Holiday Blog Hopping - Did you open any gifts yet?

If you celebrate Hanukkah, chances are you've opened at least one Hanukkah gift by now. But if you celebrate Christmas, you might be watching a growing pile of gifts under your tree, waiting for a chance to dig in. :-)

When I was growing up, we didn't open any gifts, not one, until Christmas morning. (Santa doesn't come until after midnight after all!) Typical children, my sister and I would wake our mother and grandmother around 5 or 6 a.m. (Actually, I remember waking Mom at 3 or 4 a.m. one year...she did send us back to bed.) I don't remember there being a lot of gift exchanging in school or at church or Girl Scouts, or anything like that, so we really did have to wait until Christmas morning for our new "stuff."

As I got older, though, things started to change. I was 19 when I met my husband and spent my first Christmas with his family. How shocked was I to find out I was dating a man whose family opened their gifts on Christmas Eve! Even worse was their custom to put all the opened gifts under the tree and wait until after New Year's Day to use any of them!

I'm sorry, but that's going too far...way too far! Why open them early and leave them sitting there for more than a week?! I didn't get it, and as soon as we married, that tradition changed. Not only do we (my husband and I and our kids) wait until Christmas morning to open our gifts, but we have no rules about waiting to use our new gifts. Once it's out of its wrapping, a gift is fair game. In fact, I opened two lovely gifts from co-workers this week, have already worn one and plan to wear the other one either today or tomorrow! Life is too short to waste it looking at your gifts! Am I right? :-)

What about your and your families? Are you gift watchers, content to savor what you received for awhile? Or are you like me, ready to dive in and put those gifts to immediate use?

Leave a comment to be entered into the drawing for a copy of my paranormal romance novella Adrienne's Ghost (I'll give out a total of 10). One of those 10 will win my "grand prize" of a $25 Amazon gift certificate, and all of my winners will be entered into the Holiday Blog Hop's contest for the super grand prize, a KINDLE FIRE!

If you'd rather not leave a comment, please send me an e-mail (leah@leahstjames.com) and let me know you'd like to enter.

Thanks for stopping by the Holiday Blog Hop!

Six Sentence Sunday ~ 12/4

Hello and welcome to Six Sentence Sunday, where writers share bits and pieces of their works.

This week I thought I'd take a break from Jack and Rachael to share six from a short story I'm writing for a little girl whom coworkers and I "adopted" for Christmas. She's 7 years old, loves playing dress-up, and really loves princesses. As one of my gifts, I thought it would be cool to write a short story about a princess (using her name, of course!). Since I've never written a story for a child, and I raised boys, not girls, I could sure use some feedback! I want this to be something she enjoys! I have no information about her family or living situation, and don't know whether or not her family celebrates Christmas, so I deliberately didn't write about the holiday.

So here's the setup. Princess Imani lives in a kingdom that has been warring with a neighboring kingdom for centuries. She's a friendly, loving child, and the thought of people fighting with each other for so long troubles her. One night three fairies come to her in a dream and send her on a mission that, ultimately, will bring the two peoples together.

Here are the six where the fairies first appear.
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It was a long time before Imani’s eyes closed that night, a long time before dreams came, but they did come, in the form of three fairies. They were small, maybe only six inches tall, with shiny, gossamer wings that fluttered so quickly their edges blurred, like those of a hovering hummingbird. They were dressed in sparkling gowns that reached their ankles, the first in red, the next in blue, and the last in yellow, and the air around them shimmered in a rainbow of colors. Just like the lights she’d seen on the mountaintop.

In her dream Imani held out her hand, and they lighted, delicate little beings that weighed no more than a feather each. “Who are you?” she asked while her heart raced to keep pace with their wings.

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What do you think? Too grown-up for a 7-year-old? Too scary a concept? Help!

I apologize that I didn't have something from a romance this week, but I hope you enjoyed these six anyway. I'd be appreciative of any feedback you'd like to share!

Be sure to stop by Six Sentence Sunday for more samplings from some amazing authors!