Day 25 2022/25 #ssac2025 A Present for Big Santa Nick Kurt Vonnegut ‘Our Santa Nick is a…prying, foul mouthed, ill smelling fake’ Big Nick has a party as Santa giving presents but asking kids what their parents think of him. As he is the ‘heir to the power of Al Capone’ But kids just can’t lie.

Are we having a random story tomorrow? @barbaramcveigh.bsky.social 🧐

#ssac2025 @barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social @onelitchick.bsky.social So ends this great series of stories. Kevin Wilson hits it out of the park. Thanx once again to each of you for the collective read along. I hope we get to do it all again soon! 👏❤️🤩

Day 24 #ssac2025 A Very Mario Lopez Christmas Megan Giddings ‘It’s my Christmas to fall in love. I will spend the holidays terrorizing and romancing Mario Lopez’ A women abducts a man for love. Chaos ensures. For the reader as well. Comedy is an acquired taste. This isn’t.

Day 23 #ssac2025 When You Were Here Claire Lombardo ‘He’s always been a bit of an asshole’ Josh clashes with dad Pete and disappears as he didn’t want to go to college. His mom Carolyn resends Pete that he is more closer to their daughters. Love isn’t equal when your kids are so different.

Day 22 #ssac2025 A Nativity Scene Rion Amilcar Scott ‘I knew she would, and she did’ He was stressed. He had deadlines. But, he had a plan. Until his wife went into contractions and the dispatcher screamed: ‘That baby cannot hit the water!’…. When needs must. We simply do. Because we can.

Day 21 #ssac2025 The Rent Controlled Ghost Lee Cornell ‘I’ll tell you a secret…I talk to 4c sometimes. I mean the old 4c’ After his widow Dad and son Cooper move into 4c, Miguel tells him of Halina, who haunts their new apartment. Missing his mom he tries to contact her. Grief takes many forms.

Day 20 The Old Ways Silas House ‘What are you doing with that snooty women?’ Mel returns to her visit her mom Alpha in rural Kentucky with Priscilla and son Blue. Despite a clash over expectations they come to a place of mutual understanding. For most people, Christmas is the great equalizer.

Day 19 Beneath the Softness of Snow Chanel Sutherland ‘You are not my child’…even as you reach across the barrier of the crib and brush his golden hair’ A West Indian women struggles as she leaves her daughters behind to Nanny in Montreal. A better life comes with stark human cost.

Day 18 How to Milk a Sheep Stephanie Dennee A heartbroken college grad agrees to housesit a power couple farm. With no experience she finds herself lambing a ewe. ‘Lie and say you can’t, when what you mean is that you won’t’ When sucking up to get ahead she actually discovers her true worth.

Day 17 Protection Paola Peroni ‘The living have an uncanny proclivity to ignore death when faced with it’ She returned to Rome from New York to be with her dying grandmother. Their precious time together brings salvation, perspective and peace by being unflinchingly real to their shared plight.

Day 16 Storm Windows Charles Haverty ‘The women’s had to put up with a lot of nonsense over the years’ Isolated memories and traditions intertwine to show how Lionel and Margot’s relationship with their parents have waxed and wane over time, as painful transgressions fade with old age.

@barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social Maybe we could have picked up Blair when I was with a group delivering a car from New York to Sacramento CA in 1986? We passed through the Badlands and Mount Rushmore.

Day 15 The Idler Tyler Barton ‘What idles is a fat-ass, cobalt F-250’ A knock on the window and Blair finds herself in a bar gushing to Kareen. It’s the night of awakening from how she came to small town USA and why she wants to leave. Love’s young dream wilts in the cold of South Dakota.

Day 14 Remedies Kali Fajardo-Anstine ‘That man and his choices are behind you now’ Single mom Millie brings 10 year old Harrison over so that Clarisa can meet her half brother. Things get serious when they call Grandma Estrella to rid their lice. Sometimes happy families work better separated

@barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social Vancouver Winter Olympics Such an amazing time… I was actually paid by Aquabus to do a blog of my experiences. And it’s still live: inthecenterofitall.blogspot.com?m=0 Lots of stuff and nonsense…. 🤩

Day 13 Two-Man Luge: A Love Story Claire Battershill ‘The only way I can really explain how I got into competitive luge is by talking about inertia’ He doesn’t know why, but his journey to the Olympics always had Patresh in mind. Leaving more is always a sign of a good story. Marvellous.

Day 12 2018/8 Festive George Saunders ‘And just like that, is Xmas’ A father with kids navigate the reality of impending holiday after taking lower paid job post layoff. The essence of Christmas is what you make of it and why.

Day 11 2023/9 Cosmic Cul De Sac Jade Song ‘Wo Yao hui his’ you beg, I want to come home’ An Asian wife is abandoned by her astronaut husband in US suburban hell which drives her to extreme measures with very unexpected consequences. Harmony with nature leads to eternal cosmic bliss.

Day 10 2020/13 Our Humans Meng Jin ‘I knew that he had actually left Kim for the impossible dream’ In a depleted LA working at the Preservation Dept. she meets Duowan. He wants to take her back to China, to start anew on an ‘immortal server’ to eternal life… Abduction for love is still a crime.

Day 9 2022/19 Reindeer Cyan Jones ‘That guy. Last year. There’s a lot of us think it was right, what happened to him’ Ston treks into the hills to stalk a wayward bear. Yet, the discovery of a dead reindeer and sleigh hints at the unthinkable. Festive mystery that lingers long afterwards…

Day 8 2020/22 The Ones We Carry with Us Sara O’Leary ‘I don’t want to die.. I know..But we have to’ She volunteered at a senior home witnessing Agatha death after dementia. A life lived with the an open heart shows our loved ones won’t be forgotten. 2020: ‘A perfect short story’ Which it is.

@barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social Yes, it’s hard most times to read a ‘short’ story longer than 30 pages these days…maybe we’re just not wired to do so: youtu.be/X1L1Hd3xfrU?...

@barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social Talking of past editions. I took a peek at the 2015 edition. Oh my, ‘short’ was certainly stretched. I found a 35 page and the Christmas Day delight was a whopping 58 pages! Certainly would be good to relive one day.

Day 7 2016/15 Minus, His Heart Jedediah Berry ‘You have my spine, but I don’t have your tape’ Minus, forces Chip to get back his audio tape he stole from his chest. Winsome Jenny doesn’t have it. So they set off to see Zooman Jubal… Peculiar. 2016: ‘Spike Milligan on Acid’

Day 6 2024/19 Chris Cornell Damian Tarnopolsky ‘I think I’m at dinner, but I’m actually at the kids table’ A summer job for an exec brings him to the exotic Francesca. In quiet spaces illicit passions flame over the works of Babel. But he realizes now how little he knew back then.

Day 5 2023/1 Notes on the Craft of Fiction Sam Shelstad ‘Nursing an injured bird back to health will buy you adultery’ An author provides insight to being a successful: use of crazy names, the benefits of blind people and a backpack of basic supplies. Fascinating. Guaranteed literary gold. 😂

Day 4 2019/18 Amaranth Lauren Geoff ‘She burned, white hot, alone…on the tip of her tongue: I saw’ She witnessed her father die before her. As her mother romances her father’s business partner, she plots her revenge. A cautionary tale of a child’s revenge equal parts chilling and farcical…

Day 3: 2018/15 Snatching Bodies Rodrigo Fresan ‘Maybe that’s why, now, I tell you about things that I didn’t see, that I couldn’t or didn’t want to see’. Reflecting back on his dying father reveals how classic sci fi films of the 50’s provided solace to an old man.

@barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! You may not hear from me tomorrow as we are off to see Andy Bell! Row 2 no less! I’ll see if I can get a selfie….😂 Don’t miss me to much! 🤩 Chat soon…❤️

Day 2: 2021/12 Josephine the Singer or the Mouse Folk Frantz Kafka ‘..this piping of hers is no piping..’ A mouse enchants and gives solace to the masses before her. A more overwrought tale I have not read, producing similar emotions to the back molar extraction I had last month.

Day 1: 2017/7 Edna in Rain Marie - Helene Bertino ‘….girls the heft of paper clips’ Edna goes for coffee as her ex’s fall from the sky. Until she meets a smiling stranger sitting on her porch… Confused today. Yet, in 2017 I pondered if this was a tale on fate and emotional baggage. 🧐

Daily Schedule for December 0630 Happy light on. Read Daily Advent story with David’s Advent tea. 0755 Crack open box for Parallel 49 Daily Advent Beer. Put in fridge. 20:00 Sample said beer. Reflect. I brought down my Advent Boxsets and original notes. Locked and loaded…. Let’s do this. 🤩

@barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social @brahms1975.bsky.social Clocks aticking… Are ya ready? Day & Night covered. What treasures are awaiting?…😎

@ttbrader.bsky.social @barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social Tis a week to go but 10 years ago today…it all started. 😎

@barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social

@barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social Ahoy! Your orders are on the way 🙏😎

@barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social Hey gang! Did u get that email from Micheal and Natalie about the new SSAC? Rising costs I gather made them change direction. I think we should tell them about your fab homage idea Barbara. I think they’ll ❤️ it! 🤩

@barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social Hey Barbara! Couldn’t resist this early Black Friday deal and got the advent calendar from David’s Tea… We can exchange notes for at least 12 of them…😂

@barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social Happy Halloween y’all. 👻 It’s going to be an interesting night once again in national sporting rivalries…🥎 All eyes on T - Town! 🏟️🇨🇦 We’ll still be friends either way….cross fingers 🤩

@ttbrader.bsky.social @barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social Hello again people…received a lovely note back from our friend Micheal in Edmonton… It appears we are not forgotten and still well received…😊

@ttbrader.bsky.social @barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social Hello gang of 4, I’ve put my order in for H & 0 offering. 12 days out to Christmas Day is Sunday December 14. Unless they slip in the bonus so that would be a Saturday 13 December. Presuming we are agreed on start date? 🤩

@ttbrader.bsky.social @barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social Oh good lord…it’s a 12 pack this year people… I love the original 24 (25!) so still mulling this over…🧐

@barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social Tis coming up to that time of the year people…🧐 Stand by…

…went by John Oliver school were the nightmare at the weekend happened.. Vancouver is pretty numb today.

@barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social ….was giddy having seen Kylie Minogue this weekend. She even shouted ‘nice suit’ mid performance. 😎

@ttbrader.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social Hey ho…. I’ve been inspired to watercolours after supporting one of my students in Grade 8 Art… Clouds are hard…☺️

@ttbrader.bsky.social @barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social No Coachella but we are venturing south again to Cruel World as now more than ever we need to see visual events celebrating inclusion and mutual respect. We’re all suffering on both sides of the borders. CW rocks! ❤️🇺🇸🇨🇦🙏😎

@ttbrader.bsky.social @barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social

@barbaramcveigh.bsky.social @ttbrader.bsky.social @mrmuleman.bsky.social