'Twas the Day After Christmas...

HALLIE EPHRON: The day after Christmas, if you have any luck, you’re wallowing in leftovers. Hoping you have a bounty of homemade candy and cookies and maybe a box of gourmet pears or Florida grapefruits to be savored. Cold roast beef or ham? If you’re lucky you can curl up with the perfect book that you got from someone who knows you well. Or start putting together a wonderful new jigsaw puzzle. In years past, we might even have gone shopping. I'm hoping we won't be dealing with power outages and wind damage from the storm that's supposed to sweep through New England... so I'm tucking this in a few days early.

How will you be spending what should be a cozy, perfectly indolent day, and what’s in your refrigerator to graze upon?

RHYS BOWEN: John and I were alone on Christmas Day. So strange after the usual chaos of 14 people celebrating.

When rain was forecast we opted to visit our daughter’s back yard on Christmas Eve to exchange gifts in the open air. So our Christmas celebration was definitely low key. We had a lovely brunch or rather full English breakfast and for dinner smoked salmon then leg of lamb followed by Christmas pudding. So enough lamb for Shepherd’s pie as well as mince pies and sausage rolls.

Our big treat was we bought ourselves an electric fireplace so we can have a “fire” on spare the air days, which happen often in winter. And we don’t have to haul logs either!

JENN McKINLAY: Surprising no one, I’m sure, I’m on deadline with a book due January 1st which is only half written, so after a frenzy of last minute baking, I’ll be eating cookies for breakfast - #badbreakfastchoices - making a turbo charged pot of coffee, grunting happy new year at my people as I likely won’t see them until then as I burn the midnight oil to finish Killer Research.

Thankfully, all three of my men know how to work a stove and have jobs they need to go to so I doubt they’ll miss me...much.

LUCY BURDETTE: We’ve been feasting all week and have lots of cookies and half a caramel cake leftover. I did get a stack of books from John and my sister, but since I have a couple book ideas creeping out of the darkness, I am trying to write some things down. Plus copyedits, which is less taxing.

So picture me, like Jenn, working and eating cookies!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: We have some leftovers, but tonight we're having the take out Chinese we usually have on Fridays.

Otherwise, I am so far behind on my deadline, so I'm thrilled to have nothing to do but write and enjoy my Christmas decorations for another week! Alas, I didn't bake, so have no cookies to go with my tea…

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: The final edits of my new book are due to my agent on Dec 29. The final final edits to the editor on Jan 4. GUESS what I’m doing?

We had rack of lamb and champagne last night, and today we’ll have yummy leftovers. I wish we had cookies.

A reader friend sent me a glittery gold star ornament (made of wood, so beautiful) , so I hung it in a place of pride, and wish on it every time I see it. I’ll make some wishes for you all, too!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I, too should be working on my book, but honestly, having all my kids at home for the first time in a YEAR is too much to pass on.

We had a lovely, low-key Christmas Day, and I enjoyed the novelty of cooking for five instead of twenty-five, as I usually do. We were going to go snowshoeing today, but yesterday’s wind and rain storm (54°, for heaven’s sake!) has made that a lot less appealing.

So it will probably be watching Christmas movies in front of the wood stove, picking on leftovers, and getting up a board game. One of these years, the only thing I’m going to ask for is that we play CLUE. I love it, and the kids refuse to play it with me.

Has anyone broken down and gotten HBO Max in order to watch Wonder Woman 84?

HALLIE: I still haven't see the earlier Wonder Woman so maybe that's what I should do... Or Die Hard which I've also never seen.

What about everyone else: How's your day-after going?