Belated Christmas music. "In The Bleak Mid-Winter" is a song with music by early 20th-century English composer Gustav Holst setting words by poet Christina Rossetti. This arrangement is by tenor and arranger Blake Morgan of the UK choral group Voces8. He sings and plays guitar, joined on vocals by former Voces8 first soprano Andrea Haines. Gorgeous arrangement of one of my favourite religious Christmas songs.

And since we have just passed the Solstice, there's some Wild Goat (formerly Fire-Roasted) Solstice coffee in the coffee pot. For teas, there's Scottish Breakfast and Darjeeling. Pitchers in the fridge are washed and refilled with iced tea and lemonade. Soda stock looks good. There's hot chocolate with mini-marshmallows for those craving that. And there's pie. No reason. Just because pie is yummy. And a plate of our fine brownies.

So I am sitting here in my home office looking out my window at a Japanese maple that now looks like some kind of glass sculpture. It's coated in a fairly heavy layer of ice after we got freezing rain for much of yesterday. Looks pretty as long you don't have to walk on it. I cleared some of my drive yesterday since we had company last night but the rest ain't looking too pretty.

New Year's is looming and I'm thinking my New Year's resolution, as much as I ever make one, is to get more writing done and out, including for here. I've been kind of caught up with writing some longer works but that means my output has dropped. I might target publishing a story a month across all sites that I publish with a focus on here, but we shall see how the year develops. I only had three stories go up on here this year and all were comp entries or came about because of comps. That kind of sucks but I know why it happened. I need to rectify that for sure.

Age is just another number.

Fresh if possible but if store-bought, at least from a bakery or a store with one in-store.

Epic fantasy series: book or TV/movie?

Quote by AnnaMayZing
Hopefully, next year, I will be here a little more with some new stories. take care and best wishes, Anna.

Yay! More Anna! And best wishes to you. Hope you're having a good holiday season.

And to all of you: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

One more week until 2026. Have a great holiday season. I've put on fresh coffee and tea and there's lots of our Christmas goodies, though I doubt anyone needs a sugar fix today.

Mm. Spiral ham is good.

Unwrap presents first or have breakfast first (on Christmas morning)?

Changing times cause changing tastes.

Hello and Merry Christmas!!

I've added more cookies and also got some candy canes and candy cane cookies. Coffee and tea are refreshed.

Colder weather means heavier clothing.

Cream cheese, though I often make a bagel sandwich with smoked salmon these days.

Crackers or chips/crisps?

It's Christmas Eve so I thought it a good day to give my best wishes for the season, whatever days you may be celebrating, to the folks of StoriesSpace. We are few but dedicated, it seems. Hoping you and yours have a good Christmas and a Happy New Year when we get there in a week.

Blue skies mean nice weather.

Farmer's market is good for a lot of things so that unless they don't have what i want.

Spiked or "clean" eggnog?

Quote by verbal
Talia has never seen the movie

😲 Yeesh, I kind of thought that movie was required viewing for boomers and Gen-X, maybe millennials, too. I've probably seen it twice but not in a very long time.

Good day before the day before Christmas (aka Christmas Eve Eve). Just chillin' and looking at possible vacations for 2026. I am still working on my story but it's kind of stalling. And it's turning out longer than I expected. I had been shooting for something I could get out fairly quickly but it's evolving into another long piece.

I'll refresh the coffee and tea. Here's some seasonal goodies, too.

I'm fine with hosting but generally enjoy it more if someone else is. On the other hand, December in Ontario is not a great time to be travelling. So I'll host.

Traditional turkey feast or something different?

Quote by WriterGirl
I’m headed to a handbell concert at Dad’s assisted living place. Dad’s in it… the red bell.

Oo, that's an interesting activity for a place like that. A couple churches around here have handbell "choirs" but never thought of it for an LTC (longterm care, as we call them in the healthcare world in Ontario) or retirement home activity.

Writing a new fantasy story. It's set in winter and gets a bit nasty (dismembered corpses appear) so will likely fall under "dark fantasy" genre-wise. It's nominally in the same world as the Chronicles of Tana and Shadows of Tan Maldrin (which also get pretty dark) but I'm avoiding connecting it to those beyond some setting elements.

Coffee and tea are freshened up. How's your weekend going?

Bruises can look quite awful.

Artificial. Real is a lot of work and mess. Though I might put outdoor lights on a suitable tree (I have some pyramidal cedars that would kind of work), which would come close.

Halloween or Christmas?

Still lots of snow on the ground here but it's not coming as much and we are supposed to be into warmer weather by Christmas Day. So maybe not a white or green Christmas but somewhere in between. Which usually means kind of miserable, to be honest.

I am off work and trying to write. Got a story in mind, but my mood today isn't quite in the right place and I'm not sure where it's going. Still, I'm writing.

Coffee and tea are refreshed. Cold beverages, hot chocolate, and goodies all lookin' good.

How's things this second last weekend of 2025?

Insufficient snow makes skiing hard.

I love pumpkin but I ADORE pecan, so pecan.

Gift wrap or gift bags?

From their 2023 album Light Up, the beautiful "Bulbul Tarang" with guest vocalist Christopher Sampson. Lead vocals are by Jess Holland of the band. Those gorgeous harmonies are at it again and there's some terrific guitar work from Andy.

The title, I have found out, is the name of the Indian instrument that Andy plays at the beginning.

I discovered Solstice recently. They are a prog band with strong folk, new age, and other influences. It's a large band, an eight piece with 3 vocalists plus a violinist who occasionally doubles as a fourth vocalist. Like a lot of prog bands, they've been through myriad lineup changes. The only member who has been with the band from the beginning is guitarist Andy Glass and its basically his pet project. He's dissolved and reformed it a couple times since starting the band back in 1980. This is the current lineup doing a song dating back to the very first Solstice album. Vocalist is Ebony Buckle and she has a lovely voice. I love the harmonies that they get going among the three vocalists, which come out nicely in this performance.

Author's Publish for this week offers 30 magazine markets taking Flash and, in odd cases, shorter fiction. Flash here seems to mean anything from 600 words for one pub to 1500 for some others (and that's the limit the article uses). Our familiar 1000 shows up a lot, too. Genres and themes are all over the map. I do like writing flash but obviously it isn't going to pay that well even if they pay per story rather than per word. Still, if you want try publishing professionally and prefer shorter lengths, here you go.

https://authorspublish.com/30-magazines-accepting-flash-fiction/

Hey, Jen. How's things? I've never had to host my nephews and not gonna happen now. One is married and does some kind of environmental work and the other drives heavy machinery. Sounds potentially fun.

Good that your father seems to have found some friends, or at least kindred spirits. Hope that keeps things easier for you going forward.

Winter is back after a couple warmer days. My son and his wife came down last night rather than risking the weather turning foul again. They're crashing at her mom's place. We will see them later, hopefully a few times.

I'll put some seasonal coffee on, the Holiday Winter Blend from Pilot Coffee. For teas, there's Assam and Irish Breakfast. We have hot chocolate with marshmallows available. If you're needing something cold, there's iced tea and lemonade in the fridge. And I will set out some goodies. I'll get some Christmas-y ones later.

Earned income is often taxed.

Natural History, I think, though Technology museums have their appeal, too.

Give a speech or sing a song (both in public)?