Christmas Carols

Today kicks of the Ass Cheek Angel's All I Want for Christmas Giveaways extravaganza. Every two days will be giving away a small gift and the last few weeks we will have a post for a grand prize. How do you win? It's easy as Christmas pudding. All you have to do is respond to that day's post (along with your e-mail address) to be entered in the drawing. If we randomly select your name as the winner, we will e-mail you get your address so that we can send the prize. So, be sure to check back often throughout the month of December because we have some awesome Angel giveaways headed your way!

Today's topic is Christmas music and the winner will win a Christmas CD, Have Yourself a Merry Little Country Christmas. It has a wide variety of holiday favorites from country singers like Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Kenny Chesney and more.

I love Christmas music. Which is a good thing this time of year because it is everywhere. In the grocery stores, malls, restaurants and all over the radio. It's to get everyone in the spirit of Christmas. So, today I am going to list ten of my favorite Christmas songs, both old and new that always get me into the Christmas Spirit.

10. "Christmas is All Around" - Billy Mack (Played by Bill Nighy), I love this song from Love Actually. I get it stuck in my head for days after watching the movie and it is really catchy.

9. "White Christmas" - Bing Crosby. Need I say more. :)

8. "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" - Frank Sinatra or Judy Garland. I love both versions and it is such a great song.

7. "My Only Wish" - Britney Spears - It is just one of those fun songs that I remember from high school and it is so fun and upbeat.

6. "Belleau Wood" - Garth Brooks. This song was not released, but it was on one of his CD Sevens. It is the beautiful story of the Christmas truce during World War I in which both sides sang Silent Night in their own languages together.

5. "Last Christmas" - Taylor Swift. I like the original version too, but I am a Taylor Swift fan so it is a guilty pleasure.

4. "All I Want for Christmas is You" - Mariah Carey, although the little girl in Love Actually rocked it too.

3. "Silver Bells" - Rosemary Clooney & Bing Crosby - it is just such a cute song and always has been one of my favorite Christmas duets.

2. "Silent Night" or "Stille Nacht" - I have no particular version of this song that I like best, but it is one of my favorite hymns. It is beautiful both in its original German and in English.

1. "O Holy Night" - There are also many beautiful versions in of this song and it is definitely my favorite one during the holidays.

Honorable Mention Holiday Song - "The Chanukah Song" Adam Sandler. It is just so funny, I had to put it out there.

It is hard to narrow down the list to 10, but I think I got most of my favorites on there!

What are some of your favorite Christmas songs? Don't forget to include your e-mail address to be eligible for the Christmas CD.

Ass Cheek Angels All I Want for Christmas Giveaway

Beginning December 1st, we lovely Ass Cheek Angels are holding contests all December long with some fabulous give away prizes! Every couple of days one of the Angels will post about their favorite or worst Christmas something or other. All you have to do is leave a comment with your email addy to be entered to win!

The week between Christmas and New Years we are holding a bigger contest! We'll start off writing a Christmas story. To be entered, continue with a bit of the story and leave your email address. The more you comment, the more times you can be entered to win. The Grand Prize is an ebook from at least 4 of the Angels who are currently published! Four books!!  What a way to start the New Year!

We hope you'll join us this holiday season as we spread around the holiday cheer! Hope to see you on the blog :)

Tis The Season For Traditions

Happy Thanskgiving.

This year on Thanksgiving, I'll have 23 family members at my house for a traditional feast. For this I am extremely grateful. My husband's smoking the turkey, I'll do the mashpotatoes and everyone else brings the goodies that will make it a complete meal. I'm looking forward to my sister-in-law's cream-cheese corn and my mother-in-law's sweet potatoe casserole. My mom's pumpkin pies, made from scratch, are the stuff legends are made of. This year I won't worry quite so much about overeating, because the following week I'll be running a marathon in Dallas.

When the meal is over, some of the family will leave to meet up with their spouse's family members. My sisters, sister-in-law and I, will gather around the Black Friday ads and start planning our shopping attack on Friday.

I hate that the stores are opening at midnight etc. these days. It takes some of the fun out of the Black Friday experience. The earliest I've been in line for a sale was 4:00 a.m. NORMALLY, we meet at Michaels at 6:00 a.m. and spend the entire day together shopping. We do 90% of our shopping on that day. When we were younger, we'd gather at my brother's house afterwards and wrap the gifts. Now days, we finish up around 8:00 p.m. and call it a day.

Our Thanksgiving planning of our Black Friday shopping is a holiday tradition I cherish. What are some of your favorite family traditions?

