Elizabeth Seckman, Author: Christmas

Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

We're finally on the homestretch to the big day.
I love Christmas and I pack a lot of traditions and celebration into the season. Sometimes, that can be overwhelming and I end up worn out and loathing my very most favorite holiday. But as I get older, I've found that I can cheat on the work side of the holiday and enjoy it more.
I'm no longer above buying my Christmas cookies or prepping a frozen pizza for Christmas dinner.
Sure, I love all the trappings, but sometimes they can be just that-- a trap.
It doesn't matter how perfect everything is if you have to feel like a raging fiend to get it finished.
It's better to do what you can, then say the heck with what you can't, and relax and enjoy.

I still have Christmas cookie baking on my to-do list, so I thought I'd take a second and share one of the simplest and delicious "sugar" cookie cheats.

Mix 1 box white cake mix with a 1/2 cup of oil and two eggs.
Let chill in the fridge for about an hour...and viola! You have dough ready for the cookie cutters!

No time to whip up icing? Add coloring to the ready-made canned variety.

You'll be Santa ready in no time!

Thanks to our hosts Lexa, L.G, and Tonja Drecker for this weekly good things check in!

Tis the season!!I'm going to enjoy my holiday. The boys are all in and I'm ready to relax...and open some gifts.

I'll see you in 2017.

Deep beneath the ocean, stretching hundreds of miles alongside the Pacific Northwest coastline, lies the Cascadia subduction zone—a fault on the verge of unleashing a catastrophic earthquake, thirty times more powerful than the San Andreas. Unfortunately, like most tourists, Elena Cordova is oblivious.

She’s got her own pent-up stress to deal with, a humiliating breakup that’s driven her to end her tenure as a human doormat once and for all. So, when a pickpocket makes off with the last remnant of her relationship, she takes action—only to get trapped with him when disaster strikes.

Now, if either one hopes to survive, they’ll have to get past their initial impressions and work together . . . because in fifteen minutes, half the town will be underwater.

Title: As We Know It
Author: Carrie Butler
Category: Adult
Genres: Action / Adventure (Disaster) & Romantic Suspense
Release: December 12, 2016
ASIN: B01N0HCSBM
E-Book ISBN: 978-0-9910421-5-9
Paperback ISBN: 978-1539682073

Carrie Butler is an award-winning author and the owner of Forward Authority full-service studio—not to mention an inbound-certified marketer with a penchant for superhero socks and Firefly. Time away from her desk is spent playing with her rescue pup, yelling at the TV during hockey season, and indulging in target-based recreation. Otherwise, you’re likely to find her glued to her chair, discovering new ways to share her daydreams...

Where to buy:

Paperbacks:

Amazon
(Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Powell's, IndieBound, & Diesel coming)

Ebooks:
Amazon Kindle (US)
Barnes & Noble
iTunes
Google Play
Kobo
Smashwords

Audiobooks:
Coming soon!

Note: Amazon links also available in UK, DE, FR, ES, IT, NL, JP, BR, CA, MX, AU, and IN.

DL Hammon, the genius who brought us Write Club, has also come up with this gem of an idea...pick a post from your archives that you want to re-run.

And we all love a good re-run, right?

So, here is mine. It's arriving late (I had a twelve year-old with acute bronchitis), but then aren't we all aware that I just do whatever I want here?

The beauty of being self-employed.

From Decemeber 2011...

Man Up...It's a Gift

During this Christmas shopping season, I am making myself the unelected, self-appointed man advocate. I am here to speak on behalf of every man who has bought the female in his life a gift and caught slack for it. Even the guy who really screwed up and bought snow tires and jumper cables (thanks Honey) should stand up and demand a little more respect this holiday season. You took the time to shop, right? You dropped the cash on it, right? You even wrapped it and put it under the tree, right?

Soooo, why did that top of the line rechargeable impact wrench (thanks again, Honey) not make her smile?

Let me try to explain.

Guys, it’s like this… women read between every line, even the lines with really fine print. She’s looking at your present with her Dr. Phil lenses on. While she’s unwrapping, she’s considering every psychological and emotional angle to the reason you bought it and what it means for your love for her.

For example…What does that gift you worked so hard to choose SAY about your love and appreciation for your union? Bought her a sweater a size too big? You think she’s fat. Bought her a sweater a size too small? You proved she’s fat. Bought her the wrong color? You certainly don’t know her very well, because if you did, you would know she NEVERwears that color…maybe you’re thinking of your girlfriend as you shop?

