from Mary...
December 2011
Hello everyone. Do hope you're all beginning to enjoy the holidays and not caught up in too much of a rush. Someone asked me recently if I was finished my Christmas shopping and I asked her if it was Christmas Eve. I remember when I was working at writing and producing radio shows Christmas Eve was the day I rushed around, list in hand, trying my best to beat the clock and get what the five kids had requested. I remember one year I cut out pictures of the bicycle, or sled, or jacket, or God knows what, wrapped them, and put them under the tree. The day after Christmas we went shopping.
This year is bringing something extra. DECK THE HALLS is the first book Carol and I wrote together and it's a movie that will be on TNT on December 20th. They sent us a copy and holding our breath, we watched it together.
AND LOVED IT.
As most of you know, Carol's continuing private eye Regan Reilly, her husband, Jack (no relation) Reilly, her mother and father, Nora and Luke Reilly and my characters Alvirah and Willy Meehan combine forces in DECK THE HALLS to solve a crime. The crime is that Luke and his driver are kidnapped a few days before Christmas.
The cast is great. Scottie Thompson as Regan, Kathy Najimy as Alvirah, Jane Alexander and David Selby as Regan's parents, Nora and Luke, Larry Miller as Alvirah's husband Willy, and Eric Johnson as Jack. They really look and act as Carol and I hoped our fictional characters would come to life on the screen.
Carol has a part playing identical twins who own a bar together, one cranky, the other sweet. I can be found in the background of the bar sipping a glass of wine which in reality is cranberry juice. Anyhow mark your calendars or set your programming for DECK THE HALLS on December 20th.
My new children's Christmas book THE MAGICAL CHRISTMAS HORSE is selling all over the country. I wrote the text. Wendell Minor created the beautiful illustrations. I'll be on the TODAY show with Kathie Lee and Hoda on December 14th. And on December 16th we'll both be on Imus in the Morning at 7:30. He is broadcast on the Fox Business Channel and can be heard on radio stations all over the country.
That's it for now. Will be back with you soon but until then Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and Happy Holidays to one and all.
I just found out that TNT will be replaying DECK THE HALLS two more times. The first is this Friday, 12/23 at 11 PM ET/PT, 10 PM Central Time, and 9 PM Mountain Time. The second is 12/24 at 12 Noon ET/PT, 11 AM Central Time, and 10 AM Mountain Time. We've received so many nice comments from people who saw the movie. If you missed it, hope you get the chance to tune in!
Mary