The Sunday Post #234 | December 27, 2020

    

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
It's a chance to share news: a post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books,
 and share what's coming up on your blog in the week ahead. 
I worked only two days this week and it's been divine having off five days in a row. I've been loving it. If there's a vote to switch from working five/off two to working two/off five... let me know, will you? I'm a big fan.

December must be my lucky month, or 2020 decided to try to make up for the last nine months, because I have won four giveaways this month! I rarely even enter giveaways. I'm not one to enter just anything for the sake of winning; instead, I only enter when I am truly interested in what is offered. So to win four giveaway at all is pretty amazing, and considering it's been in the span of about three weeks is just crazy. (1) I won an audio book from Anne at Books of My Heart. (2) I won a book of my choice from Stephanie at Once Upon a Chapter. (3) I won an Amazon gift card from Michelle at Because Reading Is Better Than Real Life. (4) And yesterday I received an email from Goodreads saying I'd won a copy of Kate Clayborn's Love at First. I'm feeling pretty spoiled and so very thankful. And I'll be doing a few giveaways very soon so I can pay it forward.

For those that celebrate, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. Our main celebration is usually Christmas Eve and we did find a way to gather this year. We booked the amenities center in my neighborhood for my extended family of ten. We spaced out the three tables for each family, handed out gifts while wearing masks, and everyone brought their own food so there was no sharing. So, together but separate. We made the best of the situation and everyone seemed to agree that it was a success.


Christmas Day was a lot quieter. The Husband and I exchanged some gifts, and my mom came over for lunch. It's hard to buy a ham for just three people so now I'm determined to serve ham with every meal. Cereal for breakfast? Have a side of ham! Salad for lunch? How about a ham sammie on the side? What's that, you're tired of ham? Too bad, eat some more! :) 

Any plans for New Years Eve? I imagine most of the big celebrations are cancelled (at least I hope they are) but however you ring in the new year this coming week, I hope it's filled with health and happiness for us all. Here's to 2021... may it bring better things.

This Millennium Mix of Auld Lang Syne by Kenny G has been a favorite of mine for many years. Enjoy.


Sunday, December 20

Tuesday, December 22

WHAT I COMPLETED IN THE LAST WEEK

I've mentioned that I was in a bit of a reading slump after trying to force myself to read a book I wasn't enjoying. (Not something I would normally do, but it was for a book club and I felt obligated.) I'm happy to say that my reading finally picked back up this week!  

   

Listened to:

Read:


WHAT I'M CURRENTLY READING



Reading:



How was your week? Any new books? Any news to share?
I'd love to hear about it!

40 comments

  1. Wow, winning four giveaways, Christmas in advance ! I'm glad you were able to meet with your family with the necessary precautions, it's good to be together even in these conditions :) We'll be celebrating Christmas tomorrow, I wanted my daughters to be with us, we didn't do much on Christmas eve just my boyfriend and I (and the cats). Enjoy your presents and have a great week :)

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    1. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas celebration when your daughters got home!

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  2. Congratulations on all your wins. It's always fun to be a winner. I feel you on the ham. We had 9 for Christmas dinner, but still have ham for days. We only get it twice a year from the Polish butcher, so at least it goes over big. I can't wait to see what you think of All About Us (unless it's bad, then don't tell me). I adored that book.

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    1. I'm so excited for All About Us. Hopefully I'll love it as much as you did!

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  3. I am with you for working two days and five days off as well. I rarely win any giveaway and I have not won even a single this year. Another reason to hate 2020. I hope you enjoy all your books and have a good new year's eve.

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    1. I rarely win (or even enter) giveaways so this was certainly a surprise to me! :)

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  4. Yay for winning 4 giveaways!!! That is awesome. And I love your idea for a safe celebration. I'm so glad you were able to do that.
    Mackenzie's Mountain is my mom's FAVORITE book of all time. Hope you enjoy it!

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    1. So cool that's it's your mom's favorite! Now I'm even more excited to pick it up!

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  5. Congrats on all the wins!! That's awesome! I'm glad you were able to find a way to celebrate Christmas with your family, it sounds like a good time!

    Where did you get a copy of Christmas in the City? I saw you mention it a couple weeks ago and I thought it looked so cute, but I can't find it anywhere!

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    1. Sadly, I don't think it's available anymore, Angela. :( I downloaded the Kindle version when it went on sale last year but I think it was only for a limited time. And I bought the paperback copy because Kennedy Ryan was selling some signed copies on her website back at the beginning of 2020.

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    2. Ahh, thank you! My sister actually saw this comment and she has a copy of it I can borrow!

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  6. I am so happy to see that you had such a wonderful Christmas, I so wish I could take five days off if my boss would let me LOL Congrats on winning all of those giveaways.

    I adored Mackenzie's Mountain, it was so so good. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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    1. It was your post and review that made me buy Mackenzie's Mountain! :) I can't wait to pick it up.

