Holidays | CW Hawes

Christmas with the Wrights: What the Readers Say

The stories in Christmas with the Wrights started out as gifts to my mailing list. If you want to get in on the fun, click or tap on this link: https://BookHip.com/BMNGDTB

When you do, the link will take you to BookFunnel, where you’ll get a free copy of Vampire House and Other Early Cases of Justinia Wright, PI (a $3.99 value), and join my mailing list. I’d love to see you at the party!

I’ll admit short stories are a hard sell for indie authors. And I don’t know why. They’re perfect for the person on the go.

Our schedules are busy. A short story can fill those odd moments of the day: waiting at the doctor’s office, commuting to work, lunch or coffee breaks. Or any other time when you are in between things.

I love short stories. A well-crafted short can be as satisfying an experience as a novel — only you get that experience of satisfaction faster. And more of them.

Christmas with the Wrights sees Tina and Harry dealing with 3 very different cases.

There’s Cordell Oscar Hellman, a conservative political pundit, who’s recreational morphine use has come to the attention of a vicious blackmailer.

Mrs. Solberg’s dope of a husband is being hoodwinked by the office minx and the Missus doesn’t like that one bit. But what can Tina do about it? She’ll have to get very creative.

Finally, there’s Emil Papenfuss. He’s homeless and a millionaire. Only he doesn’t know he’s millionaire. But Tina has to find him first before she can deliver the good news.

Three cases. Three chances to do a good deed. And with the inducement of three big, fat fees, and Harry’s help, Tina delivers the goods. But not without difficulty. A lot of difficulty.

So what do the readers say about all this? Let’s take a look.

If you like a story with fascinating characters and a good plot, as well as clever dialogue, check this one out.

That is a very satisfying review for an author to receive. Especially since it comes from another writer: Maryann Miller.

Here’s another review:

CW Hawes has done such a marvelous job of creating Justinia & Harry Wright, brother-and-sister sleuth team, that I keep coming back for more. I had just finished reading a story by this author when this Christmas book caught my eye. The characters were still in my head, and I decided to see what good deeds (hopefully) they might be up to during the Christmas season.

This book was as delightful as it promised to be … with three feel-good stories driven by Hawes’s exceptional characters of whom I’ve grown quite fond. The stories were great fun – the last one being my favorite.

Although this book offers Christmas cheer, it’s a great read for any time of the year, and again … just like the other books in this wonderful series.

Such a delightful review.

Fellow mystery writer, Joe Congel had this to say:

I have enjoyed CW Hawes’ Justinia Wright series for a long time, and this short story collection has arrived just in time for the holiday season. If you’ve followed the progression of the series, you’ll be delighted to know that the three stories in this volume have all the fun, mystery, and mayhem that you love in the full-length books. And if you’re new to the world of Minneapolis’ top private sleuth and her equally talented brother, Harry, then you are in for a real treat!

The stories are told through the eyes of Harry, which lends a bit of the whimsical to the narrative as Harry pulls no punches regarding his sister’s down falls as well as why she is the best PI for any client looking for justice in a cruel world. You can feel the love, trust, and admiration between the two characters as Hawes has done a superb job allowing the dialog to show the reader the tight, though somewhat flawed relationship between a brother and sister.

Hawes is a master of his craft, and these three tales pack a lot of surprise and intrigue inside each crisply written mystery. One of the things I like best about this collection is that even though the common thread throughout the book is that it’s the holiday season, these are not stories about Christmas mysteries, but rather good old fashion mysteries that happen to take place during Christmas time. It’s a wonderful blending of a magical time of year and the realization that mystery, bad decisions, and crime do not take a break during the holidays.

Do yourself a favor, and pour a cup of eggnog (spiked if you prefer), get cozy in front of the fireplace, and enjoy some of the best storytelling you’ll find between the pages of a book.

Now that is high praise, indeed — especially coming from a peer, who is no slouch when it comes to spinning an engaging yarn.

Richard Schwindt, another writer, who I think is one of the best storytellers writing today, wrote:

Christmas with the Wrights is the mature Hawes at the top of his form.

Now that comment is the best award I could have ever won.

Enjoy some Christmas cheer. Christmas with the Wrights is available from Amazon and is only 99¢. Which makes it the perfect stocking stuffer for that mystery reader on your list. As well as for yourself!

