The Cheese Ball That (Almost) Ruined Christmas

Well, another Christmas has come and gone.  It was a pretty fantastic one, full of food, family, friends, and merriment in general.  I got exactly what I wanted, gift cards to Barnes and Noble.  There were also a few surprises, however, such as a Michael Kors purse and a really nice Anne Klein coat.  I never get designer stuff, so I feel very fancy.

Christmas Eve was kind of an adventure.  My sister realized, kind of completely out of the blue, that we didn’t have our annual holiday cheese ball.  Apparently, she believed that you don’t actually go out and buy a cheese ball.  Around Christmastime, one just magically materializes inside the refrigerator.  After assuring her that this was not, in fact, the case, we went out to buy a cheese ball.

Well, as it turns out, cheese balls are very popular around the holidays.  We ended up going all around town, to three different stores, ON CHRISTMAS EVE just to find her dang cheese ball.

Apparently, if we had not found this particular cheese ball (port wine… because cheddar isn’t good enough or something), then Christmas would have been ruined, her life would have been over, and the Horseman of the Apocalypse probably would have trampled our house to the ground.

But in the end, Christmas was saved.  Thank God.

Aside from the Great Cheese Ball Expedition, Christmas was beautiful.  We went to Midnight Mass and reconnected with a lot of old friends.

We enjoyed a vintage Christmas around my sister’s new record player.

And of course, we spent Christmas Day with our friends, the Kisers.  Sadly, there was no toilet this year.  I did come in second place in Mario Kart, however, which is nothing short of a Christmas Miracle.

Over the weekend, we got to spend time with my older sister, brother-in-law, niece, nephew, his girlfriend (they are so unbelievably cute together), and my crazy cousins (I say crazy in the best possible way).  It was great to see them and to spend that time with family.  My sister and her family live about two hours away, so we don’t get to see them that often.  I do have to take a moment to brag on my nephew, however, who will be attending the University of Texas next year and playing on their baseball team.  Next stop: the Major Leagues!

Finally, I have to tell you all about quite possibly the coolest thing to have happened to me as an author.  I ran into a guy yesterday at Barnes and Noble.  We got to talking about books and I told him to friend me on GoodReads.  As soon as he did, he looks up at me and goes, “Wait… You wrote Cemetery Tours?”

I said, “Yeah.”

He goes, “You are not going to believe me.  You are going to think I’m lying.  But my mom has this book.  She wants me to read it but I’m afraid it’s going to be about killers and stuff.”

Can I just tell you that it is the coolest thing to meet a complete stranger who knows about your book?  It seriously made my entire day.

Speaking of books, I am so excited, not only about Boy Band and the third Cemetery Tours book, but about all the books I have in my head.  Sometimes, I wish I could clone myself so I could work on all these books at once.  Not only do I want to finish the CT series, I have a follow up novel to the new one, I have a whole different series planned in my head, I have at least two stand alone novels that I want to write, and another series that I began working on in college.  It never ends, people.  It really never ends.  But I’m glad it doesn’t.  It can get very confusing, but for the most part, my brain is kind of a neat place.  There’s always some form of entertainment.

As for the New Year, my goal is to get in as much writing as possible.  I will be publishing at least two new books and hopefully working on several more.  I’m also really hoping to keep cleaning out my numerous possessions that I don’t use and donate them to a good cause (Operation Kindness is actually going to get a lot tomorrow).  I just feel so much lighter and freer without the clutter.  Finally, once my fresh batch of fudge is gone, I’m back on the healthy bandwagon.  Christmas was great, but I ate SO much that I shouldn’t have.  It will probably take me months to recover.

On that note, I think I’m going to go see if I can find anything else to donate.  I hope you all have had a wonderful holiday season and that your good fortune continues on well into the new year!  I’ll talk to you soon.