"Engaging Father Christmas"

"Engaging Father Christmas" is the second movie in the Father Christmas trilogy which is part of Hallmark's Miracles of Christmas series. 

In "Finding Father Christmas" Miranda travels from Seattle to Carlton Heath on the east coast to learn the identity of her birth father.  When her mother died suddenly when she was a young girl, Miranda had never been told who her father was.  However, a picture returned to her in a suitcase that belonged to her mother led her to Carlton Heath and the identity of her father -- James Whitcomb, an actor, now deceased.

Although the Whitcomb family welcomes her, they ask her to not tell anyone that she is James' daughter as they don't want a family scandal.  When Miranda returns to spend Christmas with the Whitcomb family the following year and to become engaged to Ian, the local man she fell in love with last year, someone has discovered her true parentage and is threatening to tell all.  She fears the family she has found will want nothing to do with her if that happens.

I love this series and I cannot wait to see the last episode in the trilogy - "Marrying Father Christmas."  Unfortunately, it just aired in December 2018 and is not yet available at my local library!  pazt

"Snow Bride"

"Snow Bride" is another part of Hallmark's Countdown to Christmas movie series available from my local library now that Christmas is over and not all the other patrons are wanting to watch Christmas movies.

"Snow Bride" is a cute story about a reporter, Greta, who works for the tabloid, Pulse.  She and a fellow reporter are sent to get some dirt on a famous political family for their first on-line issue.  The successful one will become the new editor of the magazine.  Greta arrives in a snow storm, gets her car stuck in a snow drift and is rescued by one of the family's sons.  When his younger brother brings home his ex-girlfriend, he blurts out that Greta is his new girlfriend and she agrees to play along.  What she discovers is a nice family that has no dirt to spill but how does she extricate herself from the situation without hurting anyone and how does the ex-girlfriend's dirt get exposed?  Another heartwarming Christmas story from Hallmark...pazt

"What The Deaf Man Heard"

"What The Deaf Man Heard" is a Hallmark Gold Crown Collector's Edition movie and it is great.  Sammy Ayers is being raised by a single mom and they board a bus for Georgia hoping to change their lives.  En route, Sammy's mother gets off the bus to stretch her legs at a stop while Sammy is sleeping and she disappears.  When he arrives alone at his destination, the bus driver insists he is now the charge of the station master, Norman Jenkins (played by Tom Skerritt) and at some point Sammy decides to pretend that he is deaf.  He ends up growing up living in a room with a cot in the back of the station being watched over by Norm and a waitress, Lucille, who works there.  He becomes the town's handy man.  He also becomes friends with a local trash hauler played by James Earl Jones and, because people don't think he can hear, he becomes privy to a lot of secrets.  Eventually, some secrets are too big to keep and he has to speak out and use his voice to right some wrongs.  What he learns about himself in the process changes his life.  I think this is one of my favorite Hallmark movies!  pazt

"Heaven Is For Real For Kids"

"Heaven Is For Real For Kids" as told by Colton Burpo to his parents Todd & Sonja Burpo is the story of  how Colton experienced heaven during an emergency operation at three years of age.  This book is his story as told to his parents to share with other children.

I grew up in a Baptist Church and moved from Baptist to Southern Baptist to Methodist to Congregational to Unity and now belong to a Unitarian Universalist Church so,  you might think my views on religion might have changed over the years to reflect my transition to more liberal congregations.  However, my views essentially have always pretty much remained the same - It is not important to me what happens after I die.  I'm not afraid of death - more afraid of experiencing a lot of pain or suffering while dying.

Colton's experiences to me reflected what he would have expected to see from his Sunday School experiences but what I cannot explain is the little girl who "wouldn't stop hugging me" who is surmised to be his sister who'd died in utero.  If this story will bring comfort to parents and/or children, I thank the Burpos for sharing it.  pazt

"Finding Father Christmas"

"Finding Father Christmas" is part of the "Most Wonderful Movies Christmas" Hallmark series.

Miranda was 9 when her mother died in the midst of a Christmas play.  Miranda and her mother had traveled all over the United States for her mother's work as an actress.  Since she'd never told Miranda who her father was and there was no other family, some friends of her mother's took her in.

