This year we thought we would be by ourselves for Christmas, but plans fell through and now the kids are coming for the Christmas Eve dinner and I’m so happy. We missed Thanksgiving because we were sick, and although we are all meeting for New Year to celebrate my birthday, I’m looking forward to tonight.
Some years ago, I mentioned to Gordon that one year I wanted to do a themed tree, where you pick a couple of colors and stick with them. But usually we decorate with ornaments we had for years, because it’s tradition. After we survived Thanksgiving and managed to drag the tree out of storage, Gordon looked at me and said, “You know, the kids are not coming. If you wanted to color coordinate, this year is it.”
Me, thinking: I have a ton of red and gold: What color would you like?
Gordon: Blue.
Me: O_O
It’s blue, silver, and gold technically, but I think it turned out. Gordon informed me it looked like a Hallmark TV movie, and I am ridiculously flattered.
Everyone’s Christmas Eve present is wrapped and ready to go under the tree at the end of the dinner.
I think I might be getting yarn. I am so excited.
The menu is simple. We are doing the hobbit ham from Rhubarb and Lavender, stuffing, roasted potatoes with that awesome Wagyu lard Grace Draven gifted me, mac and cheese, and fried oysters, because they are Kid 1’s favorite. We usually have lobster tails for Christmas, and we splurged on some. I need to soak them, because although I thawed them in the fridge, I’m pretty sure they’ve turned into a small iceberg.
I might make Olivier salad. Nobody will eat it, including me – I will take two bites and be done – but I’ve been craving it this year. Gordon’s cousin sent us a charcuterie board and it will be perfect to set out while we are finishing up cooking. Kid 1 requested a banana cream pie on behalf of her boyfriend and I’ve never made one, so that will be an adventure.
Oh, I have to tell you about my awesome gift. I’m a fiend for mushrooms. There are some foods that will forever be marked as luxury for me because of my childhood. Oranges, bananas, and also mushrooms.
One of the simplest comfort meals for me, which I make when I don’t feel like making anything, is the imitation crabmeat or shrimp, stir fired lightly with broccoli, Korean rice cakes, canned Polar Straw mushrooms, and lobster sauce, which actually has zero lobster in it and is just thickened broth. It warm and delicious, and the rice cakes are chewy. If I feel spicy, I throw gochujang in there.
Recently, the straw mushrooms vanished from the grocery shelves. So I can’t have my favorite dish anymore. I tried adding regular mushrooms, but it’s not the same.
A few days ago, Grace Draven came over and dramatically set a massive gift wrapped in candy cane striped paper on my kitchen table. It was hella heavy.
Guess what I saw when I tore the paper?
12 cans. She bought me 12 cans. Best gift ever.
This has been an exciting, but difficult year. The work is a mountain climb. Not the horrible Sisyphus kind of mountain, but more like a really beautiful hike. You love the scenery, the air is fresh, and you keep climbing, but it is tiring. Gordon and I have kept up the pace, but I have to tell you, getting the dining room table clear was like excavating a dinosaur fossil. It was covered with all the special edition signing sheets. I’ve been wrapping the signed sheets in butcher paper and hiding them in boxes. I keep being paranoid that one of the cats decides to ruin them.
Kid 1 has gone back to college to finish her degree – it makes every older adult in her life deliriously happy – and despite being diagnosed with a math disability in high school, she not only finished all of her college math classes, she has 4.0 for the semester. We have conversations about philosophy and politics.
Kid 2 has promised to deliver a complete manuscript next year. Her father and I are a bit pissy at the moment, because the 2/3 of the draft we’ve read was good and we want the rest. We are being told to w*it. The nerve. She also has been trying to help us with the workload. Check this out.
Is this not sick? She just threw it together.
Maggie 2 has crossed 90,000 words. It is NOT done. Not at all. We know where we are going, but getting there is taking a lot of words. It will be another brick.
