Anny Cook's Blog, page 90

Blue Paradise Release Today!

Yay! It's release day for Blue Paradise~~Number Five of the Mystic Valley series! This is Mali, Jonson and Poussé's story.Blurb: <!--[if gte mso 9]>

Wedding Day

It was 1967, forty-three years ago. A virulent influenza was sweeping the Midwest, though that didn't seem to impinge much on my life. I was caught up in preparing for a wedding. My wedding.I was young--just eighteen--and truly, the entire world centered around my plans. It was a small wedding, but it was my wedding, held in a small brick church in Albany Park, Chicago, Illinois. The church has

Surprise Christmas

The end of 1964 was an incredibly turbulent time. In November on my fourteenth birthday, President Kennedy was assassinated. It was in the beginning years of the Vietnam War. The Cuban Missile crisis was not long before that. Uncertainty was everywhere. So herewith, the story of Christmas 1964.Christmas 1964. That was the year that Christmas wasn't going to bring even one gift…we thought.

Food Pantry Feast

Frannie surveyed the pantry shelves in dismay. There wasn't much left after she assembled the last of the Christmas baskets for the record number of needy families this year. Jonas, their volunteer who had already picked up the baskets for delivery, was long gone.Now, Mrs. McCandless, her neighbor lady, had reluctantly called the pantry for help. Her pension check was late and she had no

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

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Navy Christmas

Christmas 1992. My second son's graduation from Navy basic training at Great Lakes Naval Base was scheduled for December 23rd. Not the best time, was it? It had been a very rough year. Our youngest daughter's behavior had finally reached the point where we knew that we could no longer parent her effectively. Heartbroken beyond hurt, we placed her in a boarding school for kids with behavior

Herald, the Christmas Mouse

It was two days before Christmas and Herald, the Christmas Mouse was too tired to move. When humans started the Christmas Shopping Season, they didn't think about how hazardous all those busy shoppers were for the mice. Why, a mouse could barely scurry across the wide hallways in the mall without someone stepping on his tail--or worse! It was up to Herald to take care of all the tiny

Decorating the Tree

Of all the decorating at Christmas, perhaps the tree is the most personal item we decorate. It reflects who we are and where we've been more accurately than anything else.Our first Christmas we had a Charlie Brown tree. Oddly enough, the cartoon that phrase is from wasn't even around back then. Our tree was a "real" tree, on the spindly side. We had about sixteen hand-me-down ornaments from my

First Christmas

Christmas 1967. We were married nine days. It was our big family Christmas that year in Gary, Indiana (as opposed to the family Thanksgiving which was on opposite years). My new husband and I traveled down there with my parents and brothers.Dad had a Volkswagon van that the heat never worked in. My feet froze the entire way--coming and going--even though we sat in the very back of the van right

The IOU

1983. Through the years there have been many "skimpy" Christmases in our family. Many. For some reason, we always seemed to be in our worst financial shape in December.I am well aware that many families survive this situation by using that little plastic rectangle. But we didn't have any of those. None.This particular Christmas, we lived in Houston. The kids had a long wish list. And we had an