Thanks Pickerington And Wilmington!

The pic above is now the official "Off The Hook Coat Rack" which was a surprise gift from my Uncle Paul over the weekend. Paul specializes in woodworking and as you can see -- he can make just about anything you'd ever want from wood including coat racks inspired by books! So cool!

As for the weekend -- the Arvai's had a great time working the Off the Hook table at the Pickerington Holiday Gathering and Wilmington Homespun events. There were great turnouts at both and a whole lotta books and ornaments sold! We can't thank everyone enough for their support and we hope you all enjoy the book along with your Chardonays, Bottlecaps, and Strikes!

I had a couple of stories I want to share from the weekend. First was from a grandma who had actually brought a book from us at the Grove City show in November. She was at the Pickerington Holiday Gathering on Friday and stopped by to tell us that her granddaughter read the book and after she had to go out and by a rotating tree stand for her grandaughter because she just couldn't let her "back side" ornaments miss the experience of Christmas morning.

We also had another mother whose daughters are in their mid to early twenties tell us that when she asked them what their favorite Christmas tradition was -- they told her it was when their mother pulled out her basket of Christmas books which she added a new one to every Christmas season. Well now her basket is full so she is starting new baskets for each one of them to share with their future families and the first book to go in them is Off the Hook.

Those two stories are what it's all about!

Here's a pic from Pickerington:

And some from Wilmington:

Finally, I'd like to send out a special thanks to the Wilmington News Journal for the press, to some of my old buddies from Wilmington who stopped by to support us in Kev, Fitz, and Eric, and to all the folks (including Susan Ertel -- another local author/illustrator who published Belle -- A Hound That Was Found) who made the trip just to buy the book as words cannot express how much we appreciate your support!

One more show to go this Christmas season and we hope to see some of ya in the Dayton Ohio area for the Mistletoe Magic Holiday Marketplace this coming Saturday and Sunday at the Dayton Convention Center.

John