K.A. M’Lady – O’ Christmas Tree & Other Magic

History teaches that a 7th century monk from Crediton, Devonshire, went to Germany to spread the Word of God.   Legend has it that he used a Fir Tree’s triangular shape to describe the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.   The converted Thuringian people began to revere the Fir tree as God's Tree.

It is said that in the early 16th century, Martin Luther was to have decorated a small Christmas Tree with candles, to show his children how the stars twinkled through the dark night.

The worship of trees goes as far back as the practicing pagans of Europe.  It survived their conversion to Christianity.  And, it is said that in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year, the boughs were used to scare away the devil.

   

So, as you see, the Christmas Tree has a long history of light, and faith, customs and beliefs.  Its traditions are varied and cross many histories of people.  At the center of these customs is collectively gathering amongst those we care for in love, and friendship; coming together in the lights and joy of Christmas.

As you gather with family and friends this holiday and share in the magic of this blessed season, and as you decorate your Christmas Tree with treasured decorations, think on all of the memories that made up that box of ornaments.  That lit up tree decked with tinsel or garland.  And remember that monk and all those who have gone before us who passed on this treasured tradition of light and love.

Best Selling Author of Ramshackle Castle ~ Bent Poetry & Other Altered Verse and Just Another Paranormal Christmas; K.A. M’Lady lives a few stone throws from corn fields, chaos and congestion; all lying on the outskirts of the many burbs of Chicago.  Her work has been described as scary, descriptive, beautiful, dark, frightening, prosaic, addictive, sexy and believable.  You can visit the worlds she creates on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, ARe or at her publisher, Mojocastle Press.  Or, look her up on the web at: www.kamlady.net

Today I’ll be giving away one (1) copy each of my best-selling ebooks; Just Another Paranormal Christmas – Anthology by several of the multi-talented authors from the paranormal group Just Another Paranormal Monday.  As well as my best-selling poetry ebook; Ramshackle Castle ~ Bent Poetry & Other Altered Verse.  To win answer either of the following questions in the Comment Section:

1.       What is your favorite Christmas Tree decorating memory?

2.      What do you top your tree with – Angel or Star and why?

My favorite tree memory:  When I was a little girl our neighbors had this huge white tree and they would always decorate it with blue and white lights, silver, and blue balls and tons of sparkling blue and silver garland.  It always reminds me of some sort of sparkling, magical, elfin tree, dusted with snow and sparkling with diamonds.  To this day, I love white Christmas Trees.

And our tree is always topped with an Angel – to watch over and protect us.

Ramshackle Castle - Bent Poetry & Other Altered Verse

in review:  Romance Reviews Submitted by Authors had this to say:

K.A. M’Lady’s works take on a range of emotion, from comical, morose, sad, and dramatic.  I loved reading the twisted, melancholy, and oft times humorous, words of K.A. M’Lady. What an adventure!  She has taken an interesting approach to the collection, and it is very much worth the read.  There is such a broad range of poems and writings in Ramshackle Castle that you are sure to find something that will bring a tear to your eye or a laugh to your day.   I can’t wait to read more from K.A. M’Lady.

 
~Reviewed by Author Elizabeth Finn~

Available Now at Mojocastle Press   Amazon     Barnes & Noble    &    ARe

Ramshackle Castle - Bent Poetry & Other Altered Verse

Humor, Paranormal, Poetry

Ramshackle Castle
K. A. M'Lady
Rated: The Curtain Wall
Length: Sigil
Price: $1.99
ISBN: 1-60180-RCC

Come, walk the night road through your memory of childhood fairy tales, limericks, ghostly apparitions and the lingering breath of classic poetry gone awry.  At the Castle, magick and mayhem are a lyrical delight spun with fairy dust.  It may at times be dark, dusty and a bit bent but every word is a glamorous enchantment.

Tread Lightly

The road less traveled.  Whoever told me to take that damn road was an idiot!  Yellow woods indeed.  Maybe from the field full of fairies -- no doubt.  Crazy bitches with wings!  ....

