Music Before the Money

The term “Merry Christmas” was said to have been first coined in 1699 by a British admiral.  Also, during that time We Wish You A Merry Christmas was first sung. Much later the salutation appeared in the first Christmas card, also in England, in 1843. In that year the  Dickens’ novel, A Christmas Carol, sees Ebenezer Scrooge  using the phrase after his epiphany. So, this is the history of the phrase but what does it mean?

Unfulfilled Expectations 

At this time of the year most of us want to feel good. It is an expected part of the season which, in many cases, sets up a pattern for failure. That is, if we don’t feel what we are supposed to feel then something is wrong with us. That is why  the Christmas season  is rife with great stresses on many people regardless of socio-economic status.

I asked a few people what makes the season for them and came up with 5 key ingredients for lasting contentment and enjoyment.

1. Scale down expenditures

Get into the routine of not spending as much on presents. This is not as hard as you think and the recipients of the gifts will not jump on you for it. Just by cutting back 25% you may not carry a debt load into the next year, which is a major cause of depression. You can even instill the thoughts into your kids that getting the latest electronic gear is not a Christmas wish. If they want an expensive item make it a family endeavor to achieve  it over a period of time with the recipient helping to pay for it with allowance money and other jobs. Believe it or not, kids will adjust to your expectations.

2. Volunteer at a Food Bank

A great way to get in touch with the season is to see that others get its benefits as well. I belong to one and work at it all year long but at Christmas time we are always looking for help.  By handing out the food bags and presents for the kids your own sense of being will be greatly uplifted.

3. Musical Entertainment

Almost every community offers Christmas musicals either for free or at a very reasonable pirce. Sitting in a live audience allows you gain some great feelings by osmosis!

4. Make Peace With A Family Member

There is nothing more divisive in a family than two members who do not get along. The family has to readjust activities to make sure one does not appear to be getting more attention that the other.  Or, it may be that the antagonistic two will not appear in the same place together.

If one of the two is you, regardless of the situation, make a peace offering. Our instincts make us believe that it will make us look weak and that the other family member might rub it in with an “I told you so.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Family politics is not that far removed from some international relations in which we often see hostilities cease by one side offering an olive branch. What this does is give the peace seeker the power. And your family will thank you for making the season better for them, thus making your Christmas better.

5. Go Out and See The Lights

My last tip is to go out and see the light displays.  Drive around through the neighborhoods and see the ingenious light shows.  This will bring out the kid in you.

Photo from PlanetChristmas

In my novel Ice Break a large, state-of-the-art icebreaker is hijacked by eco-terrorists and begins to ram and sink fishing boats on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. But could a normal icebreaker destroy large trawler?

The largest icebreaker in Canada is the CCGS Louis S. St-Laurent. At 392.5 feet in length, 80 feet in beam, and over 15,000 tons deadweight, the Louis S. St-Laurent is the queen of the Canadian ice breaking fleet.

The Louis S. St-Laurent was first christened as a steam-powered vessel but was refitted with Mak diesel engines. She has successfully served as an Arctic research platform for the international scientific community. In addition to her scientific duties, Louis S. St-Laurent has also provided escort and resupply services to isolated settlements and commercial operations in the arctic. In this capacity she will take a years’ supply of fuel oil, hard groceries, vehicles and even passengers to these remote places, a symbol of the commitment that the country has toward its northern people.

Yes, the Louis could destroy a trawler. The design of the ship is to crawl over an icepack and ise its weight and sharp keel to crush it. A trawler would suffer the same fate, but rolling over and trapping its crew before breaking up and sinking. It would be a ghastly way to go.

To order Ice Break:

Harley Melanson, the protagonist of my novel, The Millennium Man, racked up his score as a fighter pilot in a Sopwith Camel. The Camel entered World War I during a time when the badly-outclassed Allied aircraft were being butchered by the jastas of German aces.

In 1916, the Germans controlled the skies over the battlefield. The resourceful British engineers came to the rescue with three fighters they hoped would regain control of the air war. The most famous of these was the Sopwith Camel whose pilots shot down 1,294 enemy aircraft during World War I, more than any other Allied fighter. The down side was that it was difficult to fly and more than a few pilots died in accidents.

The Camel evolved from the Sopwith Pup and Triplane and was identifiable by its ‘hump” which housed the twin Vickers machine guns and by the cantilevered wings. In fact the pilot, guns and engine were crammed into a mere seven-foot section of the plane which gave the Camel its incredible performance. However, the torque from the Clerget and Rhone rotary engines caused the plane always want to turn against the prop causing many stalls. In the proper hands though this effect could be used to great advantage.

Major W.G. “Bill” Barker, Melanson’s friend in the novel but a real Canadian pilot and Victoria Cross winner, shot down 41 enemy aircraft while flying Camels. His Camel, Number N8156, is now in the Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa.

Melissa Donovan has given us 22 great rules for writers: Here is her site: Writing Forward

1. Do it. Write.
2. Read as much and as often as you can. Remember, every writer is a reader first.
3. Keep a journal or notebook handy at all times so you can jot down all of your brilliant ideas.
4. Make sure you have a dictionary and thesaurus available whenever you are composing.
5. Be observant. The people and activities that surround you will provide you with great inspiration for characters, plots, and themes.
6. Invest in a few valuable resources starting with The Chicago Manual of Style, Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation, and The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition.
7. Grammar: learn the rules and then break them.
8. Stop procrastinating. Turn off the TV, tune out the rest of the world, sit down, and write.
9. Read works by highly successful authors to learn what pleases publishers and earns a pretty penny.
10. Read works by the canonical authors so you can understand what constitutes literary achievement.
11. Join a writers’ group so you can enjoy support and comradery in your craft.
12. Create a space in your home especially for writing.
13. Proofread everything at least three times before submitting your work for publication.
14. Write every single day.
15. Start a blog. Use it to talk about your own writing process, to share your ideas and experiences, or to publish your work to a live audience.
16. Subscribe to the top writing blogs on the Internet. Read them, participate, and enjoy!
17. Use writing exercises to expand your talents and explore different genres, styles, and techniques.
18. Let go of your inner editor. When you sit down to write a draft, refrain from proofreading until that draft is complete.
19. Allow yourself to write poorly, to write a weak, uninteresting story or a boring, grammatically criminal poem. You’ll never succeed if you don’t allow yourself a few failures along the way.
20. Make it your business to understand language. Do you know a noun from a verb, a predicate from a preposition? Do you understand tense and verb agreement? You should.
21. You are a writer so own up and say it out loud, “I am a writer.” Whether it’s a hobby or your profession, you have the right to this title.
22. Write, write, write, and then write some more. Forget everything else and just write.