Title: Mistletoe Magic and Other Holiday Tales
Author: Nancy Christie
Genre: Short story collection
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 the eight stories in the collection
Excerpt from “Holiday Reunion” from Mistletoe Magic and Other Holiday Tales:
“Who the—?”
The sound that had penetrated my sleep-numbed brain was my doorbell, unaccountably ringing at seven a.m. It was too early for door-to-door salespeople, and too late for nocturnal thieves casing the joint. That left only one category—yet another one of my relatives.
“Anyone would think I posted a ‘Welcome’ sign out front,” I muttered as I slid out from under the bedcovers, then pulled the blanket back over Baby Freddie—not that he was a baby anymore, mind you. He’d be the first to tell you “I no baby! I’m fwee!” if you dared call him “baby” to his face. But that was the only way to distinguish him in conversation and in mind from his father Freddie who was chronologically three decades his senior but his equal in maturity.
“There’s nothing wrong with Freddie that a good swift kick wouldn’t solve,” my father once said, and I had to agree with him. Just yesterday Freddie was eating peanut butter right out of the jar. Not the store brand either, mind you, but the organic one that cost me four dollars a bottle—an early Christmas gift from me to me. That was bad enough, but he had opted to skip the utensil route and was instead dipping his finger into the spread.
“For God’s sake, Freddie!” I said, but he just lifted his eyebrows at me before screwing on the lid and putting the jar back where he got it.
Remembering the episode, I could feel my blood pressure start to rise. Before this, stress had never been a problem for me, but then I had never had a houseful of relatives descend on me like a horde of locusts, eating and drinking everything in sight—including, it appeared when I checked the refrigerator last night, my flavored coffee creamer. It was my one indulgence, and now it was gone. Oh, the container was still there—someone had thoughtfully set it back in the refrigerator—but the contents had vanished.
“Freddie again,” I had sighed, pulling out a half-empty carton of skim milk. Maybe if I added a little vanilla flavoring, I could pretend it was the good stuff.
Pretending—now that was what had gotten me in this mess in the first place. My father had always warned me about my tendency to pretend, to be less than honest—in short, to be the polite little girl my maternal parent had raised.
“You’re just like your mother, you know,” he had told me time and time again. “If she was being held up, she’d apologize to the robber for not having enough money. You need to speak your mind, Cassie, or the world will walk all over you!”
Or in this case, walk in on me with luggage in hand: unannounced, unwanted, and clearly unmoving, at least for the next few days.
Aunt Mae was the first. She had interrupted the start of my cherished holiday routine: a pot of fresh-brewed coffee instead of the fast-food mud I usually gulped down on my way to work, and a bagel from Mrs. Schatskie’s Deli topped with a generous load of cream cheese and strawberry jam.
It was Friday and the first day of my long-awaited Christmas break from my school cafeteria job, and I was more than a little irritated by the unexpected intrusion. When I answered the doorbell, I expected to find some kid selling holiday ornaments or magazine subscriptions, but instead discovered Aunt Mae, a suitcase at her feet and a smile on her face as though certain of her welcome.
“Why, hello, my dear. I knew you wouldn’t mind.”
Mind? Mind what? I thought, but before I could ask, she went on.
“Cousin Roberta’s wedding is next Wednesday, and you know how expensive hotels are, and you did say I should come and stay at your place the next time I was in town.”
Thinking back, I was sure I had never voiced those exact sentiments. Oh, I might have said something like Aunt Mae should come see me whenever she was in West Oakland. That would only have been polite and certainly safe as well since Aunt Mae rarely traveled farther than her own doorstep let alone all the way to my place, which was a good two hundred-plus miles away. And since Aunt Mae didn’t drive and Uncle Carl never, to my knowledge, took time off from truck-driving for family events such as births, weddings and funerals, a Greyhound bus ride would have been my aunt’s only mode of transportation.
“Cassie? It’s okay, isn’t it?” and Aunt Mae’s expression clouded over. “I mean, I know I should have called, but your mother said you were going to the wedding and so I thought it would be all right…”
Her voice trailed off and I realized that I was still standing at the door, holding my bagel and my now cooling coffee in my hands while Aunt Mae’s face started to pucker up like a kid who just found out that Santa isn’t coming after all.
“Of course it’s all right,” I said, with only the least tinge of resignation in my voice. “Remember your manners,” I could hear my mother say—my mother, who was now enjoying a holiday cruise to The Bahamas with my father while simultaneously avoiding Roberta’s wedding.
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
Share a holiday family tradition:
There are special recipes that my mother would only bake for the holidays and while I no longer do all the cookies like I used to, I still make my kolach rolls (apricot, poppy and pecan) and my little fruit-filled kolachi (of which I eat far too many while they are cooling!) and give them out to friends and family.
My own holiday tradition is to play all 3 Trans Siberian Orchestra holiday CDs constantly. It absolutely puts me in a holiday mood!
Why is your featured book perfect to get readers in the holiday mood?
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 –
One lucky reader will win a $100 Amazon gift card.
Open internationally.
Runs December 1 – 31, 2024
Drawing will be held on January 2, 2025.
Author Biography:
Nancy Christie is the award-winning author of two novels: Reinventing Rita and Finding Fran (the first two 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; two books for writers: Rut-Busting Book for Authors and Rut-Busting Book for Writers and the inspirational book, The Gifts Of Change. her fourth collection, The Language of Love and Other Stories, and her third novel, Moving Maggie, will be out in 2025.
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