Lisa Wells

Musical Inspirations - Lori's Blog

‎I know we've discussed music on this blogsite before, but I'm putting a new spin on it. You all know by now that my first book is called Some Day Somebody. Maybe you don't all realize that those are words from the old song by Wilson Phillips called "Hold On", "Some day, somebody's gonna make you wanta turn around and say goodbye...until then, baby, don't you let 'em hold you down and make you cry." Those words got me through some mighty tough times in a really crappy marriage to a man who'd been sleeping around on me since year one of the 17 years I stayed with him. I felt like they wrote that song about me...FOR me. One day I did meet the right man and I was able to walk into a brand new life. When I wrote Sam and Carrie's story, I knew I had to use that phrase for the title. I flip flopped back and forth a few times, but always came back to it and I'm satisfied with the results.

It inspired me to use song titles or phrases for the rest of my series as well. "Last First Kiss" is a song from James Otto that didn't get radio play, but if any of you want to hear a good belly rubber, look it up...you won't be sorry. Book 3 is "Brown Eyed Girl" and who doesn't know that oldie but goody from Van Morrison. It was the perfect song for Tiffany and Red's book. Book 4's "Heaven In Your Eyes" is a line from a song I wrote for the book...one of two songs. Book 5 is "Green Eyed Lady" an old seventies song from a band called Sugar Loaf, I believe. It's about a green eyed, Creole, beauty named Angelique and her love triangle. Book 6 is "Sarah Smile" (Hall and Oates or that cutie patootie Jimmy Wayne) about an abused lady with twin babies, struggling to find happiness and self worth. I'm always listening and searching for titles for future books in this series.

So, I got to thinking...what would be the theme song to my life NOW...now that I'm happily married, and have been for almost 17 years to a man who is as faithful as the day is long...or short, depending on the season, now that our children have blessed us with ten grandchildren and another on the way, now that I'm seeing my struggles as a writer just begin to pay off. I've got a few in mind..."God Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts, "The Dance" by Garth Brooks, or me and Mike's wedding song, "Soul Provider" by Michael Bolton. But I've opted for a decidedly more 'upbeat' tempo from one of my favorite country singers, John Michael Montgomery. "Life's a Dance" is perfect for my current frame of mind in my life. Here are a few lines for those of you who may not be familiar with it. "Life's a dance you learn as you go. Sometimes you lead, and sometimes you follow. Don't worry about what you don't know, because life's a dance you learn as you go." Perfect for a 53 year old, writing by the seat of her pants, Ass Cheek Angel...don't you think?

So here's the question fellow cherubs...what's YOUR song for this time in your life?

Love you all bunches and bunches!
Lori

P.S. I'm having injections in my lower back tomorrow around 11:00. Been experiencing major problems with pinched nerves so I'm hoping this helps me to feel better for the holidays. Say some prayers that it works, ladies!

Miss Kitty Lied. . .

Oh, Miss Kitty, how you deceived us all. Remember Gunsmoke and Sheriff Matt Dillon’s main squeeze? Perfect silk dress, perfectly styled red curls – perfect beauty mark. How clean and wonderful the life of a Wild West saloon girl must have been. . . 

*insert sound of screeching brakes here*

Um, no. Let’s look at some facts. In descending order there were: Parlor Houses, Brothels, Cribs. Even in a Parlor House *think 5 star hotel* where a night of food, fun and the other “F” word might cost a man $200+, the girl only averaged $10 per week because of the cut the Madam (or the house) took the rest to cover the costs of food, wine and the girl’s room and board.

 Brothel girls could make $2.50 - $7.00 per customer, but she had to pay room and board out of this plus any other expenses she had. Oh, and Brothels were significantly less grand than a Parlor House. Parlor houses the girl probably spent the entire night with one man and her sheets were changed afterward. Brothel girls saw more “traffic” and her sheets might be changed once per week.

 Cribs were a closet-like space where the girls lived and worked. She would rent this room for $10-$20 per week. She charged a man as little as 25 cents depending on how dirty or run-down she and/or her crib was. Her profit was in volume. In a cattle or mining town, she would little more than stay in bed as the men lined up outside her door. Normally, a crib nymph would see 20 to 30 men per night. During a cattle drive, she could see as many as 75 to 100 men per night. And no clean sheets here. She put a rain slicker over the bottom of her bed to protect the sheets from mud and cow manure since the cowboy might take off his hat, but not his boots or pants. Volume, remember?  

Yes, there were Saloon Girls who could just serve drinks, but they could also “go upstairs” for extra money. And Dance Hall Girls, yes, they were there, earning 12 ½ cents per dance. But all in all after researching this topic, I have to say, Miss Kitty lied to us.

What do you think?

*All statistics were found in UPSTAIRS GIRLS: Prostitution in the American West by Michael Rutter