Miranda has a stable career in Seattle that does not involve the nomadic life she led with her mother but Christmas is always a sad time for her and she tends to work through it.  This year is different, though, when she gets a call about something of her mother's that has been found in a Seattle theater where her mother last performed.  A suitcase was discovered when the theater was being remodeled and an employee who remembered Miranda and her mother tracks her down to return it to her.

When Miranda opens the suitcase, she finds some items that puzzle her including a picture of Father Christmas holding a small boy on his lap.  This unexpected clue takes her to a small town in Vermont and a stay in an Inn over Christmas.  What she discovers there is the true meaning of family and of love.  I think this may be one of my favorite Hallmark movies to date.  There is a follow up movie that I will be looking for next, "Engaging Father Christmas."  pazt

"Lost and Found Sisters"

"Lost and Found Sisters" is the first book I've read by Jill Shalvis but it has left me wanting to read more of her novels.

Quinn Weller has been adrift since losing her younger sister in a car accident.  They were close in age and the best of friends.  She has loving parents, her dream job in a Los Angeles eatery, and  a long-time friend/boyfriend anxious to marry her (just as her and his parents are also anxious for that to happen).

Quinn's life changes in a minute, though, when a lawyer approaches her to tell her that she was adopted at birth and her birthmother has just died and left her a small cafe in the small town of Wildstone, CA (a few miles north of L.A.) and a teenage younger sister.

She confronts her parents as to why she was never told she was adopted and on an impulse heads to Wildstone to learn more about her mother, her inheritance, and her younger sister.  It's not all a bed of roses as she tries to connect with her grieving sister and become her custodial "parent."  She also finds herself reopening her mother's restaurant and learns there are no secrets in Wildstone!  Then she meets Mick who has a partnership in San Francisco but is reluctantly back in Wildstone regularly to help his mother after his dad's death.  Sparks fly between he and Quinn.  Will a blossoming romance and a younger sister who needs her be enough to keep Quinn in Wildstone?  Will she be able to resolve her conflicting emotions and forgive her adoptive parents?  There is a lot of depth to this story and it rings true to me having worked in the field of adoption and being an adoptive mother myself.  pazt

"Charming Christmas"

"Charming Christmas" is another movie in Hallmark's Countdown to Christmas series.  The story centers around Meredith who is taking over the reins of her family's Rossman Department Store.  They're in the midst of a busy Christmas season but she (and her parents who are still involved in the business) are entertaining a proposition to sell their store so it can grow and an old business school acquaintance of Meredith's is leading the charge.  I think he might have his eyes on Meredith as well!

In the meantime, Meredith's mom hires Nick to be this year's new store Santa in their Santaville Department.  Meredith is all business and about making money while Nick charms children and adults alike and gets to know everyone in town.  As Meredith fills in as Mrs. Santa on occasion in Santaville, she becomes better acquainted with Nick and he has the opportunity to open her up to the non business side of Christmas and help her get to know her employees on a personal front.

When the final offer comes in for the store. will Meredith still be trying to sell her parents on the idea or will she now be concerned about the fate of the employees who work at Rossman and what about her relationship with Nick?  "Charming Christmas" is a charming tale.  pazt

"The Old Man & The Gun"

Robert Redford portrays Forrest Tucker (a true life criminal) in "The Old Man & The Gun."  Tucker started his life of crime as a teenager and has been in and out of jail ever since as well as executing plenty of successful escapes from jail -- the last one at age 70.  The movie co-stars Sissy Spacek as a love interest who is unaware of the real Forrest Tucker.  Casey Affleck plays the detective determined to catch Tucker after discovering his identity and his role in the "Over The Hill Gang" -- made up of Tucker and 2 friends who are robbing banks all over the country.

I'd read a write up of this movie and the story interested me.  It's billed as a "charming comedy that will steal your heart" but I couldn't see it as a comedy.  I always enjoy watching Robert Redford in any role, though!  pazt

"The Indigo Girl"

"The Indigo Girl" is a novel by Natasha Boyd but it is based on the life of Eliza Lucas, who at age 16 was left in charge of her family's three plantations in South Carolina when her father returns to Antigua leaving his wife and two daughters behind as he pursued a military commission.