Men, I understand it’s frustrating and I feel bad for you, I really do. And I would try to educate you on the nuances of gift buying, but I try to keep posts under 500 words. Instead I offer this handy little gift tag as a cheerful caveat to whatever amazing thing you surprise her with:

Now ladies… this shopping season, cut your guy some slack. He’s as confused in the women’s department as we are in the hardware/ automotive store. I never understood this until I got a full blown ‘in panic mode’ call from my brother many years ago…after an unfortunate anniversary gift of a tread mill, he was desperate to make amends at Christmas. He called me, cold dread clear in his voice, “She has tennis bracelet on her list…sporting goods or jewelry?”

Yes, ladies they are that simple. Be gentle.

Merry Christmas!!!

To make the season merry and bright, you need a plan, right?

14 years ago I had my third son, Carter, on the 16th of December. By the time we were sprung from the hospital, we had less than 6 days to prep for the grand holy day. I was way behind, thanks to placenta issues forcing me into bedrest for much of the pregnancy...but I am the queen of type A overdrive when the need arises. I had check lists and to do lists with 'do by' dates and times and a system of execution that would have made a general proud.

But God had another plan. 5 days till Christmas, my 4 year old and 2 year old picked up a stomach flu. Puke buckets replaced cookie sheets. Laundry piled up as I was slow to learn that "Mommy my belly hurts" is quickly followed by internal projectiles. Kids were rocked and consoled and the only thing wrapped up was my phobia of barf.

3 days till Christmas. The 'to do' list was pared down, shortened, chopped, and modified to meet the deadline. Kids gifts were wrapped sans bows and tags...the miraculous Sharpie marker took their place. Holiday baking was replaced by Hershey Kisses and MM's.

Christmas Eve arrived and we were back on the modified schedule. We even made the time to make Santa some treats. I was so used to bending the holiday tradtions, that I didn't even bat an eye at my son's Christmas "sporky spine" (a huge pepperoni roll adorned with a box of toothpicks) he made for Santa in lieu of cookies. I made a Christmas lasagna instead of the usual cornish hens and I was feeling pretty settled and ready to enjoy a silent night.

Bathed the kids, put them in their festive jammies (going out to parties was one of the first things chopped from the list!) and went to the dining room to feast. Problem was our dog got their first. There she was like a Bumpus hound on top of the dining table woofing down my labor of love. She heard my scream and bolted, but not before scattering the garlic bread and munching a huge hole from the center of the lasagna.

As I felt my temperature rise with the fury and injustice of it all (and secretly contemplated whether or not the edges were still edible) my husband turned to the boys and asked, "Pizza Hut or Dominoes?"

Candle light, pizza boxes, baby coos, and the giggles of preschoolers still totally tickled by the image of their dog on top of the table chowing down...is one of our most memorable and beloved Christmas Eves to date.

Totally unscripted, totally unpredicted...but ever so perfect.

May the to do lists and checklists never clog the cogs of Christmas cheer.

Merry Christmas and God bless.

Soooo, why did that top of the line rechargeable impact wrench (thanks again, Honey) not make her smile?

Let me try to explain.

For example…What does that gift you worked so hard to choose SAY about your love and appreciation for your union? Bought her a sweater a size too big? You think she’s fat. Bought her a sweater a size too small? You proved she’s fat. Bought her the wrong color? You certainly don’t know her very well, because if you did, you would know she NEVER wears that color…maybe you’re thinking of your girlfriend as you shop?

Yes, ladies they are that simple. Be gentle.

Merry Christmas

I’m skipping Thanksgiving. Not skipping the food mind you…not even the worst stomach flu can separate me from the indulgence of the turkey feast. I’m skipping the pumpkins and pilgrims and all the rest of the fall colored decorations. I’m taking my cue from Wal Mart and going straight for Christmas. The green and red are going up a week early. The moratorium is lifted on Baby Jesus and Santa. They are allowed to make their move to center stage before the turkey is carved and its bones sent to the trash.

As a matter of fact, I’m liking this idea so well that I’m considering changing up my whole view of the fall holidays. Next year I’m considering bundling the fall holidays…a full merging of Halloween and Thanksgiving with the generic festive fall décor instead of the ghouls, goblins, and pilgrims. Then I can take the full week of Thanksgiving to get out the Christmas trim at my leisure.

Now sure, there are those among us who hate the encroachment of Christmas on all the other holidays, but I’m not among them. I love Christmas. It’s magic in a box of bulbs. Inner peace carried in the scent of pine. And after a hard year, saying good bye to my father and my grandmother, I’m ready for the joy of the holidays, for the assurance that our days on earth aren’t the end of our existence, that the ones we say farewell to aren’t gone, but moved on, moved up to a better place.

Sure, I know retailers bombard us with Christmas just to separate us from our money, but I say bring it. They can spin it, commercialize it, and start it in August and I’m game. There’s magic in that holiday. Magic that can’t be bought or sold because it was given to us as a gift.

Have a blessed holiday…no matter when you decide to begin.