Holiday Hop

Bird's Christmas Carol is my favorite Christmas story of all time.  It is the story of the youngest child of a rich family who is bedridden and is spending all her time arranging a good Christmas for a poor family.


It's not the sort of story that my friends think of when they think of me, it is a sweet story about a saintly child and it makes me cry every time. 


The book was written and published in 1887 and was written by Kate Douglas Wiggin who also wrote Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and opened the first free kindergarten in San Francisco.  The book is available On Guttenberg


Now go here to pin a picture of your favorite Christmas story to be entered to win a Kindle or a $25 Amazon gift card. 


Leave a comment in this blog for a chance to win a thimble charm a pdf copy of  one of my stories and an Amazon gift card.




Jamie Brumfield  Amanda Bennett  Michele Mathews  Julia Mills Elizabeth Inglee Richards
Carol Ann Kauffman   Jennifer Chambers  Diane Rinella  Angela Ford Terri Carle
Sharon Kleve Melanie James  Mariah Dietz   Serena Zane   Jennifer Conner  Amanda Bennett
R.E. Hargrave  Ella Medler    Aubree Lane  Rebecca Sherwin  Teri Riggs
Ava O'Shay  Andie Lea  Dzintra Sullivan  Andrea Perno  Jennifer Theriot Chris Karlsen
Al Parks L.A. Remenicky Emma Lee Skye   A.L. Wood Jayne Hyatt Amber Daulton
Joanne Jaytanie  Kelly Cozzone   J.D. Hollyfield  Patricia Kiyono Elle Klass
T.I. Lowe  Tammy Tate  Jackie Marilla  Casey Harvell  Denise Kawaii  Natalie-Nicole Bates  Kelly Ann Jacobson  Moira Keith Michele Gwynn  Tracey Alvarez  Mary Bernsen

Holiday Gifts of Love Blog Hop

My favorite Christmas movie right now is Rare Exports,  a Finnish movie about a small community of reindeer hunters who have the misfortune to live near the mountain ‘home’ of the real Santa. This movie is a dark comedy and is both subtly and occasionally laugh out loud funny. I love the way that rural people aren’t shown as idiots, like they normally seem to be in movies made for distribution in the US. Also the movie shows a lovely relationship between father and son.







Just to warn you, there are naked old men in Rare Exports. Here is the trailer.




I also wanted to mention the Saint Nick movie. This is a fun horror set in Amsterdam. Saint Nick comes back to terrorize the people of Amsterdam when a full moon falls on December 5th. There is a running joke about the situation hurting the Dutch relationship with Spain, since the local legend says St Nick takes bad children to his castle in Spain.




 

For my horsey friends, St Nick has a lovely horse.


I will be giving away an Amazon gift card, a beaded bracelet and earing set and a copy of my Christmas story Rejoice: a Burden.  To enter let me know what your favorite holiday movie is!  

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Entry-Form

Sorry for the long delay!

     I was out of town with work. Every year the company I work for does a few retail shows. It is sort of an odd thing, you would think that they would be a heap of fun. I mean you go someplace and there are heaps of shopping opportunities and there are clinics about just about every type of horse and riding styles. 
     Mind you, what we see is our booth.
     Even with that it can be a heap of fun. This year we had an awesome group. The two new people Gabby (a professional photographer, who I totally didn't get a website for) and Mel from Evening Star Arabians were both easy going and good traveling companions. Nothing to awful happened beyond issues with the credit card machine and unfortunately that is kinda normal.

 
     Rhonda from Horsey Set Net stopped by and took this pic of me (it’s a good pic! I can be hard to photograph) with my helmets.

     I got to run through the breed barn and took pics of four breeds. You will be seeing most of those pics in the next month or so. 
     For the first time in what feels like forever I had fun at a show. I even came back with an idea for a business.
     The trick to having a good time is good company - and we had super good company this time. That said, it still takes me what feels like a billion years before I come back to normal after a show. 
     Next post will be part of a blog hop and then there will be two posts about the Arab horse. That breed is way to much to handle in one post, so you will get a bonus post! 

 

Liz

blog-cation

Well not a vacation, but more of an excuse.


It's that magical 'I just can't get anything done' time of the year, but I'll be back at it soon. 

Barb, easily confused?

We think of this as a Spanish breed but the Barb comes from North Africa. When brought to Europe they were confused with a Middle Eastern breed, the Arab, because the owners of both breeds were mostly Arabic speakers. 

The Barb

 

As someone mostly descended from Northern Europeans I find that really embarrassing.

Barbs are small horses, mostly under 15.2 (62 inches) with a high head and withers and a sloping croup with a straight shoulder.

 

It doesn’t look anything like an Arab.

The Arab

The Barb isn’t known for strong gaits but is a fantastic sprinter and has been used to develop Thoroughbreds Standardbreds. The Barb and Jennet were both influential in the development of Quarter Horses, Appaloosa and the Mustang.