Eliza's mother is not well enough to take charge and Eliza's two younger brothers are still in England being educated and her younger sister is much too young.  Eliza's mother is determined to see Eliza married but Eliza is determined not to marry unless she can marry for love versus to enhance her family fortunes.

Evenutally, Eliza is able to pursue her dream of  raising indigo on the home plantation and making a dye that rivals the French indigo that breaks English dependence on the French for that product -- at a time when the two countries are warring.

Eliza's father does recommend she take advantage of some gentlemen he knows if she needs assistance - one a horticulturist and one an attorney -- and she does seek their advice. 

Although the families all own slaves, Eliza believes in treating them fairly and she does teach her slaves to read and she doesn't respect those who will not treat slaves humanely.  In return for teaching them to read, the slaves agree to teach Eliza the secrets of making indigo dye.    Eliza runs her plantation with a firm hand and a better head for business than her father had, I think, as she begins to pay off mortgages.  Unfortunately, she also has some setbacks.  When her brother, Charles, comes of age to return and take over the plantation, she and her mother and younger sister make plans to join her father in Antigua.

Eliza has made many good friends in South Carolina and is reluctant to leave this life behind.  Charles Pinckney's wife (a good friend to Eliza and her mother) dies after a lingering illness and leaves Charles, the family attorney friend, bereft and mourning her loss for several years.  Before Eliza departs for Antigua, she and Charles meet at her plantation and declare their love for one another so she ends up marrying him and staying in South Carolina.

If you visit Charleston, Boyd says much of the Pinckney history is told in the life of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Eliza's son.  Although she was ambitious and headstrong and didn't always conform to what society expected of her, she was never idle but not much is remembered of her other than her marrying Pinckney.

Charles and Eliza's sons are both historically significant - Thomas being tied to the Pinckney Treaty and Charles was one of the Founding Fathers of the USA who represented South Carolina at the Constitutional Convention in 1787.  President George Washington was a pallbearer at Eliza's funeral.

Two hundred years after she died, Eliza Lucas Pinckney was inducted into the South Carolina Women in Business Hall of Fame.  In 2005, a new chapter of the National Society for the Daughters of the American Revolution organized in her honor naming themselves the Eliza Lucas Pinckney chapter of the NSDAR.  The state flag of South Carolina is still blue in honor of indigo.

I had not realized until I read this book what importance Indigo played in United States history and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about this remarkable young woman. pazt

Collecting Recipes

Is anyone else a collector of recipes and cookbooks?  I have more than I can prepare the rest of my lifetime! 

Today is a snow day -- 7 inches at least in the past week and it's still coming down at our home.  That makes is a good day to go through "stuff" and recycle, purge, etc.  I found a pile of recipes that I collected from the internet or magazines in 2008 so that is 11 years ago.  What it has shown me is how much our lifestyle has changed in that time frame. 

Our oldest daughter has been plant-based for 16 plus years and encouraged us to check it out when my husband started having some health problems in 2016 and 2017.  On her advice we attended Dr. John McDougall's 10-day Intensive in Santa Rosa, CA, in December of 2017.  We made a road trip of it driving from Seattle to Portland the first night then to Redding, CA, the second night, and on to Santa Rosa the third day arriving a day ahead of the start.  On the way home we took the coast route going from Santa Rosa to the California coast staying in California the first night, Newport, OR, in a timeshare we have there the second night and on to Kalaloch Lodge in Washington for 2 nights before coming home in time to do our Christmas shopping.

It has certainly changed the way we eat - avoiding meat, dairy and oil.  When I went through that pile of 2008 clippigns, I was able to toss most into the recycle pile.  There were a few that I think I might be able to adapt or look on-line for plant based healthy versions of the same recipe.