Without promising anything, we are hoping to invite you to a wedding next year. It will have fangs, weapons, and former mothers-in-law who are in serious need of comeuppance. And there will be an Augustine novella at the end of January, hopefully. I wish I could show you the cover, but our agency is insisting we wait until we have a firm pub date.
I can’t tell you anything. I’ve turned into CIA. I can neither confirm nor deny…
Well, it is time for me to clean the house and start this mac and cheese. I wish you the best holidays: calm, boring, peaceful, and warm. Whether you are spending this season with family, friends, or alone, I hope it will restore a little bit of happiness for you. ::hug::
Thank you for the wonderful year.
Wishing you and the extended House Andrews the merriest of Christmases and the BDH already knows that we have an exciting 2026 publication schedule to which we can look forward to enjoying.
Merry Christmas!!!
aaah you saved the best for last – would *love* to see a wedding and House Ervan’s comeuppance!!!
and Augustine in January?? so many goodies
Thank you, author friends! Blessings on your household, your larder, and your health. A gentle hope for better days ahead. Fulfillment, contentment, and wonder be yours.
Most loved author EVER. (even if we can’t have it – the fact that it is moving up in your brain space is sufficient gift)
Merry Christmas.
Happy holidays!!
Merry Xmas! And thank you… your books and your posts are helping me a lot with staying afloat in this mad world.
An Augustine novella?!? We’ve had snippets but I missed the grand announcement of a NOVELLA (read, novella for our author lords but a full length BOOK from lesser authors!!). Colour me excited 🤪
Merry and Happy Christmas to you and yours! Thank you for all the joy you bring to all of us. And the cat napping on my lap right now agrees with me that you all deserve wonderful things (and our cats are generally a bit self-involved).
Merry Christmas. I love it.
Wishing you a Merry, Happy Everything!
May your new year be filled with joyful times.
My Christmas colors are blue too, I go with a snowman theme.
Thank you for the presents of promised stories.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and thanks so much for the teasers!
Hooray for family Christmas!
Hooray for Augustine novella! And for the (hopefully arriving) vampire wedding!
I laughed at Kid 2 telling you to w*it.
Happy Holidays. As part of my new traditions. I now enjoy cookies and egg nog while listening to Sanctuary and wrapping gifts. I also made a personal charcuterie board with the Gertrude Hunt inn logo with the help of my local library ‘s Makerspace’s laser cutter. I have afternoon tea and my cheese board pin it. Simple fare but makes me smile imagining Orro made the tea items of small savory sandwiches and buttery scones and pastries.
I don’t even have the words to describe how excited I am about the Augustine news – so sooooon! -, Maggie coming out soonish & Maude kicking butt in 2026! Sounds like an awesome House Andrews year to come!
Oooooh! Whose wedding?? No, really, I don’t care whose wedding it is. Just tell me when I can preorder! And bricks are terrific. You know the horde operates on the thesis that more HA is better!
Happy holidaying to all!
Happy Holidays!
I love that you are BDHing your daughter, for her book.
That tree is beautiful. Mind is heirlooms, and ridiculous hand made stuff made by various grandchildren, which I love.
And you gave us a wonderful gift of hope for more books! Thank you!
Merry Christmas!
Augustine novella? House Andrews trained the BDH to expect bricks!
Serious Xmas Eve tease, Hidden Legacy, Innkeeper and Maggie next year. Salivating SQUEeeeeeeeeeeing!
Thank you for making my year so comforting through the books and more importantly the blog – there was always something in your voice to look forward to about regular life or writing or anything! Merry Christmas!
Have a Magical Christmas 🎅🎄 House Andrews. Enjoy your beautiful tree and the kids.
What a wonderful friend Grace was to you Ilona: now you can make your comfort food.
Thanks for the goodies this year despite everything,
🥂 to the probably wedding next year with fangs and ripper-cushions,
🥂 to an Augustine novella, always a pleasure to go back to that world.
we, the BDH, promise to be chalant and w**t 😜.
