Jessie: On the coast of Maine soaking up the last bits of summer pleasure!
Today we have the good fortune to be visited by Liz Ireland who brings us a fun post about the approaching holiday season! Take it away, Liz!
Thank you, Wickeds, for inviting me back to be with you!
Happy holidays, everyone!
(Too soon?)
I confess that I always look at the turning of the leaves in September with mixed emotions. Fall always feels like the real start of a new year—a holdover from school days. I love the cooler temps, the sweaters, and all my activities starting up again. But there’s also the holiday season looming, which gives me a few tummy flutters. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the birthdays of my entire immediate family all occur between October and the beginning of January, so there’s always a celebration coming up to prepare for. My sister and I jokingly call this season the Holiday Corridor of Doom.
Now that I write the Mrs. Claus series, set in Santaland, my brain is Christmas-focused all year long—and a little bit of doom makes for a good mystery. I love stirring things up in Santaland by showing the elves celebrating different holidays and bringing a touch of crime noir to cozy Christmastown. For Mrs. Claus and the New Year’s Nightmare, I wanted to shine a light on what happens just after Santa’s sleigh takes off. After all, wouldn’t a woman be nervous seeing her husband take off in an overloaded antique sleigh powered by reindeer? As an anxious April Claus notes on Christmas Eve, “That sleigh didn’t even have seatbelts.”
I also wanted to bring some new fun by drawing on what my drama professors in college (yes—I’m a theater school survivor!) called “following the opposite impulse.” Bring on the unexpected! Santaland is a remote, secret world. Due to the unexpected, suspicious arrival of three outsiders arriving in Christmastown on Christmas Eve, the elves of Christmastown have to spend the holiday week pretending to be just another North American city. Although admittedly a holiday-crazed one…with a rather short citizenry.
And maybe some talking snowmen…
(Charlie the snowman is my year-round desk muse.)
Readers, I hope everyone is looking forward to fall and the holiday season. How do you see this time of year? Do you have mixed emotions or are you over-the-top eager for three months of pumpkin spice and holiday prep?
Liz Ireland grew up in Texas, where she experienced nothing but green Christmases for most of her life—until she moved to Canada. She currently lives on beautiful Vancouver Island in British Columbia. You can find her at lizireland.wordpress.com, on Facebook as LizIrelandAuthor, and on Instagram as lizireland_author.
The Wickeds 
Fall is one of my favorite seasons.
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Hi, Liz! September and October are my favorite months of the year. The weather is pleasant, the foliage is spectacular, and Halloween is so much fun. Cheers!
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You’re right, J.C., the colors are magnificent. My maple is already beginning its fall transformation, and I love to see it.
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I love fall, too. I get my sweaters out in August in anticipation.
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I agree, Dru. Fall always seems like the beginning of cozy season.
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Welcome to the blog, Liz! What a fun premise. I do like fall, after I’ve recovered from grieving the end of summer produce. It’s my birthday season too, and now my new granddaughter’s as well.
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Thank you, Edith! I agree, it’s hard to change gears from summer bounty back to apples and pears.
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Love this time of year! It’s when things slow down and we can catch our breath over all the must do’s and wanta do’s of summer. For us, vacations are over, gardens have puttered out and the grass is turning brown. It gives us more time to sit on the porch and to enjoy our daily critter visitors that we enjoy photographing so much. Cooler weather turns our minds to foods like chili and hearty stews as well as not minding heating up the house by baking fresh bread or cinnamon rolls.
As for the holidays, over the years our idea of them has changed. Hubby and I are the just about all that’s left in our family except for hubby’s sister that lived off in another state. We live in the country meaning where we once had tons of trick or treaters, we now have none. Although we do enjoy trunk ‘n’ treats in town. Where we once put up 7 Christmas trees, after downsizing and building our dream home, we are down to one small one. Cooking for two and a hubby that really doesn’t enjoy tons of leftovers curtails our cooking of that “big” holiday meal. All that being said, we LOVE the holidays and as the saying goes “we keep them in our own way”, which just means a lot smaller. I have to admit that I do think society now rushes the holidays starting them way to early and pushing one out to start the next before the one is even over. Now they show Christmas movies all year long making the anticipation of seeing them disappear. I think that holidays need to be more like us seniors – slow down and enjoy each day (holiday) for what it.
Congratulations on the upcoming release of “Mrs. Claus and the New Year’s Nightmare”! It’s on my TBR list and I can’t wait for the opportunity to read and review it.
2clown at arkansas dot net
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Thank you so much, Kay! You had me at cinnamon rolls. Slowed-down, smaller holidays are wonderful. Although I’m also very impressed by the house with seven Christmas trees. That was some Santaland-level holiday making! You should get an elf badge for that.
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I love fall! I like the cooler weather and the color changes. The only thing I dislike is knowing winter is coming and I am definitely not a fan of winter! I do like pumpkin spice in almost everything except pie. I think it’s the texture.
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I’m also a fan of pumpkin spice, Carol. I just baked my first pumpkin bread of the year and it made me so happy!
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Fall is my favorite season, and even though I don’t go all out for some of the holidays, I do enjoy the changing seasons and the festive nature. Congratulations on your new release! I’m really looking forward to it!
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Thank you, Autumn! (I can see why autumn would be your favorite, LOL!) I like the idea of picking and choosing which holidays to go all-out for.
