On the Second Day of Christmas

by Gary Fearon, Creative Director, Southern Writers Magazine

If "my true love gave to me" has already popped into your head, congratulations!  Your musical memory is alive and well, even though we've heard "The Twelve Days of Christmas" for the last time this year. Technically, however, today is the second day of Christmas, so in that spirit I thought we'd take a second look at Christmas past.

I can get a little nostalgic thinking about Southern Writers' first Christmas, in 2011.  It was an exciting time of promise, adventure, and new friendships with authors and each other.  One thing I remember fondly was that, for the month of December, every day on this Suite T blog was devoted to a different "gift".

These classic posts are a little hard to find, unless you go looking for them.  So I went looking for them.

The Gift of a Writing Partner by Kelli Zaniel
The Gift of a Reader by Shannon Milholland
The Gift of Counting the Cost by Doyne Phillips
The Gift of a Time Out by Gary Fearon
The Gift of Time by Susan Reichert
The Gift of Humor by Jenny B. Jones
The Gift of Great Food by Shannon Milholland (includes recipes by authors and the SW staff!)
The Gift of a New Beginning by Doyne Phillips
The Gift of Gab by Gary Fearon
The Gift You Get When You Give by Susan Reichert
The Gift of Mystery by Sandra Balzo
The Gift of...Gifts by Shannon Milholland
The Gift of Great Art by Doyne Phillips
The Gift of Music by Gary Fearon
The Gift of Poetry by Susan Reichert
The Gift of a Family Heritage by Renee Rowell
The Gift of Leadership by Londa Hayden
The Gift of Hope Deferred by Doyne Phillips
The Gift of Goals by Gary Fearon
The Gift of a New Year by Susan Reichert
The Gift of a Rich Childhood by Sarah Loudin Thomas
The Gift of FREE Marketing by Jessica Ferguson

Maybe one or more of those "gifts" will resonate with you on this second day of Christmas, which, by the way, is immortalized in another yuletide chestnut.  December 26 is the "Feast of Stephen" mentioned in the song "Good King Wenceslas".  I hope you'll "feast" on the joys of the season still to come, and will continue to celebrate all the way up to that twelfth day of Christmas, on January 5th.

Now that it's stuck in your head, feel free to hum "Good King Wencelas" today. (If you know the words, I'm impressed.)