Some of my readers might have figured out that I love holidays. After all, I have two series that prominently feature holidays (Sweet Seasons and the Psalm 23 Mysteries) and holidays crop up from time to time in most of my other series as well. I love holidays because they force you to do something new, change up your perspective, and allow scheduled time for fun, relaxation, family, and a host of other things. My dad worked terribly long hours when I was a kid and was constantly on call. He would get home after I went to bed and leave for work before I got up in the morning a good deal of the time. Holidays meant I was usually guaranteed to see him all day which already made them magical and special.

One of the other things that I really love is that anything can and does happen on holidays. It feels like the normal rules of daily life are suspended and the potential for craziness is in the air.

Growing up my family loved celebrating holidays. Fourth of July we’d have friends and family over at our house for all day celebrating. The job that I had ever since I was about seven was picking out which sodas to buy at the grocery store. It felt like a sacred trust that I got to choose for all of the twenty or so people that would be coming to the party. What made things even cooler was that we acquired an old-fashioned Coca Cola machine, the kind where you lifted the lid and would get a glass bottle out of it. We’d get to bury the assorted cans in the ice in that machine.

My family loves games so games were also a big part of the day. Out in the backyard we’d set up croquet. Inside on the dining table we’d have Nerf ping pong. My parents were both fantastic at it and watching the two of them play each other was always like watching a battle of titans. Since you needed two points more than your opponent to win a game, sometimes they played into the thirties before someone would manage to get two points in a row. One of our best friends was a tennis player who played at the professional level. Even he would fall to my mom at ping pong, though it would be a tight game.

One year, in an effort to get inside her head and mess with her, he pulled a prank. My mom was terrified of mice. There’d been a mouse in the house about a week before the Fourth of July. It had been caught, but she was still jumpy. While she was in the kitchen talking with someone I watched while our friend got down on the floor behind her and crawled on his belly so that she couldn’t see him. He got up behind her and touched her ankle. She screamed and leaped straight into the air because she thought it was a mouse. I laughed until I nearly passed out.

Another year we had a new puppy. When we went to set out the croquet field a couple of days before the holiday we discovered that he’d been busy digging holes in the lawn. It wasn’t going to be possible to play around them so my dad grabbed a post hole digger, rounded out the holes, and turned the backyard into a mini golf course instead. Everything was perfect until we woke up Fourth of July morning to discover that our dog had “helped” by creating a bonus hole! It was hilarious! Anything can and does happen on a holiday. When else could you take your pet’s destruction of the yard and turn it into an attraction?!

I love holidays and Fourth of July will always hold a special place in my heart. That’s why it had the honor of being the featured holiday for The Shadow of Death, the most pivotal book in the Psalm 23 Mysteries series! It was the book where two people shared their first kiss. Come to think of it, the Fourth of July was also the day where Candace had her first kiss in The Summer of Cotton Candy. Hmmm… maybe it has something to do with the fireworks! I hope everyone enjoys the holiday this year. I know I will!