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