Christmas Greetings to All Our Readers
20
12, 2021
13
12, 2021
Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer’s Backstory
This time of year we hear the song “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” a lot. The story behind the song is fascinating.
In 1938 Bob May, a 34-year-old ad writer for Montgomery Ward in Chicago was exhausted and nearly broke. His holiday season held no comfort or joy. His wife bedridden, losing her two-year battle with cancer. His four-year-old daughter Barbara feeling left out, different.
Bob understood. He’d been a small, sickly boy, constantly picked on and called names. He wanted to show Barbara that being different was nothing to be ashamed of and created a bedtime tale about a reindeer with a bright red nose who found a special place on Santa’s team.
Barbara loved the story so much that she made him tell it every night. Because he couldn’t afford to buy her a gift for Christmas, Bob turned the story into a homemade picture book.
Bob’s wife died in early December. A few days before Christmas, he attended a Montgomery Ward company party where co-workers encouraged him to share the story he’d written. There was a standing ovation when he finished. Everyone wanted copies of their own.
Montgomery Ward bought the rights to the book from their debt-ridden employee. Over the next six years, at Christmas, the store gave away six million copies of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to shoppers. Every major publishing house made offers to obtain the book. In an incredible display of goodwill, the department store returned all rights to Bob.
Four years later, Bob May’s bedtime Rudolph story made him a millionaire. He remarried, had a growing family, and felt blessed by his good fortune. But there was more good fortune to come.
Songwriter Johnny Marks married Robert May’s sister. Marks set the uplifting story to music. Several popular recording artists including Bing Crosby all passed. Finally, Marks approached Gene Autry. Like the others, Autry wasn’t impressed with the song about the misfit reindeer. Johnny Marks begged him to give it a second listen.
Autry played it for his wife, Ina. The line “They wouldn’t let poor Rudolph play in any reindeer games” touched her so she insisted her husband record the tune. Within a few years, the song became the second best-selling Christmas song after “White Christmas.”
As the years passed, the story’s popularity never waned. On Dec. 6, 1964, NBC broadcast the first Rudolph TV special and it has been broadcast every year since making it the longest-running Christmas TV special in history.
Rudolph lives through TV specials, cartoons, movies, toys, games, coloring books, plush toys, greeting cards, and even a Ringling Bros. circus act. The story symbolizes Christmas as much as Santa Claus, evergreen trees, and presents.
And, the backstory is wonderful. However, …
a fact check with Snoops says the often-quoted story is only partly true. Bob May authored the story for Montgomery Ward as part of this job as a copywriter in the PR department and “tested” it on his daughter. After Montgomery Ward had given away copies for 6 years, they looked for something new for their Christmas giveaways. That’s when May asked for his rights back and they gave it to him.
The success part of “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer,” on the other hand, is completely true.
Enjoy Gene Autry singing his version with a 1953 Ed Sullivan Show audience.
6
12, 2021
Celebrating Christmas Texas Style
Christmas on the Texas Gulf Coast is a little different. No snow, no cold, and a few other traditions unique to the Lone Star State.
There’s our version of the classic Night Before Christmas to read. The Night Before Christmas in Texas, That Is by Leon A. Harris, This tale has a definite Texas spin with buckboards and bunks. It has entertained Texas audiences for more than forty years.
From the inside cover flap:
A Western Santa Claus-decked out in Levis, a ten-gallon Stetson, a cowboy vest, and with a bandana around his neck-makes his Christmas journey on a buckboard piled high with presents. Swooping in over the prairie to the amazement of sleepy residents and jackrabbits alike, a plump, jovial Santa parks his buckboard outside a peaceful ranch house. From boot-stuffing gifts to the faithful “hosses” pulling his “sleigh,” this is a Christmas tale rich in Texas tradition.
A must-read every holiday if you live in my house.
Gene Autry recorded the poem for Columbia Records in the 1940s or 50s. My copy of the original 78 release is still around somewhere. Take a listen to a later release:
Other Lone Star Christmas traditions are not strictly Texan, but unique to customs of the southern states.
Hanging a pickle on the Christmas tree
Lining our sidewalk with Luminaries
Eating tamales on Christmas Eve
But it’s definitely not Christmas in Texas unless we sing “Merry TEXAS Christmas, You All.”
Gene Autry recorded the song on the flip side of “Night Before Christmas” Click on the link to hear him singing: https://youtu.be/onGs1BaA7co
29
11, 2021
Memories Fuel Writers’ Stories
I’m always asked where I get my story ideas. The simple answer is my life. As writers, we call on our memories to plot stories and fuel characters’ emotions. Sometimes obviously. Sometimes subtly.
There’s personal memory embedded somewhere in a plot or a character or a scene in every book I’ve written. None more than When Love Endures, book three of the Fitzpatrick Family series. It’s based on one of my favorite holiday memories.
Growing up, holidays involved gathering around the piano and singing. It never mattered how you sounded or how old you were. You sang.
Or you played the piano.
Another thing we did was attend holiday programs either as an audience or participants. School programs, church programs, choir performances, band, and orchestra performances. Listening to the holiday songs always fueled our holiday spirit.
One memory—playing a Christmas duet with my daughter at her piano recital—provided the springboard for When Love Endures, my new holiday novella.
In the story, heroine Sarah’s high school sweetheart moves back to their small town and enrolls his daughter in her school music class. Old feelings return, but Sarah must win the daughter over. There are obstacles, but, like all Hallmark Christmas love stories, there is a happy ending that may or may not involve playing a Christmas duet.