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  7. Oh, wow that was a lucky! Yay for getting together safely and love the picture of you and the hubby!

    I just read Mackenzie's Mountain last week and loved it. I've read a lot of Linda Howard but not that book. Hope you love it, too! Oh, Kelley Armstrong is a fav author, but I've never seen A Stitch in Time. Is it an older book? I'll have to go see. Love your random and totally agree! :)

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    1. I think A Stitch in Time by Kelley Armstrong only came out a few months ago. October maybe? I used to love time travel romance so I have high hopes.

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  8. You got Someday, Someday!!!! And I am happy you still got to meet with the family even if it asked to be creative. Now about that two days work and five off, I am in!!! LOL Have a great Sunday Tanya!

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  9. What a great week! I love the cover on All I Ask. I love some of the books you got. I have heard of 4 on/ 3 off workweek which isn't too bad. I think everybody needs these weeks off though. European countries do much better with having holidays and time off for a more balanced life I think. Hopefully this week will be quieter and you will still have less work days than usual.

    Anne - Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post

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    1. I would do a 4 day work week (with longer days) in a heartbeat. Just not really a possibility right now. I imagine this week will be quiet, though. The time between Christmas and New Year's usually is.

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  10. Wow!! Four giveaways? That's amazing. Congrats!! That's so awesome!
    And I love how you where able to still celebrate Christmas with you family at the center. That's such a great idea!! I wish more people did it like you. ;)
    Love the photo!!
    Have a great week and happy reading.

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    1. Even with the small, distanced gathering, I wasn't 100% comfortable. I don't think I'll be truly comfortable around people for a long time. Or at least not until most are vaccinated.

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  11. I am a fan of those 5 (or 4 in my case) day weekends. Congrats on all of the wins this month! That is amazing! I am glad that you figured out how to celebrate with family. We had a tiny gathering at my mom's house. I made chili for Christmas this year. Different but that was okay. I hope you have a great week!

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    1. Glad you were able to gather, Carole, even if it was a small one. And chili sounds great!

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  12. Wow congrats on the giveaways! And 5 off/ two on, right? I'd go for that! Glad you had a nice Christmas though. I always love Christmas Eve even though our big family gathering is usually on Christmas Day. It's nice that you guys were able to find a way to make it work! That's a great idea.

    "Too bad, eat some more" lol. I made three pounds of meatballs and am still eating them two days later lol.

    Happy New Year!!!

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  13. Congrats on all of the giveaway wins. What a nice note to end 2020 on! Sounds like your Christmas gathering was a success. That's great that you were able to find a setup that would work safely. We have the same thing going on with the ham in our house too. I took the leftover ham, bought two huge packages of Hawaiian Rolls, used those to put together about 3 dozen mini ham biscuits and we've been having them as a side with almost every meal, haha.

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    1. I might have to borrow your idea of the mini ham biscuits on the Hawaiian rolls. Yum!

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  14. Woohoo for all the giveaways! I'm glad you found a way to be with your family at Christmas! Sounds like you had a lovely week. :) (And I second the call for 2/5 work days/off days)

    The ham comment made me laugh as we've been EXACTLY the same. If people are eating and there's no ham on their plate... It's only acceptable if they've finished eating it already! 😂

    Hope you have a happy new year... I fear we're "celebrating" with a video call quiz night with all the family. I'm genuinely horrified, terrified, curious and excited all at once!

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    1. Glad to know I'm not the only one force feeding everyone ham. LOL
      I actually like the sound of your video quiz night!

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  15. Congrats on winning those giveaways! That's exciting! I'm glad you had a great holiday. We didn't do a big holiday meal because we did ham for Thanksgiving for 3 people...We ate it for like a week! I feel your pain. ;)

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    1. LOL So you feel my pain with the ham overload. Last night it was scalloped potatoes and ham... and there's still more. :)

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  16. Yay for having 5 days off, that sounds fabulous and congratulations on all of your wins! And I'm so happy you got to spend time and see those you love ♥. And ham salads are delicious, so is cheesy ham potato soup....I'm making that for New Years.
    Jen @ Star-Crossed Book Blog

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    1. Cheesy ham and potato soup... yum! I think I just found another use for the leftover ham. :)

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  17. Yay for Someday, Someday by Emma Scott. One of my favs! ♥
    Holiday leftovers are the best. I don't know why but they just taste better the next day.
    Have a Happy New Years!

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    1. I’m so excited to dive into that one. Emma Scott is amazing!
      And I so agree about the leftovers!

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  18. It looks like you were able to make the most of the Holiday. I'm so happy you were able to get together with your family, even if it was a little different. We're in the same boat here. Turkey with everything haha.

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    1. Thanks Ethan. It was definitely a different kind of Christmas but I still enjoyed it all. :)

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  19. Congrats on all those wins! That must've been a nice Christmas gift. :-)

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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    1. Thanks Nicole... it definitely brightened up my month! :)

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