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

CW Hawes is a playwright, award-winning poet, and a fictioneer, with a bestselling novel. He’s also an armchair philosopher, political theorist, social commentator, and traveler. He loves a good cup of tea and agrees that everything’s better with pizza.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider buying me a cup of tea. Thanks! PayPal.me/CWHawes

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The Meaning of Christmas

Let me begin by saying, Christmas means different things to different people. So, I suppose, I should have titled this post: The Meaning of Christmas to Me. And you, my dear reader, are completely free to agree or disagree with my thoughts.

At base, Christmas is a Christian holy day that celebrates the birth of the Christ; the one who came to take away the sins of the world.

However, in this largely post-Christian era, Christmas has essentially become a secular holiday devoted to exchanging gifts and having a feast with family and friends.

For myself, even though I no longer believe there was a historical Jesus, I try to steer a middle way between the religious and the secular.

Now you may ask, how the heck can I do that? Isn’t it one or the other? Especially if I don’t even believe there was a Jesus?

For me, the answer is simple. The Christmas story expresses a hope. A hope that humanity can transcend its desire for self-destruction. That we humans can, in fact, become a species that values the other above self. That we can learn to practice the Golden Rule in our thoughts and in our actions. That we can learn to value peace over war, love over hate, freedom over slavery.

Stoicism is my life philosophy of choice. In particular, the Stoicism espoused by Lucius Annaeus Seneca.

Seneca’s Stoicism was pragmatic, not dogmatic. And that put him at odds with Stoics in his own day, and it puts him at odds with many of the Neo-Stoics of today.

For me, Seneca is a philosopher for the 21st century. Even though he lived two millennia ago, he could have just as easily lived today.

“All truth is mine,” he wrote to his friend Lucilius. Seneca was not a dogmatician. His Stoicism fit the practical needs of the Romans of his day, and it fits the needs of those of us who live in the first world of today. The times haven’t changed all that much.

With Seneca, I say, ALL TRUTH IS MINE. I basically follow the Stoic way, but deviate where I need to do so in order to follow the truth (more accurately, what is truth for me).

As a result, I can rejoice in the hope of the Christmas season without being a Christian, or believing that Jesus existed.

Because the truth is — everyone hopes the meaning of Christmas becomes a reality. That weapons of war are turned into tools of peace. That we all turn the other cheek, rather than get offended and strike back. That we forgive others, as we ourselves wish to be forgiven. And that we do to others, as we want them to do to us.

Christmas is our wish to transcend ourselves and become Human 2.0. And who, at heart, doesn’t want to become a better person? Merry Christmas!

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy living!

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In Praise Of Thanksgiving

One of my favorite holidays is Thanksgiving. It’s a day set aside so that we, as a nation, can collectively give thanks for the good things in our lives and for the bad things we avoided.

But what exactly does it mean to give thanks? Giving thanks is defined as

the expression of gratitude, or the showing of appreciation. To thank. To acknowledge.

We know what it means to show appreciation, but what does gratitude mean? Gratitude is

the quality of being thankful; a readiness to show appreciation and to return kindness.

For the Roman statesman Cicero, gratitude was the most important virtue a person could have. He wrote

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.

I think Cicero was and still is on the money. Having a mindset of being grateful, makes us kinder and I think gentler people. It helps us to attain what is meant by the term human. We become humane individuals.

Cicero marked out five traits of the ungrateful person. They are

1. 1. 1. A person who doesn’t thank people, or try to repay favors
    2. A person who takes friendships for granted
    3. A person who forgets about the chain of kind acts and good events which have lead him (or her) to the present
    4. A person who doesn’t thank God for his (or her) blessings
    5. A person who takes his (or her) country for granted

If we reverse these, we have five traits of the grateful person:

1. 1. 1. A person who thanks people and repays favors
    2. A person who values friendships and invests in them
    3. A person who reminds himself (or herself) of the chain of kind acts and good events which have brought him (or her) to the present
    4. A person who thanks God for his (or her) blessings
    5. A person who values his (or her) country and invests in its success

I continually ask myself, “Am I a grateful person? Am I someone whose behavior is attractive to others? Am I a good role model?”

