Advent Day 10 -- Christmas Traditions with Seeker Sandra Leesmith

Sandra Leesmith

Hello Seekerville,

What a blessing to be invited back to fellowship with you.  I understand we are sharing our Christmas traditions. How fun is that?  I am enjoying the traditions shared so far and look forward to the rest of the month. 

For years hubby and I spent Thanksgiving with his folks and Christmas with mine. Every year, we would drive to Lake Tahoe and spend the two weeks of Christmas break with my mom. After the 16 hour drive, we would arrive to the welcoming smells of pine trees outdoors and indoors, pot roast in the crock pot that she always had ready for us.  To this day, I can smell that pot roast and to this day, I still can’t make it like Mom did.  sigh. 

We stopped taking pictures because every year we looked the same and sometimes we were even in the same bathrobe and slippers. But Mom always had the tree up with her special ornaments and she would put up the nativity scene that I made for her in the seventies. 

Since my folks have passed to be with the Lord on His birthday, we still have some of the same  traditions. I inherited the nativity scene and put that up every year. 

I have many of the same ornaments on the tree. When Mom was with us, I always bought an ornament from where we were traveling. So I inherited those also. Now don’t laugh at our tree. It is on a table so that it is above tail height of our Labrador Retrievers we’ve had over the years. If you know labs, their tails can wipe off all the ornaments with one wag and our pups were happy. 

One of our other traditions is that with my family, we always made our gifts. This adorable mouse was made by my sister. So he goes up every year. 

I inherited the snowman that my sister made for my mom.  He goes up every year.  I usually put him on the couch, but this year he is sitting in a bookcase because we are pet sitting a spaniel who loves sitting on the couch.

For many years we were in our motorhome, so decorations were limited. (However, must admit a lot easier LOL)  I posted this years ago, but thought I’d remind you how much fun we had in RV resorts during Christmas. 

But now we have made some more life changes and are not traveling in our motorhome. We are enjoying our beautiful homes so can decorate and follow old traditions from the past. One of my traditions that I’ve followed no matter what lifestyle we were enjoying is to write a poem to include in our Christmas cards.  They are always pretty corny, but they tell our friends the highlights of the year.  You can get the idea from this year’s poem. 

On Christmas morning, we always read the Christmas story from the Bible and enjoy a cup of coffee and orange bread made from Grandma’s recipe. I shared that with you in one of my earlier posts, but will be happy to share it again. I used to make the orange bread to give my family for Christmas, but my darling nieces have taken up that tradition. (I’m so thankful)  To make up for my slack, I do give everyone a box of Sees candy.  

Recipe GRANDMA’S ORANGE BREAD

From Sandra Leesmith Serves    12

             Cooking time  1 hour Preheat oven to  350 degrees

Ingredients:

2 rinds of medium orange (chopped)    3 cups flour

2 cups water 3 tsp baking powder

½ cup sugar 1 tsp salt

1 tbsp Crisco or coconut oil 1 cup milk

1 cup sugar 1 egg beaten

Cook rind in water until tender (@ 10 min). Drain water, add ½ cup sugar until it melts.  Cool mixture.

Add 1 cup sugar to melted Crisco. Mix well. Add beaten egg. 

Then add cooled orange rind mix.

Sift dry ingredients and add alternately with milk to range mixture beating well after each addition.  Begin and end with flour mixture.

Pour in greased loaf pan. Sprinkle sugar on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes. Cool on rack ten minutes. Remove from pan and cool.

One of the things I do faithfully every day is list all the things I am thankful for. This pleases the Lord and it gets me in the right Christmas attitude because we do have so much to be thankful for.  

One thing I’m always thankful for is a good romance novel. Thank you all for writing such wonderful books for us to share.  

For a gift, I’m celebrating with a long time follower of Seekerville, Mark Abel. His first novel just came out and I’m giving away 2 ebook copies of Ephesus A Tale of Two Cities. 

And in honor of my Christmas tradition, I’m giving away a box of Sees Chocolate Mint Truffles  (My favorite Christmas sweet)  

Please indicate in your comment if you’re interested in your name going in the drawing for these gifts.  

Have a wonderful holiday season, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Sandra Leesmith wrote many sweet romances designed to warm the heart and make you smile. Sandra loves to play pickleball, hike, read, and bicycle. A retired teacher and author, she lives in Arizona with her husband.

Find books by Sandra Leesmith in both Kindle and Print versions.

Several of Sandra’s books are also available in audio version.

You can contact Sandra at:

Website: sandraleesmith.com

Facebook: Sandra Wardman Smith

Don't forget the Advent Giveaway!

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Sandra Leesmith Celebrates Christmas With Us!

Hello Seekerville,

How fun to join you again today.  I was just up to the North Pole and got caught in a whirlwind of activity with Santa and Mrs. Claus. Guess what Mrs. Claus wants to do now?

Write a novel.

My, my, they took advantage of my visit and picked my brain.

Now you might be asking what I was doing up at the North Pole and you might also be asking why Mrs. Claus has the sudden urge to write a novel.

Well it turns out both are for the same reason. We both have had a lot of changes in our lives and the old traditions we had for Christmas just won’t be happening any more. In my case, family and friends have moved on to celebrate with the Lord and so we won’t be traveling to California to their house as usual and won’t have the big family get-together, bicycle rides on the beach or the homemade tomales.

In Mrs. Claus life, she has all this time on her hands because their children are taking over most of the jobs she used to do. She is delighted with this change because it gives her time to pursue a dream she has apparently harbored in her heart for years.

