What happened to 2016?

Seriously! I think I blinked my eyes and the calendar flipped right to December.

Maya's Musings started off slowly this year... Still, it ended up being a fabulous year with many, many wonderful guests! I love having guests! It's an amazing opportunity to share great books and talented authors with my readers... and a heart-stopping thrill to connect with some of my favorite authors at the same time.

March featured a cover reveal for Summerita Rhayne's His Christmas Delight.

I had the privilege of interviewing Roxanne St. Claire, in June. She spoke to us about her Barefoot Bay Timeless series.

July featured Madison Sevier, Tara Taylor Quinn, Jinxie G, Karen Rose Smith, Devika Fernando, and Ashley Scott for the "My Favorite" series. These fabulous authors shared what favorite song, book, or movie inspires their writing. Not surprising, these ladies were quite creative in their responses...

Some interesting characters visited in August... Dr. Burke Clarke from Tara Taylor Quinn's For Love or Money, Blueford from Tyler Robbins' Heaven's Just a Sin Away, and Boston from Alexis Alvarez's Boston.

In August, I signed a contract for my latest book with Tirgearr Publishing! Stay tuned for a release in February... I am very happy to join the Tirgearr Team - I met some awesome fellow authors there and wanted to introduce them to the Maya's Musings fans - Abbey MacMunn, Kathleen Rowland, Elizabeth Delisi, and Susan Clayton-Goldner all dropped by in October.

November meant Nanowrimo... a.k.a. National Novel Writing Month. I didn't participate this year, but I decided to take the month off–anyway–to do a bit of writing.

Then–before I knew it–it was December. Bye-bye 2016!

Welcome 2017, I hope you will be an awesome writing year!

(And I hope this video plays!)

Merry Christmas!

<Contains Christmas spoilers>

Santa Claus never brought me presents when I was a child. I wasn’t “bad” or living in some remote part of the world. My parents told me he didn’t exist. Their actual words were something like, “Santa doesn’t come to our house.” As an adult, when I tell other parents I never had Santa (or the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy), they are shocked. In my family, Christmas was celebrated for its religious origins. My parents were anti-commercialism. On Christmas morning, I got presents, but I knew they were from my parents. I don’t fault my parents for their choice, but I do feel like I missed something. My kids have Santa (and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy). It adds a magic to Christmas I had never experienced prior to having children. Plus, it’s a great threat to keep them in line all year long! <wink>

Since I never had family traditions to follow, our kids have the same “Santa” as my husband did when he was a child. Santa brings all the presents (wrapped) and presents don’t get opened before Christmas Day. It’s great my kids have Santa, but it sucks we work so hard to find those gifts they really want (and happen to be the toy of the season) and we don’t get any credit. I know when they look back at their childhood they will know it was us all those years, but <sigh> what about now? In this information age, it’s actually amazing they (at ages 6 and 8) still believe. Especially when the “Santa traditions” vary from family to family.

From one house to another:

• ·      Santa brings one present for each child.
• ·      Santa doesn’t wrap the presents.
• ·      Santa brings socks, underwear, and a tooth brush.
• ·      Santa doesn’t bring electronics.

When the kids are in school and they talk about Christmas, what do they think about all the contradictions? Aren’t they curious why Santa treats each child differently? Maybe the answer can be found in the simple faith of a child? The belief in magic.

I see now my childhood lacked magic… The grown-up truth about Christmas robbed me of something special. Fantasy re-captures the magic I missed… It’s no wonder I write paranormal!

I love Christmas, I’m not a Scrooge, and I will keep “Santa” for as long as they believe. (And the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.) And the paramount marvel on their faces that special morning means we’ve kept the magic alive for another year.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas (celebrating with whatever traditions you hold) and a healthy and positive 2017.