Now I have to be honest here: I fail more than I succeed. However, I don’t give up. I keep on training, as it were, so I can be the best person I can be. Just as a pro tennis player or baseball pitcher never stops practicing, or a soldier never stops training. They strive to be better at what they do.

I’m 69 years old. The actuarial tables regarding life expectancy are not as favorable as they were when I was 29. I’m in a race, as it were, to cross the finish line as a better human being than I was previously. But, then, aren’t we all.

There are nearly 8 billion people on this little planet. Valuable and essential resources are in diminishing supply. Technology is not advancing fast enough to address our problems. Therefore, unless we wish to become barbarians, we must embrace gratitude and thankfulness in order to survive.

And that’s what Thanksgiving is all about. It’s about becoming more human by being thankful, gracious, people.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy living!

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The Christmas Season

Advent is nearly over and the Twelve Days of Christmas are soon to begin.

Whether or not we believe in the Christ story, I believe the Christmas season speaks to everyone. We all want peace. We all want to be persons of goodwill. We all want others to be persons of goodwill. We all want the troubles of this world to go away. And Christmas expresses these desires that everyone has — whether a Christian, or not.

To my mind, Christmas is the perfect time for all of us to come together, commit to practicing the Golden Rule, and move forward together. A time to put aside our sectarian differences and to acknowledge that we are all people who want the same things out of life. We are, in fact, all one.

This Christmas season I am going to re-read Seabury Quinn’s Roads. It is a charming Christmas story that expresses our hope for a better world.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

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For the Weekend 9

This weekend is Halloween and I thought it appropriate to recommend something horribly spooky for your entertainment.

Crispian Thurlborn

Crispian is one of my favorite authors. If he writes it, I’ll read it. For this weekend, I recommend:

Exit. This is a slow burn chiller. Something like the twilight zone. Mysterious, with a shocking revelation at the end. Get the book at Amazon!

01134. We’ve never been so connected, yet we’ve never been so alone. We crave companionship and when we get it we’re on top of the world. When we lose it… A superb tale of psychological horror. On Amazon!

Cinder. Jill is a college student, and like all college students she needs money. Which means she takes the occasional babysitting job. And the job of watching the Comptons’s kid seems to be like any other. That is until those things desiring to ward of the chill of the coming winter make themselves known. Get it on Amazon!

Richard Schwindt

Richard is another author who writes outstanding fiction. If he writes it, I buy it. For this weekend, I want to draw your attention to:

Herkimer’s Nose. This was the first book I read by Richard and it’s still my favorite. A fabulous cast of characters, with lots of humor, terror, monsters, ghosts, and spies. A delightfully spooky tale, that’s at Amazon!

Tony Price: Confidential. Tony is a social worker and an amateur occult detective. If you like mysteries and monsters, this trilogy is for you. I loved it. Get it at Amazon!

Ottawa Confidential. This story is the Tony Price prequel. And very appropriate for Halloween. It’s about dogs. Well, not really. More like wolves. Well, not really that either. Just read it. You won’t regret it. At Amazon.

A Killing in Samana. Murder mystery meets occult detective. And we discover Richard’s other amateur sleuth, Chris Allard, knows Tony. Together, they solve an eerie murder case. Pick it up at Amazon.

R.H. Hale. Hale’s Church Mouse duo is an incredible work of fiction. The writing is literary, and some of the finest I’ve read. I don’t care for a lot of description, yet Hale’s descriptions mesmerize me. They set the mood and atmosphere, and establish the eerie Gothic quality that makes these books work so well.

Rona, the main character and narrator of the story, is exceedingly well-drawn. She is truly lifelike.

Sergei, the vampire and antagonist, is also very well-drawn. His character is richly complex. We hate him and we love him.

The Church Mouse duo easily makes my top ten list of recommended horror reads. They are novels you truly do want to read before you die.

Get Church Mouse: Memoir of a vampire’s servant at Amazon, along with Church Mouse – Book 2: The Change, also at Amazon.

Lastly, a bit of shameless self-promotion. Aside from my Pierce Mostyn Paranormal Investigations series, I’ve published the following stories:

Do One Thing For Me. George is old and going senile. Beth isn’t what she appears to be, but George isn’t sure she’s even real. And then she makes him an offer he can’t refuse. Or can he? Get it at the Zon.

