I love this time of this year. It's when everything is fresh in the stores, holiday decorations are newly put up and look somehow different from last year, and the pace of holiday shopping is less frenetic than it will be in another two weeks. Even the Thanksgiving crowd in the supermarket yesterday was relaxed. And the smells of the season? What can I say? These, too, are special for our having lived nearly a year without.

Thanksgiving would not be Thanksgiving without the smell of turkey cooking. We tried bringing in a cooked turkey for the holiday one year, but the vote was unanimous: No roasting turkey smell? No good. And turkey is just the start. There's also the smell of apple cider mulling, cranberries popping for sauce, pumpkin pie baking, and evergreen-scented candles.

Where will I be for Thanksgiving? We'll be visiting two of our sons, our daughter-in-law, and our grandchildren, and while we'll miss our third son and his wife, they'll be with her family, which is good.

The holiday season kicks off with Thanksgiving, as does the lead-up to the publication of Family Tree. Those of you who are on my mailing list will receive Chapter 1 of this new novel, direct to your inboxes, on or around December 1. With Chapter 2 following at the beginning of January, you'll get a good taste of this book before the bookstores even see it.

Not on the mailing list? To sign up, click on CONTACT on the list on the left.

To all of you, a Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by Barbara Delinsky at 01:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You know I'm a knitter, right? I've been one since I was a child. My mother died when I was 8, and she was sick for 5 years before that. One of the few memories I have of her is of holding my hands up so that she could use them to wind a hank of yarn into a ball. I learned to knit soon after she died and haven't stopped. I knit Fair Isle sweaters in college, and, later, I knit big long vests for my pregnant working self. I crocheted sweater coats when the kids were little so that I could spend clothing money on THEM.

And it goes on. Today, I knit on airplanes, on weekends, and daily, during the evening news. I'm in a weekly knitting group, and my stash here at home is getting out of control. But I love it. I truly do. Which is why the latest twist to the Family Tree tour in February is absolutely delighting me.

Berroco, a major yarn company with distribution in every state in America, will be co-sponsoring this tour! I'm going out to the company headquarters this Monday to meet with the Berroco creative powers that be, and I'm beside myself with excitement. Coincidentally, I'm in the middle of knitting two projects with Berroco yarn -- an olive-colored, cabled beret made of "Ultra Alpaca" and a ruffled scarf in a bright sapphire shade of "Pure Merino." Sound luscious? Well, here's another lure. During our meeting Monday, we'll be discussing Family Tree patterns that Berroco will be designing to coincide with publication of the book.

So if you're a knitter, warm up your needles. More to come on the Berroco connection in my next blog.

That said, knowing knitting is NOT a prerequisite to loving Family Tree. Trust me on that.

Posted by Barbara Delinsky at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)