As our publisher, Allyson Longueira, mentioned in her publisher’s note last week, she will be spending the month of December with her family. Her family includes a four-year-old daughter, so Allyson’s having a special holiday indeed.

Allyson’s not the only member of the staff taking some time off. Most of the folks who run this place are shopping, cooking, and visiting family, leaving only a skeleton crew to do the important things.

The important things include this publisher’s note. We’re sharing duties here, with a mandate from Allyson, who claims she’ll be reading our efforts from afar: We’re not to screw things up.

In that spirit, we figure we should use this space to let you know about some of our books that we normally don’t mention. Like Five For The Winter Holidays by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. We’ve been promoting two new holiday books: Dean Wesley Smith’s Heaven Painted As A Christmas Gift and Kristine Grayson’s Dressed in Holiday Style, which both have a Christmas slant.

But we recognize that not all of you celebrate Christmas. So we also recommend Kris’s Winter Holidays book, which covers celebrations from Thanksgiving to New Year’s.

We’re very festive around here, even if we’re only skeletons. We’re enjoying the season, and we’ll do our best this month to make certain you do too.