Dead Birds & The Ghosts of Psycho Ex-Girlfriends

One would think that a mind numbing midnight drunk would still the incessant tapping; hammering its way inside my lonely chamber.  I groaned, “Be gone, I’m napping.”  Only this and the tome I chucked at said wavering chamber door.  Only this and nothing more.

 .....

What becomes of falling snow

the dwarves never understood the longing

and after months in a hovel cleaning

what should have been diamonds

but remained only dust; coal black

and caking on the threshold of a place

now known as home, even doc couldn’t

cure the insatiable need for belonging,

and love, ah that sweet poison,

piercing my heart from a childhood

haunted by shadows and lonely dreams,

I still long for a woodland filled with hope

where the wind, subtly cresting in the night,

sometimes whispers -- maybe,

someday,

maybe…

 

The ugly side of trolls

the night wrangles on amidst long intervals

of heavy pacing and endless moments

of deep introspection, for there is much to consider

beneath the dim light of plank-board

and the dark cool stench of wet, root filled earth --

for even bridge trolls get bored

 ....

Reflections of Hamlet

I met Hamlet in my reflection and knew the solitude of his rambling, his agony reflected in my eyes. 

....

The sorrows of an ugly step-sister

you, Cinderella with your flaxen waves

and sparkling eyes, know not what it is

to be cast in the shadows -- the second born,

a grey goose of waddling travels mucking about

in a truly murky lake, suffering

an unsavory flair as a true second class citizen

....

K.A. M’Lady   Copyright 2010

All Rights Reserved

Just Another Paranormal Christmas

An All Romance eBooks anthology Best Seller!

Buy your copy today at ARe - Purchase 

Available Now

at Mojocastle Press

http://www.mojocastle.com/ParaChristmas.html

This Christmas the castle will make you believe again....

Just Another ParaNormal Christmas

by

Just Another Paranormal Monday Authors:

Kayden McLeod, Candace Sams, Heather Kuehl

K.A. M'Lady, Brigit Aine, & Susan Gabriel

All Proceeds to benefit The Armed ForcesChildren's Education Fund

www.afcef.org

Once Upon a Dragon - K.A. M’Lady

Jeremy Owens and his older siblings want to believe in magic, but hope and belief are difficult things to hold onto even when you’re a child. After the loss of their parents, three young children find themselves fostered off on an Aunt who’s never known the love of a child. This Christmas, will the Owens children find out what it means to believe again?

Anything is possible with a little magic.

Excerpt:

“Are you okay, Aunt Lenni?” Jeremy’s sweet little voice floated up at her like the breath of innocence that she’d recently come to enjoy and she briefly wondered how anyone could not want to hear its little bit of heaven on a daily basis.

“I’m fine, Jeremy. Just a bit of the pre-holiday blues,” she told him.

“You want to hold my dragon’s egg?” he asked her. “It’s magic, you know.”

“No, Jeremy. It’s okay.”

“Really,” he told her, his voice filled with excitement. “It will make you feel better.” Then he thrust the round, sparkling rock into Lennai’s lap. “It makes me feel better. That’s cuz all of the magic that’s built up inside of it.”

Lennai couldn’t help but smile. So, she took the rock and held it in the palm of her hands. But as the rock began to warm a bit of wonder seemed to grow with it. The feeling of warmth spread as it tingled through her fingers. Then the warmth spread up her arms, all the way to her heart. Lennai blinked in wonder at the now glowing rock she was holding.

“See,” Jeremy whispered. “It’s magic.” Then he took his dragon’s egg and wandered off.

Lennai sat in the chair at the kitchen table where she’d begun her pondering. Her mouth hung open and her eyes, she was certain, were wide with shock. The warm, fuzzy feeling she’d had when she was holding the egg still crept through her heart; she was warm all over.

“Well, I’ll be,” she whispered.

