Once again we celebrated with family and friends at our annual Christmas party. Children and adults decorated ornaments, cookies, and a gingerbead house (which Husband had assembled the night before using brute determination)...

These were the words used in a search query by someone (likely a high school freshman) who found StoryRhyme.com. To the seeker: I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you didn't read the story, did you? Because if you did, you'd know that O. Henry's use of irony is not exactly subtle. In fact, if at first you didn't know what irony meant, you would after reading "The Gift of the Magi..."

Update: Jim And Della's Gifts; Irony... Okay, since it's the season of giving and since I don't want to feel like I've got spiders in my soul like The Grinch, I'm directing this post to the many of you who are seeking the answer to the question: What is ironic about the gifts Jim and Della gave to each other. Also, what were they really giving...

Yes, she was the “notorious” pin-up girl in sometimes ridiculous-looking outfits, but she retained a lovely lightness about everything she did...

Growing up, part of our family tradition was going out every year to pick out a tree with Dad. I've kept up the tradition of fresh-cut trees until just two years ago. Lazy? Maybe a little. Now we have a beautiful (okay, well, it’s fine) artificial tree. All we need is a little pine air freshener and we're set.

Go on, vote. The poll’s right over there in the right sidebar...

Oh and if you have the time, share a Christmas Tree story..!

This holiday, take a deep breath and relax with some of our very own StoryRhyme.com helpful hints. Here's number 9: Don't serve that greenbean casserole with the canned mushrooms and shoestring onions because it's just gross...

First of all, we're way too cool for this catalog (or so I thought), yet it comes anyway...

Gift cards have now crossed over from the realm of the merely functional to become toys and collector pieces? This particular card features a cutout "Domo" with magnetic Halloween costumes (included inside the gift card packaging) so you can dress your Domo in different Halloween costumes...

Charlie made decorations and signs for everything including a "Chamber of Secrets" sign that he put on the toilet tank; a "Leaky Cauldron" sign for the kitchen; and a "Platform 9 3/4" sign that we hung at the front door to welcome guests. Our Chamber of Secrets and Leaky Cauldron signs remain to this day...

At the age of 2, Grandma moved with her parents and brother from Kansas to the Arizona desert to homestead. Her mother (my Great Grandmother) taught school in the one-room school house and owned and ran the general store. Life was hard in the small ranch town. It was remote and often lonely...

The idea of worlds within worlds is so interesting to me. After our recent trip to the Griffith Park Observatory and watching the planetarium show, I was inspired to write a story about Charlie's encounter with an inhabitant of one of those worlds within a world...

Recently, while reporting a deposition, the attorney for the witness made an objection I'd never heard before...

Yesterday, Charlie came home from school in a whirl of excitement, clutching a cardboard box. No one knew what happened to the poor thing, but Charlie, who has a reputation for being an animal saver, was sought out for his expertise...

Every night when the moon is out, Kathy the Bunny Queen takes her basket and goes outside...