Ancient History. Two brothers with a history, and not a good history at that. But they’re getting older and maybe it’s time to mend things. Put things right. But the ghosts think otherwise. And as one reviewer wrote: “…the ending was a shocking twist I never saw coming!” On Amazon.

Metamorphosis. I love vampire stories. And this is my contribution, to date. Devon is sick and having a mid-life crisis. His solution? Become a vampire and leave the problems behind. But his minister, who is a vampire, convinces him otherwise. Or does he? At Amazon!

What the Next Day Brings. A tale of the Cthulhu Mythos, set in 1920s Vienna. Everyone of us makes choices. Sometimes out of desperation. And starving to death, that’s what Franz does. However, as we all know, such choices often hand us more than we bargained for. Also at Amazon.

Plenty of good reading for your Halloween weekend. Enjoy!

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Christmas 2019

Bea asked, “Anything in particular you want for Christmas, Harry?”

“Tina asked me the same thing. I can always use stamps. Otherwise, I’m open. I have you and I’m very satisfied.”

“Thanks, Harry. That means a lot to me.”

“What about you?”

There was a pause, long enough for me to wonder what was going on inside Bea’s head. Finally she said, “Harry, I love you and I’m glad we’re together. You are everything to me. The only thing I want for Christmas is a piece of paper that tells me I’m Mrs. Harry Gill Wright. I want to marry you, Harry. On Christmas Day would be wonderful, but any time will do.”

The above snippet comes from the novelette Bottom Line, which can be found in Trio in Death-Sharp Minor (Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mysteries, Book 2).

It’s all about love. And where would we be without it? Love for our mates. Love for our parents and siblings. Love for our children. Love for our friends. And love for self. We mustn’t forget that. In fact, it all starts there. If we don’t love ourselves, how can we truly love others?

The Christmas story is one of love. And whether or not you believe the story doesn’t matter. Because the story is universal. The story expresses our deepest longings. That this world has meaning and our hope that things will get better until peace ultimately triumphs, along with human dignity.

Harry and Bea are two people with messed up love lives. Each is despairing of ever finding the one to spend their lives with. Then they find each other. Right in the middle of a murder investigation where Bea is a suspect. And their meeting is very nearly love at first sight.

Perhaps it’s a bit unrealistic to think two people with wrecked marriages and broken love lives can find each other and live happily ever after, but that’s why we read fiction. Isn’t it? Besides, isn’t that the point of the Christmas story? There’s hope for those of us who’ve messed up our lives. There’s always the possibility of a fresh start and to live happily ever after.

This holiday season finds us with wars and rumors of wars. Horrible atrocities being committed in the name of God and everything else people can think of.

Nothing is safe. Disney Plus was hacked and info from many, many accounts was stolen. Russian hackers can infiltrate a computer system in 18 minutes, the North Koreans in 2 1/2 hours, and the Chinese in 4 hours. That, my friends, is scary stuff.

Dissatisfaction with the 2016 US presidential election, on who won and who lost, is still in the news. In all of my 67 years, I’ve never seen the like. Which tells me people are growing more and more intolerant and abusive.

And in spite of the fact we are in very good economic times, with very low unemployment and a high GDP growth rate — there is fear and uncertainty everywhere.

However, the Christmas story tells us there is a very real possibility for there to be peace on earth to people of goodwill. The story tells us there is hope all of our concerns and fears will vanish in a new age that will dawn bright and glorious.

The Christmas story is at its very base a story about how we see ourselves. The dreams we dream, and the aspirations we hold out for ourselves.

We have a choice: we can see the glass half empty or half full. Hope is what helps us see it as half full.

Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, wrote: Life is opinion. Or in other words, life is what you make it to be. If we all practiced the Golden Rule; if we all treated our neighbors as we ourselves want them to treat us — then there truly would be peace on earth. That’s something to think about. Maybe that’s how we need to live in 2020.

Thank you for being with me this past year on my writing journey and letting me share a little of my life and interests with you.

May your holiday season be filled with joy and may you find peace, prosperity, and tranquility in the new year.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, may peace and joy fill your days!

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Thoughts other than about Turkey

Thanksgiving is quite possibly my favorite holiday. A secular feast day on the theme of giving thanks for all the good things we have.

