Month: November 2025

American Thanksgiving is upon us and thus kicks off six weeks of perpetual “cheat” days as we barrel full speed into that glorious amorphous blob of weeks lovingly referred to as “The Holidays.”

I’m not one to go gung-ho over Christmas and I’m firmly of the belief that the famous fat man needs to stay away until at least the turkey carcass has been carted away. That said, there are things about this whole time of year that I do enjoy and look forward to. I love decorating the house the weekend after Thanksgiving with my Spouse, blasting nerdy Christmas music, drinking hot cocoa and figuring out which geeky ornaments make the cut this year for the tree. Giving gifts to friends is something I like doing, even if sometimes it’s frustratingly hard to find the quote-unquote “perfect” one for them.

But tops of the list is the food, both consuming and preparing. From making Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving to helping figure out our contributions to various holiday meals, tis the season to nom often and voraciously. Yeah, I know, the guy who dedicated maybe 20% of his first novel to descriptions of food likes to eat. Shocking, I’m sure.

Anyway, in honor of the season, I’d like to use this space to share what I’m thankful for in 2025.

First, for the 19th year in a row, I’m most thankful for my amazingly awesome (and awesomely amazing) spouse, S. E. Robertson/C. A. Moss. Having them in my life, makes it better and they help make ME want to be a better person.

Next, I’m incredibly thankful that I was able to finally achieve the dream that sat unfulfilled for 30+ years and published my first novel. I am thankful for anyone who gave it a chance and especially thankful for those who had kind things to say about my debut effort.

I’m thankful that I’m back in therapy and seemed to have found a therapist that is a good fit for me and what I need right now. 2025 was a rough one, mental health-wise, but I feel like I’m starting to right the ship as we approach 2026.

Lastly, I’m thankful that I’m finally, if slowly, finding my feet again writing-wise and have begun earnestly crafting the next novel. Expect to hear more about that in this space in 2026.

But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, we still have 6 weeks or so of 2025 and that means holiday sales and deals! I’ll be participating in Smashwords’ End of the Year Sale. I’ll be back with more details on that next week.

Lastly, as we are about to be inundated with mistletoe and holly 24/7 (if you aren’t already), I just had to share the strangest and yet most delightful interpretation of the holiday season’s most famous icon. May I introduce you to a Santa… with muscles?

No! Not him! (Seriously, fuck that dead racist.)

This guy! Jolly Ol’ Saint Kick Your Ass. Jacked Frost. Badass Santa. Kazushige Sanda.

Once again, my spouse has found another bizarre, but utterly amazing Anime for us to consume and SANDA is quite possibly the most interesting interpretation of Santa Claus I’ve ever had the pleasure to experience. If you have a Prime subscription, it’s worth checking out. At least it’ll give you another reason to use it until Fallout season 2 starts.

Okay, that’s gonna wrap up things here until after Turkey Day. If you celebrate, whether with blood family, chosen family, or found family, I hope the holiday and the whole upcoming season stress-free and there is joy to be found for you and yours.

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