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Loving this post, Liz! The Holiday Corridor of Doom – haha, that’s genius! I’m with you on the mixed emotions.
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Thank you! There’s no escaping the Corridor–we just have to embrace the madness!
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I am looking forward to the colder weather and warmer drinks. Decorating for the next three months adds another layer of fun. Finally there is the baking. I have soooo much fun making goodies to give away. Looking forward to revisiting Santaland!
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Thanks! I hope you’ll enjoy Santaland again. I love that your thoughts about baking center on the pleasure of sharing them. It’s so true!
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Congratulations on your latest. Looks like a fun read, definitely on my holiday TBR.
Fall is my favorite season. I’m a sucker for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Although both my parents are now gone, they too stacked the season with family celebrations. Mom’s birthday in October, their anniversary and my father’s birthday just days apart in November. Something I swore I would never do to my kids. Good thing my brother and I were July babies 🙂
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I’m with you, Kait. Fall has always been my favorite. When I was young, it just seemed like neverending fun and celebrations and delicious food. Only when I was older did I appreciate how hard my mom worked to make those months so special.
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Welcome back dear Liz❣️ My book club and I are hooked on your Mrs. Claus mystery series, and still talk about your visit via Zoom. I can’t wait to read MRS. CLAUS AND THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE NEW YEAR’S🥳 At my “not-so-young” age I don’t do winters any longer, but I love Fall, because of the Holidays and the treats that are obligatory for each one. I especially love Pumpkin Spice everything, and consume eggnog until you can’t buy it any longer. Thank you for another thrilling chapter in April Claus’ Santaland. JOY❣️❣️ Luis at ole dot travel
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Joy to you too, Luis! Your love of eggnog would make you a natural to live in Santaland.
I enjoyed every minute of talking and laughing with you and your book club. And I agree about preferring fall to winter. There’s a reason I live on the Pacific Coast!
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I vacillate wildly this time of year. I love fall, the change in weather, the promise of change, apples, caramels, pumpkin in so many things… NOT coffee though. I have been scaling back on the holidays these past few years so they are more manageable. I only have one sister and bil in the area, so we spend Thanksgiving and Christmas together, cooking smaller feasts. I meet up with friends for Halloween to hand out candy to the trick or treaters. Have been donating many of my decorations to a local thrift store and putting up less. Love the spirit of the seasons, people seem happier, kinder and more cheerful. I try to support that anyway I can. Love your series and read holiday stories anytime of the year. Thanks for the fun books and keep April and crew coming!
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You’ve really pinpointed what makes the holidays special. Spreading kindness and cheer is so needed in this world! Thank you for the kind words about the Mrs. Claus series.
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I love the fall. The leaves are changing here and I love the cooler temps. But the holidays can take their time, thank you very much.
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You’re right, Liz. It’s nice to have some restful cozy time before holiday madness begins.
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I prefer warm weather, so I’m always sad to see summer ending this time of year. But after the holidays are over, I’m really sad. They at least make fall okay.
This new book in the series is great. I always love checking on in the fun of Santaland.
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Thank you so much, Mark! You’re a very discerning reviewer, so I’m always glad when you’ve enjoyed a story. And I agree, holidays create bright moments and memories during winter!
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Tho’ I love pumpkin spice anything, and the holidays can be fun, I mourn the end of summer, hot WX, and longer days.
I’m delighted to learn of you and your books. I love new-to- me authors and series.
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Thank you, Kim! I understand that melancholy. Cling to hopeful thoughts of that pecan pie–I bet it’s a hit in Switzerland!
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Thank you, Ginny–I hope you’ll enjoy the Mrs. Claus books! I miss the long days, too.
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Congratulations on your new book. Fall has arrived with a vengeance here in Bern, Switzerland, where I live–it was in the thirties last night, and there’s snow at higher altitudes. Of course, it will melt, but we won’t have any more summer weather. In fact, we always have a lot of fog in the fall, which is only romantic in the short term. I’m going to miss the sun. So I’m feeling melancholy. But I’ll enjoy making my usual once-a-year pecan pie for the Christmas season. And it will be a pleasure to have my husband’s family for Christmas dinner.
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I am looking forward to the cooler temperatures. I also enjoy seeing the beauty of the leaves as they turn red, orange and yellow. I am not a fan of pumpkin spice. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
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Thank you, Debbie. I love the changing colors of autumn, too!
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I like the changing seasons and look forward to pumpkin bread, zucchini bread, apple fritters and taffy apples.
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I bet the kids love your skeleton! That’s a great idea.
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You had me at apple fritters!
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I love this time of year. I love decorating, but as I am getting older, I don’t put out as much because it is just us and going up and down the stairs to the basement to get things up and then down is too much anymore. For Halloween, for many years we had no kids in the neighborhood, so I quit putting much out. I used to put tons outside. Now we do have lots of kids, but our drive is very steep and as much as I like to see the kids in their costumes (and I would dress up like a witch), now I just put my life-sized skeleton, sitting in a chair with a lit lantern and a bowl of candy. I do put out seasonal flags, mailbox covers, wreaths on the door, and a few decorations out. Christmas is the best though. I do love to give gifts at Christmas. I start buying early whenever I see something that I think my friends or relatives will like.
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