The Holidays are Here
Well, gang, the holidays are officially underway. In our house, we don’t start anything Christmasy until after both Fodder and I have celebrated our birthdays and Thanksgiving. This year, his birthday fell on Thanksgiving Day, so we leapt that hurdle in one.
Now, we fall headlong into Christmas and I don’t feel the least bit prepared. Then again, I rarely do. And when that happens, I fall back on holiday-themed entertainment to get me in the mood.
My favorites are the old Bing Crosby movies – Going My Way and Holiday Inn in particular. I love Barry Fitzgerald in the first, and the music on the second. And it isn’t Christmas without a visit from The Grinch – Boris Karloff version, thankyouverymuch.
Soon, my girlfriends and I will schedule our annual Love Actually simulwatch. I know, I know, the movie is problematic – blah, blah, blah. I’m in it for the Firth, okay?
And Billy Mack.
Confession: I am not Hallmark Christmas movie fan
Friends keep track of the whole schedule, but if I am going to get sentimental over a holiday story, I prefer to do it between the pages. I also like stories where the holidays don’t always go to plan.
In the past, those types of holiday romances weren’t easy to come by, so I wrote some myself.
So, here is my holiday novel pimp:
Looking for love in all the wrong places? Go to the airport!
LONG DISTANCE LOVE starts out with Concourse Christmas – a story where two people find themselves snowed it at St. Louis’ Lambert Field on Christmas Eve.
Readers can follow the highs and lows of Jack and Ellie’s long distance romance as it unfolds over a year’s worth of holidays and other milestones.
Or, if you are in the mood for something slightly more cynical….
New Year’s Eve doesn’t always go to plan.
First date number forty-eight comes to a screeching halt for Detective Langley Sheppard when his date lifts a pack of gum from the local convenience store. But things start looking up when he encounters spunky damsel-in-distress Jessica Vickers, who’s stranded in the store parking lot. Now Lang is about to discover that on a night when everything goes wrong, falling for Jessica feels spectacularly right.
Or, if you’re already looking ahead to 2019, I have a steaming hot calendar for you.
When the St. Blaise Regional Medical Center Board of Directors decided to jump-start their fundraising and public relations, they never imagined she’d be stripping their most prominent doctors, nurses, and support staff down to their birthday suits in order to beef up the hospital’s bank account.
The HOT NIGHTS IN ST. BLAISE collection of twelve sizzling novellas is now on sale for only $1.99!
If that isn’t enough to get you in the mood to tackle the holidays, I don’t know what will. Now go forth and be festive!
*puts on festive hat* Looking forward to our annual simulwatch and my Billy Mack/Hugh Grant fix. 🙂 I think I’ll be doing lots of re-reading of some Maggie Wells classics over the holidays.
Im like you, Id rather read the holiday romances instead of watching them. On TV they are just so corny. Maybe my imagination jazzes things up between the pages. However this year, I have barely read at all. Hoping to change that in 2019.
I may have started decorating last night (like around 9 pm). What can I say, when the mood strikes, it strikes. I look forward to Love Actually-ing with you.
I first watched Love, Actually only two years ago, at the insistence of a friend, and I have to say it didn’t do much for me. I’ve watched it a couple of more times since…and it still doesn’t do much for me! I will agree that the Colin Firth part is the highlight. Our family Christmas movies are the Muppets’ Christmas Carol and While You Were Sleeping, plus the last 20 minutes of It’s a Wonderful Life, where stuff actually happens.
For many years, I would read 101 Dalmatians each December. This is the actual book by Dodie Smith, not any of the Disney silliness. Read it to my own children when they were small. Just the mention of “twilight bark” gets me misty-eyed. Once the boys get past the ‘let’s EAT the book’ stage, maybe I’ll get to read it to them, too!
*sigh* Jack & Ellie!!!!
Thank you for waiting until after Thanksgiving. People I know are all for rushing into Christmas. I enjoy Advent, the anticipation of Christmas. I will decorate in December, but I always same some of the decorating for Christmas Eve. Growing up, the tree could come in the day before Christmas Eve, but decorating it was done on the 24th. And stayed up until January 6th. I’m disappointed in those that take everything down on the 26th or January 1st. Rushing the season in and rushing it out.
I have read all of your holiday novels and love them all. I’ll be reading them again, like visiting an old friend. My favorite movie is White Christmas. Also, Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph and the correct Grinch (Boris Karloff and Thurl Ravenscroft!) Have a wonderful holiday season!
Oh, you should hear me and Fodder go at it about the Feast of the Epiphany and his compulsion for un-decorating the house… Wait for the wise guys to get there! Sheesh!