As I sit at my desk I take joy in the birdsong as cardinals, bluejays and sparrows scramble at my feeder for a meal, a distraction from chaotic holidays.  I remember to be grateful for the abundance in my life, family and friends; joys of the holidays beyond the sparkling tree, gifts, special meals, sweet and savory.

Nearly every year I hear from at least one reader who has been gifted one of my books, readers with special connections to one of my stories.  This year I received this note in an email:

Karen,

I just wanted to say Thank You for the book When Africa Was Home.

I was born in 1970 in the United States, and moved to Zambia when I was six months old. My younger sister was born in Zambia, and we spent most of our formative years there.

This Christmas, she gave me a copy of your book. So much of it feels like our story. We both teared up as we read it.

Thank you for remembering when Africa was home for us too.

Happy Holidays.

These notes are gifts that brighten my spirit and remind me I am grateful for my readers.  That little story, When Africa Was Home, written so long ago still brings joy to a reader and thus to me.  It has gone off to make friends around the world in a way I never dreamed of.  Imagine the  thoughtfulness that went into the gift of that book which is no longer in print and probably arrived as a used edition, hopefully not too tattered, from an on-line bookseller.  That makes me smile!

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With the approach of the New Year I look forward to new connections and friendships through story.  Stories I hear and stories  I write, the stories I read.

What new ideas will unfold and and what new journeys will begin for all of us?   Wishing you the joy of stories new and old in the coming year!