Title: Mistletoe Magic and Other Holiday Tales
Author: Nancy Christie
Genre: Fiction/Short stories; Holiday Fiction
Book Blurb:
Mistletoe Magic and Other Holiday Tales is about the wonder and excitement of the holiday season, as shown through the experiences of the characters in these eight stories.
Excerpt from The Snow Globe:
“I don’t know why I am doing this,” Katherine said aloud as she pulled on her heavy boots. It had snowed again last night, and the additional accumulation combined with below-freezing temperatures would make it a miserable walk to the bus stop.
She ought to stay home. She ought to wash clothes or wipe down the kitchen cabinets. Or pack away Robert’s things—no, not that. She wasn’t ready yet. Maybe after she finished acknowledging the sympathy cards and scheduling the Masses the more religious of her friends had requested.
That’s what she ought to do. That’s what she had planned for today until the phone rang while she was washing up her breakfast dishes.
“Is Mr. Tracy available?”
Although it was almost a month since Robert died, hearing someone ask for him hurt as though it had just occurred.
“No,” she said, her voice uneven, then cleared her throat. “May I take a message for him?”
“This is Tom from Apple Tree Gifts calling to let him know his snow globe is in. He can get it today, but we’re only open until three since it’s Christmas Eve. Or we can ship it to him,” and he read off their house number and street. “That’s his address, correct?”
“Yes,” Katherine said, although technically it wasn’t. Not anymore. “No, don’t send it. I’ll pick it up. Where are you located?” and she noted down the information he gave her.
But now, several hours later, she was debating the wisdom of her decision. On the one hand, the bus stop was just up the street, and the ride to the store shouldn’t take more than a half hour. If she left at two, she could get there and back while it was still daylight. Katherine didn’t like being out in the dark. It was hard enough getting used to being alone in the house. Coming home in the winter darkness with no one there to greet her was just too much to handle.
But it still took all she had to convince herself to go. And it wasn’t just the idea of going out that deterred her. Seeing the snow globe would be a painful reminder of what she had lost—whom she had lost. But it was Robert’s last gift, after all. She had to retrieve it, even if, once she brought it home, she was just going to pack it away with all the others.
But despite leaving enough time for the journey, it was nearly three before Katherine reached her stop, due to all the passengers who were also out on Christmas Eve. Once she disembarked, she looked for the shop, not sure which direction to go. Katherine had never gone there before. That was Robert’s task—the one concession to the holiday that Katherine had allowed after Michael died.
Before that occurred, it was Katherine who handled all the seasonal responsibilities. She wrote the cards, neatly addressing the envelopes and signing “Merry Christmas from Mr. and Mrs. Robert Tracy” inside. She decorated the three-foot artificial tree with the ornaments Michael had given them in age order: the kindergarten ones near the top followed by those from his school years below and then the ones he sent from foreign countries during his deployments: a hand-carved nutcracker from Germany, a delicate pagoda from Japan, a ceramic cityscape of Rome.
And she baked: the kugel from her mother-in-law’s collection, the pfeffernusse cookies Robert ate by the handful and the cutouts that she would send to Michael along with dozens of others. By Christmas Eve, the house would smell like an old-fashioned bake shop, and every time Robert came in the door, he’d stop, take a deep breath, and say, “Smells good!” as though he hadn’t been inhaling the same aromas for the past month.
But after the military chaplain came to the house that October morning, after they had brought her son’s body back home, after the funeral, the idea of celebrating anything, especially Christmas, seemed impossible. She had left the holiday decorations in the storage room and when, a week before Christmas, Robert asked if he should set up the tree, she just shook her head, unable to speak.
That’s when he started the Christmas Eve tradition, she recalled. After midnight Mass, he had given her a small box and when she opened it, she found a snow globe with a tiny house and a snowman in the front yard inside the glass orb. And when she shook it, silver glitter fell onto the roof. Every year after that he gave her another snow globe—some traditional like the tiny Christmas tree with a cardinal perched on the top, some silly like the floppy-eared beagle chewing on a red stocking. Robert would set the new one in the center of the dining room table and then arranged the others around it.
“That’s number eleven,” he had said last Christmas after she had unwrapped the newest one, and then he kissed her on the cheek. “Almost an even dozen.”
Eleven snow globes, and this year it would be twelve—one for each year without Michael. And the first one without Robert.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mistletoe-magic-nancy-christie/1143119274?ean=9781956692655
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1363751
Rakuten Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/mistletoe-magic-28
What makes your featured book a must-read?
Mistletoe Magic is the ideal book to offset the stress that so often occurs during the holiday season. The heartwarming stories offer surprises and happy endings as they reflect the true joy of the season.
Giveaway –
Enter to win a $45 Amazon gift card:
Open Internationally.
Runs December 18 – December 31, 2023.
Winner will be drawn on January 2, 2024.
Author Biography:
Nancy Christie is the award-winning author of the novel, Reinventing Rita (BookBaby), the first in her Midlife Moxie Novel Series; three short story collections: Mistletoe Magic and Other Holiday Tales, Traveling Left of Center and Other Stories and Peripheral Visions and Other Stories (all from Unsolicited Press); two books for writers: Rut-Busting Book for Authors and Rut-Busting Book for Writers (both from BookBaby) and the inspirational book, The Gifts Of Change (Atria/Beyond Words).
Her short stories and essays have appeared in numerous print and online publications, with several earning contest placement.
The host of the Living the Writing Life podcast and the founder of the annual “Midlife Moxie” Day and “Celebrate Short Fiction” Day, Christie teaches writing workshops at conferences, libraries, and schools. She is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA), the Florida Writers Association (FWA) and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association (WFWA).
Social Media Links:
X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/NChristie_OH