The tree is gorgeous, Gordon is right, gives hallmark vibes!! Can’t wait for This Kingdom which I ordered from a small independent bookstore in Petaluma California owned by a friend of mine. Merry Christmas!
The wedding! The wedding! The wedding!!!!! We’re finally getting THE WEDDNG!!!!! I guess a former MIL is going to finally get some ripper cushions. 😂😂😂😂😂
“It will be another brick.”
This is the best Xmass present for the BDH. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
I hope you have a fabulous Christmas! I’m so excited for the Augustine Novella and Maggie and the surprises!
Wonderful post about so many lovely things. Even book news, too!
Seriously, so glad my favorite authors are having lovely holidays with their family and friends and enjoying togetherness, good food, great gifts, and fun. Best wishes to you all. And thanks in advance for my reading joy next year.
Merry Christmas! The tree looks fab, it’s wonderful the kids are joining you after all, Grace’s gift was very thoughtful, and I’m super excited about your upcoming publication schedule!
(Also, I am ridiculously excited at the thought of Maud’s former Mil getting her her butter handed to her, ha ha.)
My wish for you:
Good food, good wine, good health, good friends. . .
And the time to enjoy them all.
Happy Christmas to the best authors in the universe and beyond!
Merry Christmas! Hope you and the family have a wonderful time together.
Can you tell me what books kid2 has written? I would love read them.
Oh the non spoiler spoilers, very excited about the plans, annnnd NEVER upset when one of your books ends up longer than anticipated:)
YourChristmas tree looks so beautiful, 😍. I love looking at people’s differently decorated trees.
My brother’s tree is a bit of a Charlie Brown sapling sibling, and a friend of mine decided to have Santas legs sticking out(as if he fell in the tree).
My Mom has had the same tree for almost 20 years! She places a plastic construction bag over it and pulls it out of a closet when it’s Christmas.
So however you all celebrate I am wishing you all happy tidings and a great new year.
PS I am RSVPing , I hope coffee is served during the nuptials 🤣 and let the titles be slung…Maud the red, the Sariv, the learned one, Maven to house Krahr, kill count more than 68. Hahaha, can’t wait!
Does anyone else wonder if their parents (Maud, Dina, and that Auditor) might make it to the wedding?
Ooh! Dina DeMille Innkeeper, kill count? And her Consort….
Merry Christmas & thank you AUTHOUR LORDS 🤗
Your tree is gorgeous! Merry Christmas and best wishes for a wonderful new year 🎄
That’s better than a Hallmark Christmas tree.
Aaaaaaah!
Wedding!
Augustine!
I am SO chalant right now 🎉
Wishing you both a wonderful Christmas and New Year. You are my favourite authors and cannot wait for Maggie. As a Christmas present to myself I am rereading Kate for the umpteenth time. Hope Santa is good to you and your family and enjoy the holidays.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
*
/\
/ \
/ \
[
/_\
May your Xmas be safe ,warm, and joyful. And your new year safe, healthy and productive. May it be so. Blessings
Be well. Take care. Sleep when possible.
Was anyone else excited to hear about all of the upcoming promised stories? Because just mentioning the possibility is, in fact, a promise.
I was hoping for more Inheritance 2 😔
It just has so much potential.. for romance 🤩
Manifesting another book in 2026….
Merry Christmas! My mom does themed Christmas trees, she has one we call the Victorian tree, it is soft pinks, creams, and gold. It’s probably my favorite one to decorate. This year she also put up her red & green tree, which has a crafty sort of vibe, plaid flannel birds, cowboy Santa’s, and the like. I can’t wait for a possible Augustine novella! Even if I have to wait that is a great gift to anticipate! Your tree is beautiful, I really wish I had room for a tree that large. I hope the BDH has joyous holidays!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! ❤️ So looking forward to all the great books coming in 2026!
This makes me happy, thanks for sharing!