Another daunting task ahead of me is getting rid of my non-plant based cookbooks to make room for all the new plant-based cookbooks I've purchased.  They have been with me through most of my 57 years of marriage so it may be hard to part with all of them but I am definitely going to try.  At this time of my life it is beginning to be about recycling, donating, and purging however way it works.  pazt

"A Very Merry Mix-Up"

"A Very Merry Mix-Up" is another Countdown To Christmas" Hallmark movie starring Alicia Witt as Alice and Mark Wiebe as Matt.  Alice inherited her father's antique store in New York City after his death when her mother decided to move to Florida to be near her sister.  She is struggling but loves the family business.  Right before Christmas Will, the man she met through internet dating, proposes and suggests they spend Christmas with his family so she can meet them.  When he is delayed by a real estate business deal, he sends her on ahead.

That's when things begin to go haywire as her luggage is lost and she bumps (literally) into his brother Matt and her phone stops working and they have a car accident on the way to the family home.  Things begin to improve when she meets his family and falls in love with them although they hadn't heard of "Billy's" engagement as Will wanted to surprise his parents with the news.

When Will turns up, though, with an offer to sell her store for several million dollars and she learns she's been getting to know the wrong family, Alice has to look at what she really wants in her life and who she wants to spend it with.  pazt

"Crown For Christmas"

"Crown For Christmas" is part of Hallmark's "Countdown to Christmas" and stars Rupert Penry-Jones, an English actor born into a family of actors.  My spouse and I first remember him from "The 39 Steps."  His co-star in "Crown for Christmas" is Danica McKellar who is an American actress.  Although Danica may be best known for her role as Winnie Cooper on "The Wonder Years," she has written a number of best-selling books about math, including "Math Doesn't Suck" plus she's an education advocate.   She graduated summa cum laude from UCLA in 1998 with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics.  While there she and Professor Lincoln Chayes and a fellow student named Brandy Winn worked together to come up with a new mathematical proof which was named the Charles-McKellar-Winn theorem.

In "Crown For Christmas" Danica is Allie, a young woman who gave up  art school to return home to raise her younger brother and sister when her parents were killed in an accident.  Although her siblings are now grown, she and her sister are still supporting the family with jobs as maids in a hotel in New York while their brother attends college.  When Allie accidentally bumps into a VIP guest, little does she know the ramifications.  She and her sister lose their jobs at the hotel but she is immediately offered a position as a governess.  Thus begins her adventure!  The man (Rupert Penry-Jones) she bumped into in the hotel is King of a little known country whose New York born wife died four years ago and left him with a grieving and impossible daughter who has run through governesses like a steamroller.  However, Allie is prepared for that as it is much like having to raise her younger siblings!

The King's Chancellor believes it is important for the King to remarry and bring the kingdom together with a wedding.  His deceased parents destined him to marry Lady Celia but he found his own true love in New York (his daughter's mother).  Now the Chancellor is urging him to put his grief aside and announce his engagement to Lady Celia at the annual Christmas Eve Gala.

In the meantime, Allie has won over the Princess and begun to capture the King's heart as well.  Will he follow his Chancellor's wishes or his heart?  It's Hallmark - what do you think?  It's a delightful, heartwarming movie!  pazt

"Christmas Under Wraps"

"Christmas Under Wraps" is another movie from Hallmark's "Countdown to Christmas" series.  Lauren has a surgical residency at a San Francisco hospital and has her life planned out.  She's going to get a fellowship at the same college where her father had his and she's getting engaged.  There's only one problem -- her boyfriend doesn't like his life being planned out like a check list and breaks up with her.  Then...she learns the fellowship she wanted went to another doctor who had served with Doctors Without Borders.  Since she thought she was a shoo in there with her father's connections, she didn't apply for any other fellowships.  Her one alternative seems to be to accept a General Practice residency in Garland, Alaska!

Reluctantly, Lauren decides to give Garland a trial while waiting for another fellowship to come through.  She's surprised to learn that Garland is not a suburb of Anchorage and it requires a private plane to fly her in.  The pilot turns out to be the son of the town's major industry owner who has come home from Seattle where he'd been living as an architect.  Now he has to decide whether to continue as an architect or stay in Garland as the local handyman to then take over his father's business.