Santa advised both of us to find a new tradition to replace the old. How fun is that?  And you know how the Lord places us in positions to help each other. So that is how I came to be around to help Mrs. Claus. I’d never been to the North Pole and thought it would be a perfect destination for the holidays.

Mrs. Claus has never written a novel before so we had to start at the beginning.  Placing my finger on my chin, I thought back to that lovely visit. I asked her what kind of books she loves to read because that is the genre you would be best at writing.

“Romance novels,” she replied.

“Great,” I responded, excitement bouncing around in my heart,  “I happen to have a lot of experience in that genre and I know a great place to get help.”

“Where is that?”

“Seekerville .”  And I told her all about the wonderful support and writing tips that abound on this marvelous blog.

 Mrs. Claus wrote down all the contact information and smiled, “I’m ready. So what do I need to know?”

“The elements of story to start with,” I settled into the big wing back chair and tucked the down comforter around my legs. “A romance involves a heroin and hero who fall in love, but there are conflicts that prevent them from doing so. The story shows how they resolve those conflicts so that they can live happily ever after.”

“I have a heroine for sure and I think my hero might take after Mr. Claus a wee bit.”

“That’s perfectly normal to use people we know as character models.”

“I’d be careful not to make it obvious,” Mrs. Clause twirled a strand of her white hair around her finger.

“There is a problem with using characters we know and love.” I chewed on the end of my pen. “There has to be conflict. We need to be mean to those characters and make their life rough.”

Lines creased across Mrs. Claus’s brow. “I can’t be mean.”

I straightened and pointed my finger. “Exactly. That is why its best to make up your character. Because my dear, you will have to write in problems that will make it seem its impossible for the hero and heroine to ever get together. Read some of the Seeker novels. They are very good at doing that. Their characters get into some real pickles sometimes.”

Santa danced around the Christmas tree. “You don’t do so badly yourself on that score, Miss Sandra. Tell her about poor Danny on the isolated and primitive island in the San Juan Straights. The city guy had to be taught how to dig for clams, collect oysters off the rocks and….”

“Yes, the heroine of LOVE’S REFUGE, who had escaped to the island because of the trauma she’d faced in an attack from gangs in the city.” I smiled, happy Santa thought to use an example from one of my books.

“I get it,” Mrs. Claus straightened, “She’s a country girl and he’s a city boy.”

“Oh yes, but its much more complicated than that. He works with youth trying to get  out of gangs.”

Santa turned and winked. “The novel was quite humorous during their trials on the island, but when Skye found out about his work, it put her to the test.”

“And that’s another thing you need to keep in mind.” I tapped her notepad. “The hero and heroine need to grow and overcome their flaws.”

Mrs. Claus scribbled more notes onto her notepad.

“The other element you need for story is a setting. And it helps to make it intricate to the conflicts within the plot.” I readjusted the comforter before it slipped to the floor.

“In LOVE’S PROMISES, the setting played a key role.” Santa stepped back, admiring his handiwork. “The heroine wanted to build her famous father’s last house at Lake Tahoe, but the hero worked for the agency that prevented her from doing so.”

“I get it.” Mrs. Clause grabbed Santa’s elbow and spun around in a delightful dance.

Snatching up the notepad that had dropped on the floor, I quickly scrawled a list.

ELEMENTS OF STORY

1.      Strong characters

2.      Setting

3.      Conflict

4.      Growth of characters in resolution of the conflict.

Mrs. Claus clapped her hands before grasping the notepad. “This is wonderful. I’m ready to write.”

“You have a start, but I advise you to get online and follow Seekerville. Each post is stock full of helpful tips and useful information.”

“Thank you so much.” Mrs. Claus hugged me tight.

I smiled, thankful I had made the journey even though it was freezing out.

And hey, since autographed books make terrific Christmas gifts, I will pick two winners for my latest book "Love's Healing."

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Sandra Leesmith is retired now, but she used to write sweet romances to warm the heart. Sandra loves to play pickleball, hike, read, bicycle and write. She is based in Arizona, but she and her husband travel throughout the United States in their motorhome and enjoy the outdoors. Sandra’s books are still available and three of her most popular books are audio books. You can find all of Sandra’s books and audio books on Amazon.

Where oh Where is Sandra Leesmith????

We were all so excited to have our buddy Sandra back today!!!

We bought streamers...

We ordered food!!!!

We hung signs that said  Welcome back, Sandra!

 We Miss You, Sandra!!! :)

Hurry Home, Sandra!!!!

And then...

Yup. Right then.

We realized that our beloved Sandra was on the calendar not to post a brilliant blog about writing or pickleball or elder care or love....

SIGH.

Wait.

NO SIGH! Because Sandra was on the day because of her BIRTHDAY!!!!
So instead of a learning post from Sandra...

IT'S BIRTHDAY BASH TIME!!!!!

And we have a basket of books to send out (well, really an ENVELOPE of books, mailing baskets is crazy expensive) and some looks back at our beloved Sandra....

On this her 53rd birthday!!!!!  (Okay, this was really a conference pic, but look how beautiful she is!!!!!)

Here's our pretty gal!!!!

And here is the Pickleball Queen!!!!! Go Sandra! Go!!!

And Sandra loved, loved, loved her dogs...

Cody and Suzy.....

So that's what Sandra's up to.... Living life to the full. And if you see her, be sure to wish her a happy birthday!

And if you want to talk about books.... or writing.... or what's coming up in your crazy lives...

Well, you're at the right place.

Leave a comment to be entered for a bunch of delightful books!