Wishing you the best in 2026, House Andrews. May all the joy you have given us through your writing be returned to you tenfold. 🌟
Merry merry merry to my favorite authors and favorite Horde! Hurray for bricks, we love them! Hurray for hobbit ham, because I am nt a ham person, and that made me drool. And double triple hurray for fanged weddings with weapons, because that right there is a gift.
This year sucked all around. Let’s all raise a glass or a cup of tea to a better 2026!
Merry Christmas to all and I hope you can be with those people/places that bring you joy and peace! Had major spinal surgery couple weeks ago, recovering fine, and the peace the time of year provides has been sorely needed. I wish health and happiness to all the wonderful people that make this community the oasis it is!😊
Love the tree! Love the fact we are getting an Augustine novella and am over the moon about a Maude and Arland wedding. The ex mother in law getting ripper cushions will be the best!
^What SunnyD said.^
Merry Christmas house Andrews! Thanks for making every year special with your awesome books.
Biggest fan from UK
Merry Christmas!! Your tree is lovely and dinner sounds amazing. It’s my turn to have the flu and apparently it was making up for an unusually healthy year! It’s early early Christmas morning and I am enjoying Christmas lights and some PediaLite. It will get better. In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday and a healthy new year!
Merry Christmas 🤶 🎄🎁
Your tree is beautiful! I’m not usually a fan of single color trees but the way you did it is “chef’s kiss.”
Thanks for the cooking site. I’ve cooked organic, from scratch almost everything I eat for decades and, as others like me, collect cookbooks and cooking newsletters. I had no idea there is site such as this one. Now I’ll look for more. I read The Hobbit when I was 8 (60 years ago) and have been hooked on speculative fiction ever since. Recipes that are book themed, sign me up!!
Happy Holidays!
Katy
Dear Ilona and Gordon, I wish you Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
You shoudn’t thank us but we are thanking you. You’ve made our year with your novels.
Please tell Kid2 thank you from me. She’s making me giddy because payback is a bitch. Now you have to w**t and need p****nce.
I’ve finished two cakes this morning, Cheesecake and a plumtart. As soon as my oven is free again the potato-vegetables-dish goes in. Everything else waits in the fridge since Yesterday. The feast can begin.
Be happy, eat well, enjoy your Family, rest for a while and stay healthy.
A wedding, a wedding 🙂 And a Augustine Novel – 2026 looks brighter and brighter.
Thank you so much for giving me great books to read and for coping with us noisy and demanding fans.
Have wonderful holidays and may your 2026 be peaceful, happy and full of nice people.
You forgot to censor one w*it at the end there. Seriously, this blog has gone downhill tsk tsk tsk 🤭
Now being serious, that tree is gorgeous. Blue is also my favourite colour. I also would like to do themed trees but I am so lazy. Kudos to you. Don’t the cats destroy the tree though? They must be remarkably behaved.
Happy holidays!
Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Years. Thank you for all the amazing gifts of your words, thoughts, ideas and story arcs that you have so graciously given us through the years. This is the time of year to remember all those most precious and dear to us. The BDH; (I am a long standing member) have had the joys of opening your presents and we are humbled and teary.
Yor tree belongs in a Hallmark movie, or even better yet, a book from House Andrews!
Merry Christmas my friends, my family.
Merry Christmas! Wishing you and your family all the best in 2026!
I’m a letter carrier. In Maine. We just had a 16” snow storm, on Christmas Eve and still delivered. It’s the job but after a month of 11+ hour days, it almost broke me. Innkeeper is my comfort series (I listened to the graphic audio editions again this week) even the hint of a new one is the best present ever. I won’t hold you to the next year but I’m so glad it’s coming and had to jump in and say thank you.
thank you for all your hard work!!!
Thank you for all you do! Postal carriers rock!
Beautiful tree. The artwork looks great and if that’s more Innkeeper I’ll wait patiently. They are my go to for talking books while working out.
Hope everyone has a lovely holiday season.