Against her better judgement Lauren falls in love with Garland, the pilot, and the spirit of Christmas that exudes there.  Now she has to decide if she'll follow her "plan" or her grandmother's advice to follow her heart.  pazt

"The Nine Lives of Christmas"

"The Nine Lives of Christmas" is part of Hallmark's "Countdown to Christmas" movies starring Brandon Routh as firefighter, Zach, and Kimberly Sustad as a mature veterinary student.  Zach is a confirmed bachelor who doesn't believe in true love but his life changes when Ambrose, a cat whose elderly owner died, decides to move in with him.  As much as he thinks he wants no cat, Ambrose finds his way into Zach's heart and leads him to Marilee, who finds him shopping for cat food in the grocery store.  She's in her last year of veterinary school and has no time for romance but circumstances throw them together and the confirmed bachelor and the woman not ready to date end up surprising themselves and each other.  pazt

"Christmas Next Door"

"Christmas Next Door" is another Countdown to Christmas movie from Hallmark.  Eric Redford is played by Jesse Metcalfe and his Christmas loving neighbor, April is played by Fiona Gubelmann.

April and her sister are exuberant about Christmas but Eric, a writer advising men to stay single, is not so much.  April decorates to the hilt and Eric not at all -- until his mother gets the flu and has to send his niece and nephew to stay at his house a few days before Christmas because their parents are stranded in Europe by snow.

The kids demand a Christmas tree and April helps out by providing decorations and slowly Eric's feelings about Christmas begin to change as does his ideas about being single.  It's a very upbeat movie all around.  pazt

"Moonlight In Vermont"

"Moonlight In Vermont" is a Hallmark original movie starring Lacey Chabert and Carlo Marks.  Fiona is a very successful New York City real estate broker who has to reevaluate her life after her boyfriend, Nate, breaks up with her because she never seems to have time for him.  Fiona's mother died when she was 20 and her successful Wall Street broker father sold the family apartment near Central Park and purchased an inn in Vermont which he now runs with her stepmother.  She hasn't quite forgiven her father for selling the family home.

When she is offered the job opportunity of a lifetime while still smarting from Nate's breaking up with her, her best friend (a therapist) suggests they take a few days to escape to her father's inn in Vermont to give her time to contemplate her future and perhaps heal the rift between her and her father.

Fiona is surprised to find her brother at the Inn helping her dad with internet marketing but her friend is delighted to renew his acquaintance.  When Nate shows up with a new girlfriend already to spend a few days at the inn, Fiona is hurt but decides to not show it by blurting out that she, too, has a new boyfriend - Derek, her father's very handsome and laid-back chef.

Of course, this is news to Derek but he decides to play along when she agrees to help him purchase a piece of land he needs to locally grow vegetables for the kitchen.  The scheme to make Nate jealous works but living a laid back life in Vermont for a few days, having a meaningful conversation with her father, and getting to know Derek better changes her priorities and transfers her affections - with a few glitches along the way, of course!  pazt

"The Magic Chair Murder"

"The Magic Chair Murder" is a 1920's English Mystery by Diane Janes and is so authentic to the period that I thought the author was, too!  However, Diane Janes is a current author and this is the first in a series she's written about Fran Black and Tom Dod and their sleuthing skills.

Linda Dexter is set to make a speech at the Robert Barnaby Society of which Fran and Tom are members.  In fact, it was Fran who suggested Linda as a speaker.  However, Linda disappears the night before the speech from her hotel room along with all her clothes and her automobile.  Her car (with her luggage in it) is found burned on a country road then later her body is found on a little used railroad track after being hit by a train.  Although the police deem it a suicide, Fran and Tom decide she's been murdered and they set out o find out why and by who.

This book reminded me a little of an Agatha Christie murder mystery as Fran and Tod work through clues and come up with suspects then discount them until they come up with a solution near the end of the book.  Although Fran and Tom are attracted to one another, they are both married and choose not to act on their feelings.  However, it appears they're going to team up again to solve a new mystery in Janes' second book in the series.  I look forward to reading it!  pazt