Hey, gang! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Welcome to the fourth incredible edition of Son of Thunder!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday, no matter what you celebrate. May you and yours enjoy the blessings of the season.

Well, I just got back from Washington DC - had a nice Thanksgiving visiting my brother and his family. Mostly just hung around with the kids and drew up a storm. You know, here I am making nice Santas and snowmen, and the kids are adding bombs and thinking that's a riot. Sigh. Guess I'll never understand the four-year-old mind.

Went to the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian - right next door to where Astrea works :). Very crowded, the day after Thanksgiving, but wonderful dinosaurs and diamonds. Kind of reminded me of the Field Museum in Chicago, architecturally.

The next day we went to the Native American Museum. I don't know - cool building and all, but the exhibits were kind of sparse. You'd think with that many tribes you could come up with a bit more in the way of artifacts. And I've heard better and more stories just hanging around the Iroquois Confederacy.

Luckily we also got to go up to the Lincoln Memorial. It's a tad tougher to get near all these monuments now, due to possible terrorists I suppose, but it is well worth it. Of the monuments and buildings in Washington, I love the Lincoln Memorial most of all. To go up and see the reflecting pool and the Washington Monument in the water, the Gettysburg Address on the wall, and even the tiny bookshop in the Memorial's walls... well, no wonder I have Americana hanging out there so often!

The last night I was there we went to Mount Vernon's Christmas by Candlelight. Aside from candles, there really weren't any decorations save a sprig of evergreen on the table. But it was well worth the tour - they had carolers and cider and all the docents really got into their roles. And they had opened up the third floor, which they never do except for this holiday presentation. Likely because the stairs are so narrow you can't get up them. Anyway, it was a nice tour of the house and grounds.

On the homefront, it looks like I'll have someone to spend New Year's with, and possibly quite a bit afterward too. We've just been going out together for four weeks, so I'm holding my breath, but so far she seems very nice.

We met, of all things, on E-Harmony. I think it's a godsend for getting to meet people of all types, at least in big cities like Chicago. Of course, Maggie lives... across the street. Well, the street our neighborhoods are on. Three minutes away and I'd never have met her except through the service. I'll let you know how it goes.

Okay, here's the nitty and the gritty - it's Champions time!

I have a few more drawings in Americana's Gallery - starting with Gallery 5 and continuing on to Galleries 6 and 7.

And I have not one, not two, but three Americana stories this time around, too.

First up I have the story which celebrates 50 Americana stories - and starts a whole new era for the Star-Spangled Sentinel! "The Secret Revealed"!

Then I follow it up with the first appearance in the ConTinuum world of the villain team "Queens of Steel"!

And lastly I take our heroine "Out to the Graveyard"!

Anyway, stay safe and stay happy!

Until next year!

K.C.