I rest my case.
Dec29
Category Archives: Christmas
Dec27
After Christmas
Dang.
It’s come and gone again.
Since November 17, Peter and I got a new dog, Jack. He’s very cute and mellow and happy. Good boy, Jack.
We also did 2 turkey dinners in quick succession–10 days apart. That was after the turkey dinner we took part in on November 13 during our trip to Freezing Michigan.
I published a new holiday book (Deck the Malls with Purple Peacocks) which is a very good book. It got some great reviews:
https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/deck-the-malls-with-purple-peacocks
And I promoed the heck out of. It got 5288 downloads on its free days in December with the help of Freebooksy and ENT and Kindle Nation Daily. Also got help from Lola at Lola’s Blog Tours with getting exposure. I was part of a big FB Christmas hop and I even started a mailing list. I also had 34 actual purchases of my books. W00T!
I sent over 100 Christmas cards and I shopped a lot online and I picked out a tree and decorated it with our great homestay student, Mizuki after the hubs and son put it up. 
Then I said a reluctant goodbye to Mizuki, who had to go back to Japan to work. I listened to a friend with a looming divorce and played many games of Words with Friends with a bunch of word addicts like myself.
I produced and directed (and wrote and coached and was the costume girl and prop boy for) our Reader’s Theater play at the Atria Golden Creek Assited Living; Let it Snow. We had a blast. My 70-90 year-olds all read very well. A Father Knows Best episode from 1953 was the basis for the play, but I had to fluff it up quite a bit to make it funny and Christmas shiny. Whew. 
I wrapped a bunch of gifts. Thank you, Amazon, for quick delivery. Plus your wish list system is the bomb. My son loved his board game and the other one loved his Instant Pot.
I swam maybe 2-3 days a week all this time and walked most days as well. I watched too many Hallmark movies because I want happy endings. (Who doesn’t?) But man, the commercials on those things really want to prepare you for the worst life has to offer in medical issues and treatments that can kill you. And the annoying soundtracks of the movies, with unnecessary, stupid music during every scene–please, Hallmark. Please!!!! You make me crazy. Plus, many of your male leads look like underwear models from the 1970s. And your writing is just sketchy.
I made cookies and coffee cakes. Oh, man. I love fresh coffee cake. I sang carols and ate chili on Christmas Eve with my friend Rita and all her gang and mine. I made brunch for the family on the big day.
And now, I am pooped. I don’t want to prepare anything for anyone. Except this blog.
Happy New Year.
Dec16
Join Thursday Night Book Club this week to discuss Deck the Malls!
Deck the Malls with Purple Peacocks is FREE today and tomorrow!!!! Grab your FREE copy at http://amzn.to/2AuArxQ
And here’s the event site if you’d like to join our discussion of Deck the Malls with Purple Peacocks this upcoming Thursday (which is also the winter solstice–cool). https://www.facebook.com/events/372175096539747/
There will be prizes at the discussion! Hope to see you there!
Dec13
A great book review for my Christmas book!!!
In the spirit of this blog, I’m going to post a link to my other great book review of Deck the Malls with Purple Peacocks (book to be found at http://amzn.to/2AuArxQ )
NOTE: This book is FREE December 15-17.
Here’s the link to the Readers’ Favorite review, which is making me have happy feet! https://readersfavorite.com/book-review/deck-the-malls-with-purple-peacocks
I especially like this part of the review:
“Amy Gettinger’s Deck the Malls with Purple Peacocks has romance and comedy and it even has more Christmas cheer than most would ever dream of enjoying at this time of the year, but Gettinger makes it all work beautifully. She does all this while writing a moving and true-to-life story about a young woman whose eleven years working double shifts and paying taxes seem to mean nothing in today’s anti-immigrant fueled America. Gettinger exposes the irony of Quito’s Cuban ancestry making him of more value politically than Aracely with her Mexican heritage, and Aracely’s victimization by the companies that she works for rings sadly true. That said, Deck the Malls with Purple Peacocks is a marvelous romp! I hadn’t read the first book in the series, but had no problem getting involved in the story and am looking forward to backtracking to the first book, Alice in Monologue Land. The Venus Warriors are prodigious and funny — and exactly who I’d want on my side if I’m ever in hot water. Deck the Malls with Purple Peacocks is most highly recommended.” ~ Jack Magnus for Readers’ Favorite
Can you see me grinning from ear to ear? Have a merry mid-December!
Dec6
FREE Christmas book Dec. 9-10, 15-17
FREE this weekend! http://amzn.to/2AuArxQ
It’s Christmas in Orange County, and the mall is full of purple peacock decorations. Department store employee Aracely Martinez has a goofy Cuban friend, Quito (who’s awfully cute in his mall Santa suit), distracting her from her night-shift restocking job. But Aracely has a long-held secret, which her supervisor at the store, Jacob Thinnes, is holding over her head to make her do his bidding.
