And Sarah texted me that she forgot to charge her laptop, as we were driving home from picking out a Christmas Tree.

So, given it’s the Mad Genius Club, and I get to play today, let’s talk a bit about what holiday traditions say about people and characters. Many of the stories we adore are . . . eventful, and don’t have time for holidays. But others do take the time, and how people celebrate tells us a great deal about the characters we’re enjoying.

I’m going to pick on our own Alma TC Boykin here, for an example, because she uses the Christian holy days to great effect in her Familiars books. (Also because I’m rereading in spare moments.) Her descriptions put you right there in the church, with a Leila unsure what she believes, only that she believes there is Someone; and later on with a Leila who knows Who she believes in.

Holiday traditions might illuminate religious choices, family traditions that came from religion or practical custom, cultural expectations, or the defiance thereof. One character might misdirect the others with their traditions. Why do your characters do or not do the things they do?

(As for me and my house, this year we actually could have gotten the tree a week ago: the performances wrapped up early this year. But that would be SO WEIRD. Yes, we’re a household of performing artists. No one, but no one, has the energy to decorate for Christmas before the last curtain closes and everyone sleeps two days. So we keep the decorations up for six weeks or so after Christmas instead.)