The scenes where Maceo and Jo go Christmas tree hunting with Gauge and Opal, along with the holiday bonus chapter, are my favorite scenes in the book because my Grandpa Mickey inspired them. (If you recall, the Mercy Ravens MC local water hole is Mickey’s Pub—not a coincidence—I named it after my grandpa because he used to love going out for happy hour with my grandma).
The holidays were a magical time when I was a child. We spent every Christmas Eve with my dad’s side of the family, and my Grandpa Mickey loved the holiday time with the family. He would go out every Christmas and find the biggest pine tree, didn’t matter if it was too big for my grandparents’ tiny home, it had to be the biggest one.
Without fail, the tree was always too tall to stand upright in their living room, so the solution was to cut off the top of the tree. Why he wouldn’t cut the bottom off, I’ll never know, by I suspect it was just easier to cut off the top since it was narrower. Grandpa Mickey would then decorate the massive tree with those giant, bulbous outdoor Christmas lights because small Christmas lights did not stand out as well and bigger was better. Because the tree was so large, only large ornaments could adorn it.
All the adults in the family would laugh about the giant monstrosity, but to us grandkids, it was the most beautiful part of Christmas. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I realized our grandpa purposely outdid his Christmas tree every year because he knew how much joy it brought his grandchildren—it was his tradition that he did to make special memories for his family, just like Maceo wanted to make it a tradition with his new family.
The huge fiasco with the holiday bonus scene had hints of what my family’s holidays are like. Watching holiday movies, singing karaoke, eating a massive dinner, stuffing your face with desserts, and getting tipsy on some good liquor is quite common. The raccoon never happened, but the cat often would nest in the tree and knock it over, causing all kinds of chaos.
I wrote the scene to help me heal after losing my aunt on that side of the family to COVID right before this past holiday season. Nostalgia and reminiscing about happy memories are very therapeutic when I grieve. And as I carried on the tradition of having my children hang the same giant ornaments that were once my grandparents on our Christmas tree, I cried happy tears and shared the stories of my childhood Christmases with all three of my sons, enjoying them laughing at the memories.
Maceo stressing the importance of making traditions throughout all three of the books was not a weird quirk in his character profile—it was inspired by my family and the traditions we have carried on throughout the years. My hope for all of you lovely readers is that you cherish your traditions, or that you create some if you don’t have any because as we lose the ones we love, those traditions and the memories created from them are what we have left of the ones who have passed on. So go make them.
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