Which is untenable.
Enter Aracely’s oldest friends: Alice Chalmers, Georgette Jones and Julie Bowers. The group’s “Venus Warrior” bond from the 2003 production of The Venus Monologues at Garden Beach Community College is still very strong, and these women are ready, willing, and able to kick some butt to help Aracely out of her difficult bind. Join Aracely’s “Three Wise Women” plus her ever-present trickster hunk, Quito, as they work against the odds to give Aracely a fabulous, nearly impossible Christmas gift: the life of her dreams.
Dec6
Holly Jolly Chick Lit Hop 2017
Join our 2017 chick lit hop to win big prizes from December 4-15! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1962370290669865/
Dec5
21 Days of Christmas Blog Post at Hello, Chick Lit
For an extra chapter/teaser of my short story in our Christmas anthology It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chick Lit, go here:
http://hellochicklit.com/2016/12/on-the-5th-day-of-christmas-amy-gettinger-said-to-me.html
Thanks, Merry Reading, and Merry Christmas! Also Happy Hanukkah and Happy Endings!
Nov5
Hideous/Hilarious Christmas Post 3 with Guest Host Laurie Baxter
By Laurie Baxter, Author of the story “A Charlie Brown Christmas” In our new anthology, It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chick Lit.
amzn.com/B01MD197DJ NOTE: This book is currently $0.99, but will soon be perma-free.
Back to our story …
In my last year of college, two days before New Year’s, the family dog died. We had had him since I was a kid. I was very, very sad.
I was home on break, as were most of my high school friends. One of them was having a big New Year’s Eve party, but I really, really wasn’t up to being festive or even dealing with a large number of people. One of my friends went to school about an hour away and had an apartment there. She very sweetly offered to spend the holiday with me there instead.
Very low-key. Considering that sitting around my house constantly noticing the absence of dog wasn’t exactly uplifting, it sounded perfect.
So she picked me up in her car… except there was a tiny bit of smoke or something rising from under the hood when she got to my house. No problem! A quick stop at the dealer she said. Just to get it checked out. I was dubious, but desperate to get out.
An hour or two later, the mechanic came out and good news! He nicely explained that what she saw was steam and totally normal in this weather. Yay! We could go to her apartment now, for our quiet holiday… Except now my friend–the least nervous friend I had at the time, I might add–suddenly couldn’t shake the unease.
Which was how we ended up playing board games in her dad’s kitchen. Not really what I planned. It was a small miracle when I started winning (I think it was Monopoly, maybe) and I was momentarily distracted from thinking about my dog. Except my friend (perhaps something was going on with her that I was oblivious to in my grief) was not happy to be losing as badly as she was. Or maybe I was gloating. I don’t know. It was the first time in 48 hours I hadn’t either been sobbing or felt numb.
At any rate, that was the point where she suggested it would maybe be nice to go to that party after all. There was a moderate guilt trip laid thereafter and when I protested that I wasn’t dressed for the semi-formal occasion, semi-formal clothes to borrow were quickly produced.
And that’s how I ended up spending New Year’s Eve somehow making a punchline of various versions of “my dog died.” “Hey, Laurie, aren’t you having fun?” “No, no, I am. It’s just… actually, my dog died.” Ba-dum-bum.
I will say this, the night was definitely a distraction (and definitely one of those so-awful-you-just-have-to-laugh moments). Don’t worry, my friend and I are still pals.
Author Bio:
Laurie Baxter has degrees in both puppetry and screenwriting because let’s face it, majoring in English would have been no more useful and way less fun. She loves chocolate, ice cream, chocolate ice cream, dogs, New York City, old movies, modern architecture, all kinds of theater, and music from before she was born. Her eighth grade English teacher told her to become a writer, so she did.
Connect with Laurie Online:
Laurie on Facebook
Laurie on Twitter
Laurie on Pinterest
Laurie on Goodreads
Laurie attempting Instagram
Nov3
Hideous/Hilarious Christmas Post 2 by Guest Host Susan Murphy
Susan Murphy – Author of ‘Mistletoe & Mayhem’ in the new Christmas Anthology: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chick Lit
amzn.com/B01MD197DJ NOTE: This book is currently $0.99, but will soon be perma-free.
Back to our story …
So, Christmas is the time for gluttonous scoffing, overdoing everything, squealing about your gifts and just generally having a great time, right? Well that’s what I look forward to.
Unfortunately, 2 years in a row I was struck down with gastro on Christmas eve! The cruelty of having to watch on as your family devour turkey and good chardonnay was un-paralleled. From my spot, huddled in the foetal position on the couch, I could see all my family through the window, laughing, eating and completely enjoying themselves. While I turned green and struggled to hold down water. The smells alone were enough to keep me doubled over and the simple act of unwrapping a gift my mother brought for me, left me exhausted for the next hour.