“All good things come to them who w*it” is in my humble opinion as bad a curse as “may your life be interesting”… I much prefer the French “l’espoir fait vivre”.
So I hope you have a wonderful family Christmas, enjoy good health, keep climbing workmountains, and that w*ating gets easier (!!!!) with all the training we get for it
Sometimes I wonder if w*iting would get easier if we don’t know what we are w*iting for, but then I think of all the shenanigans of the BDH we would then miss and (almost) get reconciled to w*iting
The tree is amazing!
Your tree is gorgeous!! thank you for the update and Merry Christmas and happy new year to your family!
also… omg the wedding!!! I’m so excited for Mauds ex MIL to get what’s coming to get! cheers to a better 2026 all around!
I like blue on the tree also Gordon. Merry Christmas to the Andrews family from mine. Remember to enjoy the holidays and stay healthy.
Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas and a productive, healthy and joyful new year
Happy holidays. My first thought was the cats don’t attack that tree? I am saving this tab to read all comments later.
Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Merry Christmas. I love the tree. Blue is my favorite color. I did a blue and silver tree for years.
Squee! I love a good comeuppance. We are not worthy!
Glaedig Jul!
Merry Christmas! Thank you for this update, great gift.
Question: was Gordon “first”?
Happy Holidays to the BDH 😀
Merry Xmas and a wonderful New Year to House Andrews!
You are the gift that keeps on giving! I enjoy reading about your slice of life you share almost as much as your books! Now I have even more to look forward to than just Maggie!!
thank you so much! happy holidays 🙂
Gorgeous tree! Gordon and Ilona, wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Healthy, prosperous and happy New Year! Thank you for all the gifts you’ve given your Horde this year.🤗
Gorgeous tree!
You guys are AWESOME! Have a fabulous holiday season!
Gorgeous tree, wonderful family, work you love, yarn! and adoring fans of your superb books – thank you for sharing so much wisdom with us. Wishing you all a year of joy, good challenges and warm hugs.
Merry Christmas to House Andrews! Hope you all have a wonderful holiday together. Your tree is beautiful and the menu sounds amazing. Here’s to good things in 2026 (including that Augustine novella 😉 ).
Cheers!
Merry Christmas! This blog has been a bright spot in my life for a while now, both the posts and the comments from my fellow BDH members, and I am so thankful for all of it. So thank you, thank you, thank you! (I’m also very excited about the possible wedding, armored shenanigans, and ex-MIL comeuppance in 2026!)
Merry Christmas to you and yours. I wish you peace and love and togetherness.
Merry Christmas! This was a core food memory unlocked. My immediate family didn’t like turkey, so we had steak and fried oysters for holidays. So good. I didn’t do a tree this year, but yours is so beautiful. Our decorations are a mix of burgundy, royal blue, and gold, but we’re in a tiny little space now, which is great, honestly, but no tree room with 5 adults and 2 dogs for the holidays.
Wishing you and yours a very happy holiday. I just finished reading “The Inheritance” and I absolutely loved it. I can hardly wait until book 2 is ready. It gave me a much needed boost.
You sound better, that is good. Maybe a happy couple of weeks now will set up a better 2026. The tree is gorgeous, and that ham sounds AMAZING!!
If a cat or dog does manage to ruin a signed page, I am happy to take the damaged page off your hands. It would tickle me to no end.
Happy holidays!
Agreed. Nothing like a little fur or chewed corner to make it a team effort and a fun conversation starter. 🙂
The tree looks lovely & is that a tiny little Nechist ornament in the first photo by any chance? Also looking forward to Pancakes in action plus the grand tradition vampire wedding (lots of blood & severed limbs to go with the invite:)). Merry Christmas & hope Maggie doesn’t kill you!
I make that “salad” for a client – I’m pretty sure each serving takes a week off your life, you’re smart to have a couple bites and be done 😂
Merry Christmas!!! Sending all the happy thoughts and hugs for next year!!