When Love Endures
Sarah Fitzpatrick, pianist extraordinaire, gave up on true love when her high school boyfriend, Nick Stephens, ran off to marry his pregnant ex-girlfriend. When his daughter shows up in her music class eleven years later, Sarah must find a way to keep the little girl and her widowed father out of her heart. She can’t risk losing everything again.
Nicks Stephens has other plans. Sarah is and always has been the love of his life and he’s back in Burton, TX to prove it. But there are secrets Nick must keep, from Sarah and his daughter, that could destroy everything he hopes to build.
Use these links to get your copy.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/When-Love-Endures-Fitzpatrick-Family-ebook/dp/B08W9MP12F/
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/when-love-endures-judythe-morgan/1138790688
I hope a fond holiday memory comes to your mind when you read When Love Endures.
22
11, 2021
Reasons I’m Thankful to Be a Writer
Thanksgiving in the United States is just around the corner. Cornbread for dressing is baking in the oven. The big bird’s thawing in the frig.
It’s time to focus on thankfulness.
As a writer, I’m thankful for so many things.
- A supportive spouse who is my walking research resource and also happens to be the best critique partner, plotting budding, and editor ever.
- Writing friends who support, cheer, and listen to my rants.
- Non-writing friends who ask how’s my writing is going and accept that deadlines can interfere with get-togethers.
- Family members who let me talk about my characters as if they are real and always answer my wild questions.
- The imaginary friends and their voices in my head. Without them, I couldn’t do what I do.
Then there are the uniquely writerly things
- I get to work in pajamas.
- I always have a blank page to start fresh.
- Life is filled with funny stories, daily struggles, and multitudes of blessings, so there’s always be something to write about.
- My first-try draft doesn’t have to be perfect. Think about it. Professionals like doctors and dentists can’t say that.
- Edits and revisions do, in fact, eventually end.
- My Google searches haven’t gotten me arrested…yet. (I’m probably on watchlists, but so far no one’s come after me.)
- I can escape into other worlds – ones I create, and the ones other authors have created for us to read.
- Reviews! Even one or two-star reviews mean a reader’s read the book.
So many blessings in my writer world. What’s in your world that makes you feel thankful this Thanksgiving?
8
11, 2021
Beware! Shopping Time is Phishing Time
Holidays bring increased buying.
Shopping, especially online like so many of us are doing these days, means phishing time for hackers.
Email scams called phishing are an easy form of cyberattack that supplies everything a hacker needs to steal information to ransack personal and work accounts.
The earliest hackers were known as ‘phreaks’ or ‘phreakers’ from those names came phishing, a modified version of fishing…to steal your private information.
It’s been around since the mid-1990s. Since then, the concept has been tweaked so that everyone from the most brilliant techie to the lowly church mouse is susceptible.
Early attempts to scam came with tell-tale signs like strange spelling, weird formatting, low-res images, and messages that often didn’t make sense. Some remain easy to spot today like a long-lost relative who wants to leave you his fortune.
Most of today‘s scammers are more talented when it comes to creating fake logos making scams extremely difficult to spot. A skilled hacker can disguise emails to look like it’s coming from your friends, family, colleagues, and even your boss.
Emails arrive with subject lines about prizes to entice and catch the eye. Remember, if that email ‘prize’ seems too good to be true, it usually is and it’s likely a hacker phishing for your personal data.
Fake emails from your bank or health care provider are trickier to spot. These come with ‘URGENT’ message subjects designed to panic victims into making an error. Some look convincingly legit…until you check the sender source. Always check the sender’s email address. See how below:
If the email address is not visible, you can hover your mouse over it and see who it’s really from. But, if the email is suspect, you shouldn’t click. Instead, go to your web browser, log into your account, and address the financial or health issue there or call directly.
Sadly, phishing isn’t limited to email. There’s vishing (suspicious phone calls) and smishing (messaging services). Even apps trick a target into what the scammer wants. Phishing is also a popular method for installing trojan malware or ransomware.
As Adrian Monk says in his Monk series, “It’s a jungle out there.” Protect yourself this holiday buying season. Don’t be some hacker’s phish. Watch for scams.
For more advice on how to protect yourself from phishing. This blog post from Microsoft has more great tips. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/protect-yourself-from-phishing-0c7ea947-ba98-3bd9-7184-430e1f860a44
6
09, 2021
Labor Day
Since its origin in 1882, Labor Day has paid tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers. In 1894, it became an official federal holiday.
This vintage postcard commemorates that holiday addition.
The day is a well-deserved tribute to all laborers whether their office is a building, a field, a warehouse, a store, a hospital, a patrol car or fire station, or their home. Commitment to their job is what makes our country such a great place to live.
Today I’d like to say a big Thank You.
I’m a writer retired from the traditional workforce. Because you do your job, I can concentrate on mine every day. To writers who work day jobs then write in the evenings, you’re my heroes too.
If you’re among the many workers who have Labor Day off work, kick back and enjoy your free day. Holidays tend to slide by in my world. One day is like the next.Write, write, write.
Because Labor Day also signals the end of summer, I think I may take a break and join the crowd at the grill.
7
07, 2021
5
07, 2021
31
05, 2021
What will you be doing this Memorial Day?
Today we’re celebrating Memorial Day.
I find saying “Happy Memorial Day” hard because I believe Memorial Day is a solemn holiday.
I’m not saying going to the beach or having a cookout is wrong. Not at all.
I enjoy a cookout with family and friends and celebrating what signals the start of summer same as anyone else.
I’m just sayin’, Memorial Day has become a long weekend focused on shopping, family gatherings, fireworks, trips to the beach, and national media events more than its original purpose.
A time set aside to remember and honor the men and women who gave their lives while serving this country.
Sometime during our fun, let’s pause to wave an American flag and salute our fallen heroes. That’s what our family will be doing.
