Author Lorelei James tells us what she’s thankful for
Lorelei James, author of of the wildly popular Rough Rider series and her newest series Blacktop Cowboys, is on my thankful list for 2011 and I am going to take a chance and say she will be on my 2012 list too. I contacted Ms. James and asked her to participate in our Thankful series and despite of being in “deadline hell” she said yes. I was expecting a quick Q&A but what Lorelie provided was so much better. An honest peek inside her world…….
I see all these lists and favorite recipes and I have to hide a dirty little secret: Thanksgiving is my least favorite holiday.
My beef with Thanksgiving isn’t because I’m not thankful for the bounty in my life, because I am so thankful on so many levels…but because I don’t like the food. Seriously. Not a big fan of turkey, or pumpkin pie, or yams or sweet potatoes, I can take or leave cranberries. I like mashed potatoes, but not turkey gravy. Stuffing….I like my mom’s stuffing, which is made from a box and crunchy, whereas my husband likes his mother’s stuffing which was homemade and a gooey, gross, wet mass. And yes, them’s fighting words, impugning the stuffing we prefer and grew up with, so we try to avoid the stuffing controversy altogether.
And for some reason, I’ve gotten stuck making the green bean casserole the last decade, because evidently mine is better…and I have to confess, I do nothing different to make it than follow the recipe on the carton of French’s fried onions. I think no one else in my family wants to make it. Here’s another confession: I hate green beans.
Less you think I’m practicing for an early Scrooge-like mentality that week of Thanksgiving, I do love getting together with my family.We play games. We check out the Black Friday deals in the newspaper and swear we aren’t going anywhere near a mall over the weekend.
However, there will be two spots missing at our table this year, as my 102 year old grandmother passed away, as did my uncle.
So in completely breaking with tradition, we’ve opted to head to Florida this year, with our kids, my parents, my brother and his wife. My mother won’t be putting out a big spread and it’ll be a nice break for her, and for me, because I’m pretty sure we won’t be having turkey and all the trimmings! But I am looking forward to as much family time as we can pack in. And that’s what I’m always most thankful for.
Lorelei James
Thank you Lorelei for participating! Learn more about Lorelie and her books at
www.loreleijames.com
You can also get a look at her books from me, Doll Lil, right here on Paperback Dolls!
~Lil
First I would like to say I am sorry for your loss. Tradition can be wonderful but sometimes breaking from it can bring us back to where we spend time together instead of getting caught up in all the frenzy expected of the holiday. I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving. p.s. I Love your Rough Rider series (really looking forward to Ben’s book), Blacktop Cowboys is on my tbr list too. :)
And there is a typo in the introduction…. where is Simba to keep me in line? :/
I wanted to again thank Lorelie for taking the time to contribute. I also practice an untraditional Thanksgiving and appreciate the need to occasionally set aside traditions. Sometimes in the month of December I can’t wait for January to get here already so I can stop go-go-going 24/7. It’s a good thing Christmas and it’s trimming are my favorite holiday!
I’m so sorry for your loss.
You will be together with the rest of your family and when doing so bring back the special memories you all had.
[...] [...]
So sorry to hear about your grandmother and uncle, Lorelei. I’ll keep you guys in my thoughts and prayers.
I’m actually with you on Thanksgiving not being a big deal for me. I’m not a huge turkey fan either, ditto for yams and canned cranberry sauce. Plus, it was always just my parents and I, and we had dinner together every night, so the idea of a huge feast never really meant much to us. We’d usually just do lasagna or chinese take out for the holiday.
Hope you guys have a great trip to Florida! The weather down here is beautiful right now–warm in the day, but sweater-weather at night. It’s the closest we get to real fall weather!
Smiles!
Lori