Happy Birthday, America!!!!!!!!!!

In The Book of New Family Traditions, I write about celebrating the fourth of July as the birthday of America, and that’s a good way to get into the real meaning of this holiday with your kids. We have a tradition of always reading aloud from the Declaration of Independence, which is easily found online and is often printed in daily newspapers on this day. 

Here are some ideas for your birthday bash:

*Uncle Sam hats for party toppers

*red, white and blue bunting and decorations

*cupcakes or cake for desert, and sing “Happy Birthday, America” after lighting and blowing out the candles

*have everyone at the party talk about what freedom means to them

*play Sousa music and march around, or sing some patriotic standards: if you forgot some of the words, click here. 

 

There are more ideas for this holiday in the book, including how to write your own family constitution, and the best fireworks apps. Yep, there are tons of smartphone apps featuring fireworks. What a country!

Have a blast! Here’s my favorite treat for this holiday. 

 

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This recipe comes from the July/August 1996 issue of Cooking Light.

Berry Patch Parfaits

2 cups raspberries or blackberries

1/4 cup sugar, dividid

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 (32 ounce) carton vanilla low-fat yogurt

12 raspberries or blackberries (or blueberries)

1/4 cup frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed

 1. Place 2 cups raspberries in a blender or food processor, process til pureed. Press pureed berries through a sieve into a microwave-safe bowl, and discard seeds. Add 2 tablespoons sugar and cornstarch to puree: stir with a whisk until blended. Microwave at high 3 minutes or until thick and bubbly, stirring halfway through. Spoon 1 tablespoon of berry mix into each of 4 (10 oz) stemmed glasses. Chill, uncovered, 10 minutes.

2. Spoon yogurt onto several layers of heavy-duty paper towels: spread to 1/2 inch thickness. Cover with additional paper towels, let stand 5 minutes. Scrape into a bowl using a rubber spatula. Add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar to yogurt, stir well.

3. Divide yogurt mix evenly among glasses. Top each with 3 tablespoons of berry mix. Cover loosely: chill at least 2 hours. Top each parfait with 1 tablespoon whipped topping and your choice of berries (I add blueberries for the red, white and blue look). 

4 servings. 

June 14: WANTED: Your Fun Summer Traditions!

Isn’t this a glorious time of year? Gorgeous weather, delicious fresh fruit, just throw on your shorts and flip-flops, and feel the warm breeze on your skin. School is out, the kids are frisky, not yet bored.

I’ve been asked to write a magazine article about summer traditions, and I could really use your help. So, I was wondering, what sorts of things does YOUR family do to celebrate this season fully?

Do you eat special treat foods at your barbecues? Always go to this certain park or festival or outdoor concert? 

When my son was little, we made a ceremony on the last day of school of going straight to the public library to sign up for the awesome summer reading program: the kids kept cute charts about each book they read, and at the end of the summer, they could cash them in for bookmarks and other prizes. And always, on that day, we would go out for the first summer ice cream cone.

What are your special foods, hang-outs, games, party activities, neighborhood fests?

Do you have a cousins camp, or special made-up sports?

Share your comments here, or send me an email at meg@megcox.com. 

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!

June 12: Memory Jar for Father’s Day!

This is a simple but profound way to celebrate your father, or the father of your kids.

I’ve taken a strip of cloth and sewn a hem with white embroidery floss, then stamped the letters onto the fabric. But it would be easy to use a paper or ribbon label, marked with crayons or Sharpies. Add photos if you want, glue one right on to the jar. 

The strips of paper are written notes about moments or activities that stand out, things like fun vacation times, or a day when you beat your dad at cards or tennis for the first time. Refer to jokes, family code words for things that make you laugh. Remind your dad of a disaster that has gotten to be a funny family memory. 

There are lots of ways to make this personal, but I guarantee, the recipient will be touched.

Whenever he has a bad day, or just needs to be reminded of how much he is loved, this jar will be there to remind him. 

Oh, and I would love if you can send me a photograph of YOUR memory jar! Send it to meg@megcox.com, and I’ll post it on  my blog and Facebook page. I wish my Daddy were still around: he would love this!!

