLynn, please include a wish list of at least five (more is better)LDS novels you would like and if I have any of the books on your list one of them will be your prize. Winners must notify me by Friday or another winner will be chosen.

A new contest begins today and in keeping with the season, the prize will be a Christmas book.

Choose from the Christmas Jars by Jason Wright, The Christmas Box Miracle by Richard Paul Evans, Christmas by the Book by Beverly King, Christmas for a Dollar (booklet size) by Gale Sears, The Spirit of Christmas by Jennie Hansen, Betsy Brannon Green and Michele Ashman Bell, Santa Maybe by Aubrey Mace, or Mysterious Ways by B.J. Rowley.

Christmas isn't Christmas without stories. I about wore out my mother's copies of The Bird's Christmas Carol and The Little Matchgirl while I was growing up and I've found some new favorites in this year's new releases---read my December column on Meridian which will be coming out soon. There are some really great new releases this year. I also found through the years that there are a few Christmas stories I distinctly dislike like Dicken's Christmas Carol.

This contest will center around Christmas stories. Write a paragraph or two about your most loved or most disliked Christmas stories. If you don't have a specific favorite, tell us what kind of Christmas stories you like or which kinds most annoy you. And please don't list the nativity story from Luke, that is most people's favorite including mine, but I want to hear about your favorite fiction stories. (I particularly like the picture book When Jesus Was Born in Bethlehem which is the scriptural account illustrated with beautiful paintings by Joseph Brickey.) So think about it, and let me know how you feel about fiction Christmas stories. The contest begins now and ends December 15th at noon.

SIGNINGS

I'll be signing my new book Shudder at the Redwood Seagull Book Store this coming Friday, November 28 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Then at 2 p.m. until 4 p.m., I'll be at the Brickyard Seagull Book Store. Please come say hello.

Two Contests at Once

There's a contest currently running on this blog to win a book (winner's choice) that I reviewed on Meridian sometime during the past couple of years, but today I am starting another contest to run concurrently with that contest. The prize for the new contest will be a copy of Stolen Christmas, a collection of short stories written for LDS Publisher's Christmas writing contest. The stories are all original and range from touching to humorous. Some of the authors are well-known and some have never before been published.

Here's the backliner blurb:

By LDS Publisher, Roger Bonner, Don Carey, Laura Craner, Joyce DiPastena, Sara M. Eden, L.T. Elliot, Gussie Fick, Melanie Goldmund, M. Gray, Taegyn Hutchinson, Angie Lofthouse, Lori Nawyn, Tristi Pinkston, Brian C. Ricks, Sandra Sorenson, Janice Sperry, Christine Thackeray

What happens when you're so poor you have to steal your Christmas presents? Have you ever taken a punch in the face as your Christmas gift to the girl you love? Or saved Christmas while hunting were-weevils?

These award-winning Christmas stories are the best of the best from the LDS Publishers Story Contests. From Christmases past, to present, to future; from sweet and inspirational, and delightful - there's a story for everyone in this eclectic collection.

Why am I sponsoring this contest/give away? I didn't write any of the stories, I never read any of them before they appeared on LDS Publisher, but you see, some of the writers are friends. And most importantly one of the writers is my youngest daughter. I won't tell you which one.

The book isn't available through the usual bookstores, but is available through Amazon.com or through LDS Publisher, though I suppose most bookstores will order the book for you if you prefer to go through your local book dealer.

Here's how the contest works: Make a comment on this blog concerning Stolen Christmas, a Christmas observation or memory, or congratulate the authors of this book (ten words or more). On November 30th I'll draw a name from all of those who submitted comments and announce the winner. Only those who make comments will be eligible for this prize.

Everyone who enters this contest will be entered in my regular contest as well. Those eligible for the regular contest will be all those who comment on any of my blogs between Nov. 15 and 30th, everyone who signs up as a follower to this blog, and all of those who enter to win Stolen Christmas. Multiple entries are not only okay, but encouraged.

Thanksgiving Contest

Before we get involved with the gimmee of Christmas, it's time to stop and acknowledge that even in a difficult time, we have much to be grateful for. Too often we tend to get caught up in those things we need or want and fail to express gratitude for those things we already have.

There are a lot of things wrong with our country and some of our country's leaders, but rather than dwelling on faults and shortcomings, we should be grateful for this land which is rich in beauty, resources, and a form of government that allows us to express our disappointments, receive as much education as we are willing to work for, worship as we see fit, and where each person has individual worth. In recognizing the blessings and privileges the free world enjoys, we should acknowledge the God who gave these blessings to us and show our gratitude by respecting Him, by caring for that which we have, and by protecting the God-given right to liberty.

Abraham Lincoln expressed it well when he said, "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in number, wealth, and power as no other Nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-suffricient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us.

"It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended power, to confess our . . . sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."

Most Americans, Western Europeans, and many people in other parts of the world if asked what they are grateful for will respond with the large scale items such as life, family, friends, food, shelter, country, freedom, faith in God, and overlook the many small blessings in their lives. We should be grateful for these things and we should express our gratitude to God, but there are many smaller blessings which we tend to think we earned or have a right to without ever acknowledging God's hand in these things or even the hands and minds of our fellow human beings who brought these small blessings into our lives. James E. Faust said, "One of the evils of our time is taking for granted so many of the things we enjoy."

That brings me to the question I wish to ask for the second half of November contest. Think about the things you enjoy, both the large and small. Have you ever stopped to express gratitude for those things? Sometimes just pausing to look around your immediate surroundings, we can discover a surprising number of things for which to be thankful. I am thankful for the big things I mentioned earlier, but I have a long list of small blessings I'm glad are part of my life. On my list of things I am thankful for is my computer instead of using a pen or typewriter as I did early in my career, I'm grateful for a plentiful supply of books, I deeply appreciate indoor plumbing, pencils with erasers, breathmints, a telephone at my fingertips that enables me to stay in touch with loved ones, central heating, good drinking water, a full pantry, Oreos, a dependable car, the birds who visit our backyard, the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, my editor, eyeglasses, and so many other things great and small. Now it's your turn to look around you and name some of the large and small things you are grateful for.

Your prize? The winner can send me a wish list of five or more LDS novels he or she would like and I'll send you one of them or come as close as possible to matching one of your selections.

HEIDI WINS

Heidi is the winner of the current contest. Please send me your mailing address and a list of at least five books on your wish list. If I have them, I'll choose one from your list to send to you. Contact me at bhansen 22 at msn dot com.