“You’ll be what?” asked Sam, who’d traipsed into the kitchen wearing one of Lennai’s old sweaters.

Lennai blinked, looked down at her sparkling fingers and blinked again. Her hands shone with a glimmer of dust, sparkling in the morning light.

“I’ll be,” she stammered again.

“You’ll be what?” Sam asked, looking at her Aunt with a frown.

Lennai glanced up from her shiny fingers at her young niece and babbled, “I’ll be right back.” Then she tore out the kitchen door, down the stairs and across the snow-dusted lawn. She had one direction set in mind—Pen’s. Good thing he lived right next door.

“Pen,” she yelled, pounding on his front door. “Pen, answer this door right now. I know you’re home. Your truck’s in the drive. Pen, you answer this door.”

“Good grief, woman. What’s got you all fired up this morning that you’re storming my castle door?” Pen asked when he yanked the door open a minute later, wiping his hands with a work rag.

“You,” she insinuated, her voice filled with fire as she shoved her way past him, stopping only when she ended in his kitchen. “You and that dang egg. Do you know that if you hold one it gets warm all over? That it glows?”

Pen looked at her like she was the one with a few rocks loose.

“Look,” she said thrusting her dust-covered hands at him. “Jeremy gave me his egg to hold this morning because I was feeling a bit down and when I held it, it got all warm and glowed and now I’m all covered in its dust.”

Pen took her hands in his and ran his fingers over their dusty surface. “Maybe it is magic,” he whispered, sarcasm dripping with every word.

About Just Another Paranormal Christmas:

A Christmas to Remember - Brigit Aine

Now that they are married, Lance and Kira thought life would settle down. Unforntunately for them, as Christmas approaches, so do their enemies.

Reflections of a Lily in Winter - Susan Gabriel

 Even a tough cookie can crumble under difficult circumstances. Fourteen year old Lily is drowning in domestic drama and facing the worst Christmas in her life until a distant relative in a faraway place throws her a lifeline.

One Christmas spent at Candlewood Manor will open her eyes to a world beyond her imagining and open her heart to the reason behind the season.

The Unexpected Guests - Heather Kuehl

Werewolf Sarah Vargas returns to South Carolina to attend a Christmas party thrown by Damian, born vampire and Lord of Charleston. She quickly discovers that The Council - an elite group of vampires - are attending. They are bringing with them two members of the Du'Rah, the vampire's elders. The Du'Rah are pretending to attend Damian's party so that they can initiate him into their ranks, however they have a more sinister plan. Will Sarah be able to save Damian from the true death and still celebrate the holiday season?

A Cornwall Christmas - Kayden McLeod

Even vampires celebrate the holidays. Marcus and Kelly wake up Christmas morning with their own extraordinary presents for the other, one of them blowing up the kitchen. In an effort to appear more human, the Cornwalls plan an extravagant dinner, with all the trimmings and more. Differences are put aside; the Council and Covens come together to show that this time of year is only for good tidings.

Once Upon a Dragon - K.A. M’Lady

Jeremy Owens and his older siblings want to believe in magic, but hope and belief are difficult things to hold onto even when you’re a child. After the loss of their parents, three young children find themselves fostered off on an Aunt who’s never known the love of a child. This Christmas, will the Owens children find out what it means to believe again?

Anything is possible with a little magic.

A Future Holiday - Candace Sams

In a future society, two lonely fighters return from war. Rorn T’Kar is the commander of an Earth ship which has been battling in space for eight long years. He once loved Lyra Dench, but she apparently found his presence tedious. Lyra couldn’t tell Rorn she’d joined the Infiltration Corps, which unfortunately had an eighty-percent mortality rate. She was ordered to keep her actions secret and knew Rorn would try to keep her from fighting to save Earth.

When Armistice finally comes and coincidentally corresponds with the holidays, the magic of the season takes over. Rorn and Lyra meet again, at the end of the war, and find what they thought they’d lost…all by the light of a Yule tree.