Being thankful is an important quality in a person’s makeup. We’ve all known people who were ungrateful, who lacked the humility that a spirit of thankfulness gives one.

When I look back over my 67 years, I am struck by the abundance of good things in my life. There were bad things, too, to be sure. But the good things? Well, they were very, very good. And I’d rather dwell on them. I’d rather express my gratitude, my thankfulness, for having those good things in my life.

For that is the kind of person I want to be. One filled with gratitude for the gifts and good things that have been given to me.

When one looks at Nature, one does not see an entitlement mentality anywhere. Nature, while beautiful, is often uncaring and cruel. Nothing in Nature is entitled to anything. It must all be earned.

Therefore, if I get something — I’m thankful. Thankfulness enables me to appreciate what I have. Which leads to a life of contentment. And being contented is a good thing.

So on this coming Thanksgiving Day in 2019, I encourage you to take time to ponder and wonder at all of the good things that are in your life. No matter how few or small they may be.

Express your thanks for them and be grateful that you have or had those good things.

Life is what you make it, because the quality of our existence is in our minds. So make life good, and be a person of thankfulness and gratitude.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time — happy living!

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Independence

Tomorrow, we in the US, celebrate our independence from Britain. The casting aside of our colonial status to take the first steps as a union of 13 sovereign states.

Almost no one thinks of the 50 states today as sovereign, nor do we think of the US as a union of sovereign states. That is, though, in theory, what the United States of America really is.

President Lincoln and the War Between the States went a long way towards setting us on the road to nationalism, where we now think of ourselves as Americans, and not Virginians, Ohioans, or Minnesotans.

In effect, the states have been reduced to quasi-province status. One of the reasons, for example, why many people want to do away with the Electoral College. These people do not see us as a union of states, merely one country.

Ironically, Canada is far more a “federal” union than is the US. Although even there the drive towards a strong central government is alive and well.

I stumbled on to writing post-apocalyptic fiction by accident. An intriguing first line (“Today I killed a man and a woman.”) popped into my head one day and 2000+ pages later I had a “novel”.

The Rocheport Saga, currently at seven volumes, is basically one long novel I’ve broken up into convenient reads.

With the seventh book, Take to the Sky, the series is at a convenient pause point and on hiatus while I work on other things. Oh, to have a novel factory like Alexandre Dumas!

The narrator of The Rocheport Saga, Bill Arthur, is an intellectual prepper, an armchair philosopher, and a reluctant leader. As one reviewer put it (whose review Amazon has taken down for some reason — boy, oh boy, Amazon is not in my good books): Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.

In the story, America (and the world) is a lawless ruin in the wake of the apocalyptic event. Bill’s dream is to build a new America — preserving the best of the old, and getting rid of the worst.

So what does that mean? For Bill, who is politically a libertarian, that means the promotion of the values that made America a great country: love of freedom, respect for the individual, determined self-reliance, and pride in being frugal.

What Bill Arthur sees as the great cancer that was rotting out the old America is: a sense of entitlement, the desire for security over freedom, lack of respect for the individual, the quest for money and a lavish and extravagant lifestyle, and a complete disregard for the Golden Rule.

The wonderful thing about fiction is that the author constructs his own world, and then invites the reader to share that world with him.

The world of The Rocheport Saga is a hard world, a difficult world. It is also a world of hope. Hope in those positive values that made the United States a great country. Values that have nothing to do with big government and the growing nanny state, which eviscerates freedom, self-reliance, respect for self and others, and gives in return a stultifying uniformity, constant surveillance for our “protection”, and a sense of hopelessness.

George Orwell in 1984 captured the horror that is all-powerful government. We must remember the Soviet Union regularly conducted elections in their sham democracy. And the 1936 constitution provided equal rights to all regardless of sex, race, or ethnicity. Too bad the interpretation and practice of said rights was lacking. Stalin killed far more citizens of the USSR, than Hitler killed of all countries in his concentration camps.

Big government is no guarantor of rights. Big government is only concerned about the submission of the people to the will of the state, irrespective of any promised rights.

That is what the Patriots were fighting against. The King’s trampling of the people’s rights in favor of submission to the will of the state.

All of my books, to one degree or another, promote love of freedom, respect for the individual, a determined self-reliance, and a pride in not being wasteful.

