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Monday, November 13, 2006

Glad To Be Here


Hello! My name is Ann Roth. I write for Harlequin American (have done a few Special Editions, too) and Kensington. My next two novels, one from each publishing house, will be out in April, 2007. What a wild and busy month that will be! LOL

But April is months from now, so I won't get into either novel just yet. Maybe in Januray or February. I'll be doing booksignings in several places around the country and will let you know once things are set up. Meantime if you want to learn more about me and my existing novels, please stop by www.annrothnet. Enter the drawing for a free book!

At the moment, what's on my mind are the holidays.

If you live in the United States, you know that Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Is anyone surprised by this besides me? Didn't we just celebrate Halloween? LOL. Before you know it we'll be deep into the holiday season craze. Do you have special holiday customs? If so, please share.

Many of our family customs center around food. Nothing wrong with that, especially if you love to cook. And I do. My husband's great, great aunt left this fabulous recipe for turkey stuffing that I make every year. My mother's homemade yeast rolls are also part of the feast. And my husband's mom's pumpkin pie. And a chocolate cream pie I found years ago, in a magazine. Our guests, which include our kids and their spouses and/or significant others and our adorable 19-month-old grandson, also contribute, as do the friends who join us. Some people drink wine, too. Some don't drink alcohol. But for those who do, last year I made cosmos and served limoncello, an after-dinner drink I first tasted in Italy. I made the limoncello myself and oh my, it's delish!

So there are lots of people and lots of fun!

After we eat we gather around a roaring fire and play dictionary, a game my grandparents started a long time ago. Since that time someone came out with a board game much like what we play.(Why didn't we think of that?!) What you do is pass out pencils and paper, the same size, color and kind, to everyone. One person opens the dictionary and chooses a word no one knows. They spell it and everyone writes it down. The object of the game is to make up a definition for the word and write it down. While everyone does this the person with the dictionary jots the real definition on a similar piece of paper. You sign your name to your definition, fold the paper in half, and hand it to the dictionary person. Then the fun begins. This person reads each definition aloud, including the real one, without revealing which one is correct. And of course since they're all written on similar paper, no one can identify who wrote what. That's important! You vote on what you think is the real definition. If people vote for yours, you get one point for each vote; if you vote for the real definition, you get a point for that.

Only after everyone votes is the real definition revealed. Believe me, this is a great deal of fun! Plus you learn new words. Or maybe I like it so much because I'm a writer? Anyway, that's Thanksgiving.

Well, I've rambled on and on, and I'm sure you've had enough. So I'll stop for now.

Please add comments and share you own special holiday customs.

Until later,
Ann

6 comments:

Musings by Mimmi said...

Hi, Ann!! What a great blog! I think you should share the recipe for the Chocolate Pie (YUM!!) and the famous turkey stuffing!! I love to cook, too, and am always on the look out for a great recipe.
We have a family get together, too, and we all kind of have our certain dishes that everyone waits all year to eat. My sister makes the turkey, and she makes these stuffing balls we've dubbed "Turkey Balls". They're to DIE for!! And my mother makes the Pumpkin and Mince Meat pies. Not too many families still eat Mince Meat, but we love them!!
And the holidays are flying up on us this year~~it's scary!! But I love thie hectic time of year.
Can't wait to hear more about your books, and look forward to seeing them on the shelf!!
Good luck!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the great post, Melissa. If you want those recipes, we should best do that privately. Email me at ann@annroth.net and I'll send them.

In exchange I want the recipe for turkey balls. The very name has me laughing.

Anne McAllister said...

Hi Ann

great to see you here! Looking forward to your books in April. I have a traditional thanksgiving turkey stuffing recipe, too. Came down from my g-grandmother (who knew they stuffed turkeys in Cornwall?)

cheers,
Anne

Anonymous said...

Hi, Anne! Thanks for visiting. With all the delicious recipes around we ought to put out a cookbook!

Happy, happy to you and all...

Ivka said...

Hi Ann, when I saw your name had to say that I enjoyed reading your older books. I stil have few of them.Must admit that I did not read any of your books in last few years. Will have to visit your web site.
We like traditional Thanksgiving dinner,there is only one item different that I add evry year is pumpkin strudel made with phyllo dough, which everyone loves.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Anonymous said...

Ivka- That pumpkin strudel sounds Very unusual and wonderful!

I'm glad you enjoyed my older books. I hope you like the newer ones. I know I speak for all writers when I say that every book I write is better than the previous one. At least I think so. :-)

Happy Thanksgiving, and best wishes to you and your loved ones.