 

June 5: Taking My Book to the Booksellers Expo

The Contortions it Takes to Sell a Book

 

I always love going to the annual BEA, Booksellers Expo, where booksellers and librarians come to meet  authors.  For years, I covered publishing for the Wall Street Journal and traveled all over the country to attend the BEA, but in recent years, it has been held annually at the Javits Center.  It’s always a thrill to pick up the early buzz on fall books and get to see and meet some of the authors I most admire. But there is a special thrill to be an author there (despite the obvious freak-out that competition is ENDLESS.)

 Anyway, I was scheduled for a half hour session of signing copies of The Book of New Family Traditions in the Running Press/Perseus Books booth. The good news and the bad news is that the 75 books the publisher brought to give away evaporated in less than 15 minutes — there was actually a line of booksellers and librarians waiting to get a signed copy. Some of those in line included old friends, including Lynn Rosen, who edited the first edition of the book, and whom I hadn’t seen in years. Those who came too late to get a copy were so sad.

Every day, I feel overwhelmed by all that I should and could do, but this was a total feel-good day.

What can I say? A front row seat for a breakfast panel featuring Stephen Colbert, Barbara Kingsolver, Junot Diaz and Norwegian thriller writer Jo Nesbit? Priceless. 

Followed by lunch with my awesome agent, Chris Tomasino. 

Did I mention that I came home with 4 canvas bags STUFFED with free books?

So much treasure.

Life is sweet. 

P.S. The Alvin Ailey dancer above, whose name is unknown to me, was promoting a very cool new photography book for fall called Dancers Among Us by Jordan Matter.  There are plenty of towers I would climb to help my book make its way before the public. Just so you know. 

This Rocket Has LAUNCHED!!!

The author speaks!

 

My book launch party on Saturday night was a blast!!!!

Now, it is true that the bookstore neglected to get the press release out in time to meet local media deadlines, but the end result is that almost all the people who came were close friends.

It was so awesome to celebrate the book’s release with friends from every part of my life: quilters, writers, former colleagues from the Wall Street Journal, friends from church, my yoga teacher, my Pilates teacher (really, I should be in MUC better shape), and the librarian from my son’s grade school.
Not only that, almost everybody bought at least 2 books: one for themselves, and one for a gift.

There was such an outpouring of cookies, I was able to supply the church picnic the next day.
Thank you so much for all my dear, dear friends who came out and partied with me on this milestone day.

Special thanks to my pal Deb Hunter who not only stayed and helped me clean up the church kitchen, but hauled the garbage all the way to the dumpster and stayed behind to make sure I managed to lock ALL the many doors to the church.
My heart is full!!!!

My Book is OUT!!!! (Go Buy It, OK?)

Window at Jazams in Princeton

 

Finally, my publication date has arrived, and the book is landing in stores and online. 

I’ve already gotten my first reader review at Amazon.com (5 stars, no less).

I hope you’ll want to buy a copy: more than 300 rituals and celebrations for $16 is a steal.

If you want to buy an autographed copy, just click on the store photo above. Jazams, a fantastic toy and book store in Princeton, will mail you a signed copy, even a personalized one, if you are not in a hurry.

Wanna come to my book party? I’m having a Bring Your Own Cookies party on Saturday June 2, from 7 to 9 pm at the Unitarian Church in Princeton, 50 Cherry Hill Rod.

Need more information? send me an email at meg@megcox.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome!

Welcome to my brand new blog, and my totally revamped website!!!

This has been a major undertaking for me, but the time had come.
    
Next month, the new, expanded edition of The Book of New Family Traditions is being published, and I wanted to re-launch my website to celebrate that.

I’ve been extremely happy with my website, which was designed originally (and now updated) by Holly Knott, who embodies a rare combination of technical expertise, great patience and creative genius. She helped me create the new one within this blogger format, so that I may be able to add content and make changes myself.

The hope is that the website, partly due to this blog, will be more current with the fast-moving changes in my professional life.

I think this new format more fully captures and links together all the various work that I do, and the venues– both virtual and actual — where it is displayed. I’m a big believer in the new credo for authors: connect as often as possible with your readers and potential readers, and show them as well as tell them your message. I’m enjoying using the Constant Contact format to make my newsletters more visual and interactive, and I expect to be posting more videos, beyond the “book trailer” that I recently recorded, viewable on my homepage.

As you can probably tell, my passion for both quilts and family traditions continues to grow, and I hope that the work I’m doing will be valuable to those who share these passions with me.

Please, do tell me what you think of the new website. Share your ideas and suggestions of what I might write about next, whether in books and articles, newsletters or blog posts.

I’d love to hear from you!