So excited for the wedding!!! Thanks for all the good news. Beautiful tree just like my mom always did, a blue decorated tree! Love it!
Thank you for this Christmas present! Have a wonderful day with the family!
Best wishes to all today, including those who aren’t celebrating, and those who are celebrating alone, and those who only wish they were celebrating alone. Any day of peace is a gift. Hoping for a universal Christmas truce that every last one of us needs.
Ditto
That is a beautiful tree. Hope you have a wonderful holiday.
What a lovely tree. I have never done a themed tree. We collected ornaments from all our vacations and trips and I have a few favorites that were gifts from students over the years. I also still put the ornaments the kids made as elementary students and have made ornaments with my oldest grand daughter last year as well. But I am inspired by your lovely tree. Maybe a themed tree will be on the holiday list for next year.
I hope you and all of your family have a lovely holiday. And ModR, I wish the same to you.
Thank you for your lovely books. They are a joy to read and always lift my spirits when I need a comfort read like a hug from an old friend.
Best wishes to everyone for a joyful New Year.
I hope everyone is having a lovely, snug, comfy Christmas.
Christmas morning, no one’s awake but me, I see this post, read “vampire wedding, ex mother-in-law” apparently I make a sound that starts low in my throat, then moved to a very high pitched, loud sqeal.
I wake up all the dogs, cats, my husband, and my mother-in-law who comes to the upstairs railing and asked what’s going on, I reply that Maud and Arland might be getting married next year.
She asked if they are friends of mine, and since I can’t lie I say, “yes.”
I love it when you give me bricks!
We had quiche and Stollen this morning. Mid afternoon Beef Wellington and Loaded Baked Potatoes. Charcuterie platter tonight.
Happy Holidays from our house to yours!
The rice cakes and mushroom dish sounds amazing. Is there any chance you could share the full recipe?
Wishing you very happy holidays!
I’m happy for you that you get to spend Christmas with your kids. My parents live in another state, so I spend winter holidays at home with my husband, as the weather is usually too bad to travel 6 hours.
I’m excited Maggie 2 is another brick, even though we don’thave 1 yet. I love long books, give me all the books that I can use as doorstoppers. (I’m currently reading Return of the Runebound Professor, the shortest books are around 500 pages, but most of them are 700+)
What a lovely post, like a friendly letter. Thank you and Happy Christmas to all of you at House Andrews, House Mod R, and my fellows of the BDH. May you all have time to read today.
Merry Christmas! The tree genuinely looks amazing! Blue was the way to go.
May this next year be better, because 2025 was absolutely not my year, at all. I don’t know that most anyone in the US had a great year, TBH.
The Maggie ARC was genuinely the high point of my entire year until Christmas Eve-Eve, when I received a call and it was a formal job offer! Such exciting news and the best possible Christmas present. I’ve been floating on a happy cloud for the last 2 days and, of course, accepted the job offer.
It’s also really amazing to hear that we’re possibly-probably-hopefully getting more Innkeeper in 2026, because the Innkeeper Chronicles are my very very favorite series of all time, and have brought me so much comfort this year via many re-reads.
I hope y’all have an amazing day!
It is a true blessing when your friend knows you well enough to choose a gift that delights you. I would Love to suggest appropriate ends for that evil Mother in Law, I have every faith that what you select will surpass my offerings… I do believe that the formal adoption of Helen into Khrar and the family (as separate occurrence from the wedding, preferably as a first things first?) would be amazing.
I am thrilled at the teaser we might finally be getting Maude and Arland’s wedding! This inspired me to read Sweep of the Blade today. I wanted something familiar with a happy ending to read today since I can’t spend Christmas with family, so I will spend the day with Maude 😘
Ilona and Gordon:
You made my day and next year with this news.
Thank you and have a wonderful Christmas.
The tree is beautiful.
Thank you for all that you do to make this world a brighter place.
Happy Holidays to House Andrews and Mod R