I cursed the cruelty and unfairness of the timing, vowing and declaring to anyone that would listen, that next year I would eat and drink every bit of turkey I could stuff into my mouth, but when the following year rolled around and the entire unfortunate incident unfolded almost identically, I wondered if I had in fact been some kind of Grinch in a past life and was now paying the price for my evilness.
Thankfully the following year I stayed well. However my joy at the excitement of it all led to massively over-eating and way, way too much alcohol. I ended up back in that same foetal position, albeit self-inflicted!
Even now, as Christmas approaches I begin to pray to the Gods or the Universe to please spare me from any sicknesses and keep sick people away from me. I start to study people I work with for signs of being unwell and tell all my family they can’t come over unless they are germ free. Being sick at Christmas time just completely stinks.
May your Christmas be filled with lots of turkey, family, friends and of course, good health!
I hope you enjoy all of the stories in ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chick Lit’. xxx
Author Bio:
Susan Murphy is an author and marriage (and funeral) celebrant from Adelaide, South Australia. From weddings on cruise ships to family brawls at funerals, Susan has seen (and completely enjoyed) all of it. These situations have of course provided much inspiration for her writing.
Her first book ‘Confetti Confidential: They Do, I Don’t’ was published with Harper Collins in 2015 with the follow-up, ‘Annabel’s Wedding’ released on November 1st 2015.
After a stint as the Writer in Residence at the SA Writers Centre, Susan has co-written a middle-grade children’s book and is now working on a historical fiction project as well as a new romantic comedy series.
In her ‘spare’ time she mainly eats chocolate and drinks wine, although she occasionally turns up at work and sometimes parents her three children, 2 dogs, cat and cockatiel, Moe.
Website: www.susanmurphyauthor.com/
Facebook author Page: https://www.facebook.com/susanmurphyauthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SMurphyAuthor
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13495153.Susan_Murphy
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/susanmurphyauthor/
Blog: http://www.susanmurphyauthor.com/comechatblog
Pinterest: https://au.pinterest.com/SmurphyAuthor/
G+ https://plus.google.com/u/0/117051563624512801221
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE_DBLbbRGKLOPzCjOrWrFA
Nov1
Hideous/Hilarious Christmas Post 1 by Me, Moi, Myself, Mich–Amy Gettinger
Ten authors and I have a new Christmas anthology out now: It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Chick Lit. amzn.com/B01MD197DJ NOTE: This book is currently $0.99, but will soon be perma-free.
My story in it is entitled “Deck the Malls with Purple Peacocks.”
SO I’ve decided to do a series of posts about some of peoples’ most hideous/hilarious experiences at Christmas. I’ve invited my co-authors in the anthology to join me. If these posts are anything like their stories in the anthology, this is gonna be one heck of a series.
I’ll start.
Back in 1968-69 or so, when we were still wearing polyester bell bottoms, there was a Christmas when we had another one of those cheap-ass S-shaped trees in the sunken living room with the gold carpet. My parents believed in saving money on everything–EVERYTHING, including the Christmas tree, so they bought it way late in December, and they usually got one with not too many branches and a weirdly shaped trunk.
Anyway, Mom wrapped a bunch of gifts for all four of us, though by this time, my sister might have been married, so maybe Mom wrapped a few extras for her husband. We had the requisite oyster stew for Christmas Eve and maybe we attended a Christmas Eve service where we lit candles in the sanctuary and sang Silent Night. We all came home and Dad read the story of nasty old Giant Grummer to 7- or 8-year-old Mary and slightly older me from The Tall Book of Christmas. Giant Grummer was MEAN, and Dad loved reading about him. The giant lived in a castle made of limburger cheese. He ate pickles and drank vinegar and liked to wait until all the villagers were asleep on Christmas Eve and reach his long arm down all their chimneys and steal all their Christmas presents and take them to his castle and stomp on them. Yeah, those were the days of the best villains in kids’ stories.
Then we went to bed with sugar plums dancing in our heads.
But when we got up in the morning, there was quite a surprise. We emptied out our stockings and found the orange at the bottom like usual. But then we went to the Christmas tree and grabbed presents, eager to start ripping off the carefully applied wrapping paper, only to discover that every last present had had its original TO: ____ line blacked out, and in place of these, they all said, “TO: DAD.” We kids (and Dad) all laughed until we cried, but Mom was so mad to have to figure out what went to whom. All her careful planning and tag-writing was ruined. My dad had always had a wicked sense of humor, but this took the cake.
Best Christmas ever–well, most memorable. Just goes to show you. Be careful what you read to the kids. LOL
Raucous Eucalyptus, Piteous Poodles 