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2025 Christmas Newsletter: Highlights and Upcoming Novels
Hi everyone and welcome to my Christmas Newsletter. Some of you may have received a shortened version of this letter with your Christmas card but here is the extended version should you wish to read it.
I spent most of the first quarter of 2025 publicising my latest novel Winter Star in the Scottish Highlands because, as an indie author, if I don’t get word of my books out there, who will? Winter Star is the sequel to Dark Highland Skies . I am currently writing the last in the series (title to be announced) for publication in 2026. If you want to know how Halley and Tor’s love story pans out, subscribe to my blog and keep in touch.
I’m also updating the last of my novel covers: Take Me I’m Yours. A proof copy is on pre-order but won’t arrive until after Christmas so I don’t have anything to show you. But you can download a copy (with the old cover) on Amazon for 99p or read FREE via Kindle Unlimited. .
The highlight of 2025 was the five weeks we spent in Scotland in August when we had the most am-az-ing weather. We made it over to Tobermory on Mull for the best fish in chips in the world and, to top it off, saw white-tailed sea eagles soaring over moorland/pine forests. It was so hot when we reached Arisaig I bought Factor 30 suncream from the local Spa and came home with a tan (not rusted up as usual).
We spent three nights in Drimnin in ‘Airship2’ which features in Winter Star in the Scottish Highlands as Tor and Halley’s hideaway – Beag air Bheag (little by little). When we saw it through the trees it took our breath away, it was like a film set. As for midges, the garden came complete with an anti-midge machine (the Terminator) which zapped the little blighters before they could get us. We have booked to stay there in June 2026 including the Longest Day when it never gets dark. So romantic.
I’m always looking for authentic touches to add to my novels. When we were in Mallaig we came across the Vintage Horsebox Deli which served delicious cake and coffee. I filed it away for future reference. I envisage a scene in #9 where it could be used to good effect. We also came across the Jac-o-bite cafe but that was too cheesy, even for me.
Upon checking the map I saw that we were very close to the village of Pennan and twisted Dave’s arm to drive us there. Pennan is where the movie Local Hero was filmed and we couldn’t resist standing by the iconic phone box. I love that movie so much that we downloaded a copy to re-watch in the caravan before we we visited there !!
After Pennan we headed south, and managed a quick visit to see Maggie in Lenzie before spending the day in Edinburgh and heading home. I’ll be updating the blog with more of our Scottish adventures after Christmas, so if you don’t already subscribe, please consider doing so.
In case you are unaware, my sister Phyllis King is a very talented artist and these are the covers of some of the Christmas cards she’s created. I used the stag’s head to make labels for my cards this year and it looked fantastic. Coincidentally, I found a stag’s head garland in the local Age UK, added new ribbon and batteries and it now hangs on our door in pride of place. Well, to be honest, Dave added the ribbon etc but I did order it off Amazon! Cute, or what?
Looking ahead . . . In 2026 we will be celebrating 53 years of marriage, 30 years in our current home, 20 years of retirement and Dave’s mum’s 98th birthday and, hopefully, a new novel(!). We’ll be heading out with the caravan in March to celebrate my birthday and I can’t wait. (I won’t say which one) 😊Remember, you are always welcome at Chez Lamb for coffee, cake and a chance to sit by the wood burning stove and share the craic. I promise to turn the telly off . . .
Much love and warmest wishes from Lizzie and Dave
Hallowe’en or Samhain ?
I used to love Hallowe’en, decorating the outside of the house with cobwebs, lanterns etc and getting the sweets and treats ready for the children who rang the bell shouting: trick or treat. That custom fell out of favour during Covid as I didn’t open the door to any unexpected guests. Yesterday, I was searching through a carved pine settle in the hall and discovered a tin of ‘filling puller’ sweets I’d stowed away in 2019 – the last time I handed out sweets to the neighbourhood kids. In those days we embraced the tradition wholeheartedly until, usually around about seven o’clock, the children of primary school age (accompanied by their parents or older siblings) stopped calling. At that point, deciding enough was enough, we drew the curtains and stopped answering the doorbell. Let’s face it, no one wants a group of teenagers standing on your doorstep on a dark autumn night demanding sweets with menaces, Right?
Hallowe’en was not invented in America, the tradition goes back much further. Many believe that emigrating Scots and Irish took the tradition to America with them. There it was adapted and changed into ‘trick or treat’, shipped back to the UK and merged with local traditions to create the Hallowe’en festival we know today. What I’d like to do is tell you about some of the Hallowe’en traditions I remember growing up in Scotland . . . who knows, you might recognise some of them.
Traditionally, Scottish children would go “guising” around their local neighbourhood wearing scary or outrageous costumes. Pretending to be evil spirits, they would disguise themselves and remain undetected by other wandering spirits they believed would cause them harm. Guisers would perform tricks or songs, and so were given gifts to help ward off evil. The origin of trick or treating, perhaps?
In Scotland, turnip heads would be carved into scary faces to make lanterns and lit to keep ghosts at bay. That tradition faded away, replaced by pumpkins which are more readily available these days and much easier to carve. There are many PYO pumpkin farms around where I live and it provides a popular weekend activity for families.
The ancient Celts were a blood thirsty lot and liked nothing more than decapitating their enemies and displaying their heads as trophies. The tradition of ‘apple dooking’ where children grab an apple out of a basin of water using their teeth is thought to hark back to this bloodthirsty tradition. Nowadays you are more likely to be given a toffee apple as a trophy.
Just to prove that you’re never too old to have fun, here are some photos from a Hallowe’en party hosted by friend and fellow author Adrienne Vaughan a few years ago. Some very dodgy characters turned out that night including Dracula. Although I don’t look too worried about being bitten on the neck. The other ‘weird sister’ in the fourth photo is June Kearns who writes fabulous books.
I know that Hallowe’en is all about fun and trying to pronouce Samain correctly – however, I’d like to share my own spooky story which happened many years ago when I was a teenager. Recently I reminded my sister Phyllis about it and she remembers it exactly as I do – here’s the link the post.
And . . . finally. My novel Girl in the Castle which features a haunted castle on a Scottish loch, family tragedy and a lost Jacobite treasure will be available to download over the weekend for 99p – so catch it while you can.
You can read the first few chapters FREE by following this link
I would love to hear your Hallowe’en experiences, spooky or otherwise so please leave a comment below. I always respond 🙂
Lizzie Lamb - author 