I don’t sell many books, readership is tiny (to the extent I can determine that), I don’t get many reviews, and virtually no one writes to me who has read my books.

For many writers that would be discouraging, and an indication that perhaps they should quit, and sometimes I feel that way myself. When I do, I remind myself that today I have the freedom to self-publish my work and not be thought a loser for doing so. That wasn’t the case in the publishing world for most of my life. Today I can live my dream, and no editor can say otherwise.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to make my living writing fiction. I’m not there. Yet. And I might never get there. But I do have the freedom to give it a shot. And as long as I am breathing I will.

Grandma Moses achieved fame in her twilight years for her art. Helen Hooven Santmyer was 88 when “…And Ladies of the Club” hit it big.

I don’t want to wait that long, but, as the saying goes, “Good things come to those who wait”.

The United States of America is a fabulous land. Fifty fabulous lands in actuality. I’m glad I live here and I’m glad I’m able to self-publish my books and set off on the quest to find my readers. They may not be legion, but I know they’re out there.

Comments are always welcome. And until next time, happy reading!

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Be Thankful

This Thursday, just two days away, here in the US, we will celebrate Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving and am sad to see it become a lost holiday. What with Christmas shopping being pushed earlier and earlier — why Black Friday deals are already being advertised — and the day itself morphing into Turkey Day — the whole point of a day devoted to being thankful is pretty much lost.

The beauty of Thanksgiving is, in my opinion, that it is a secular holiday devoted to giving thanks for the good things that we have. And especially here in the States we have a lots of good things for which we can be thankful.

It’s easy to piss and moan. We humans are natural complainers. It’s much more difficult to be thankful.

I love America. It’s the best place to live. Sure, we have problems. Nevertheless, we also have a surfeit of blessings. Good things abound in the United States. And I have been blessed richly and abundantly.

So this Thursday, all you here in the States, don’t worship the turkey. The day isn’t Turkey Day. It’s Thanksgiving. A secular holiday set aside so we can count our many, many blessings — wherever they come from.

‘Tis true I’ll feast on a turkey. But what I’m really thankful for is not the turkey but that I have plenty of food and the money to buy more. I’m rich, even though I’m not. Which is the blessing I’m most thankful for.

Be thankful. It’s the best feeling. Right there with being happy.

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Mincemeat Pie

Mincemeat pie (or mince pie) is a holiday tradition on many tables and, like fruitcake, one either loves it or hates it. I love both! The Yuletide would not it be the same if it weren’t for mincemeat pie, fruitcake, and even the occasional plum pudding.

So what exactly is mincemeat? Historically, way back in England, to mince meat was to cut meat into a very fine dice. In today’s British English, mince meat is the same as American ground beef. Although technically a grind is even finer than a mince.

And because there was no refrigeration many centuries ago, minced meat was preserved for the long winter months by mixing it with sugar and spices. This mixture was then used by baking it as a meat pie for the main course of the meal.

Over time, fruit was added to the mixture: apples, raisins, and currants. Suet was also added, along with alcohol to preserve the mixture longer.

Today’s store bought mincemeat mixture is basically fruit and sugar. No alcohol. None Such brand does contain beef, but it is way down on the ingredient list. I’ve used None Such in the past and I can assure you, you can’t taste the beef. Just a sweet raisiny, apply, spicy mixture of doggone goodness.

This Yuletide, I’m using Crosse & Blackwell Mincemeat. There is no meat in the Crosse & Blackwell mixture. Just heirloom Pippin apples, raisins, orange peel and juice, sugar, vinegar, salt, spice, and tapioca syrup — which makes this brand suitable for vegetarians.

I’m interested to see how the two brands compare and will let you know.

Of course you can make your own mincemeat. Recipes abound on the Internet. I’ve found a few that look very interesting and next year I may make one of them. Many years ago, I made a green tomato mincemeat that was truly delicious. And recipes for this mock mincemeat are plentiful on the Internet as well.

Mincemeat is a wonderfully spicy concoction that can be eaten anytime and anywhere. I like it in place of jam on toast.

If you’ve never had mincemeat, I encourage you to try it. It is an English tradition that dates back to at least the Middle Ages and is an American tradition that dates back to the first colonialists. You just might find a new tradition for your own holiday table. And if you already like mincemeat, you know what I’m talking about.

As always comments are welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

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