Showing posts with label holiday stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label holiday stories. Show all posts

Thursday, December 26, 2024

Reviewing Short Stories for the Holidays

 

Holiday Light with Bokeh
Holiday Decorations by mbgphoto


I love to read but, in the hustle, and bustle of all of the holiday preparations sometimes I just don't feel like getting into a full-size novel.  This year instead, I read three short stories with holiday themes.  This really worked well for me, and I enjoyed the short stories which were light reading.  All of these books were ones that I downloaded to my Kindle from Amazon and because I am a Prime member they were all free to read from Prime Reading.  They are also available to purchase in either paperback books, audio books, or digital books.

Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel

This book was written by Rebecca Raisin and can be ordered from Amazon at Christmas at the Little Paris Hotel .  What can be better than a delightful story taking place in Paris during the holidays?  In this story Anais receives an unwelcome surprise in her divorce settlement.  It is a run-down hotel in Paris.  She needs the money desperately but what is she to do with this run-down hotel.  

She would really like to sell it and move on with her life, but this does not prove to be a viable option.  Her next thought is to turn it into a beautiful place and open by Christmas.  But is this even possible?  This is a must-read story full of romantic comedy and mystery!  Something for everyone.

AI generated Paris photo
Paris at Christmas (AI generated)

The Christmas Book Hunt

This book was written by Jenny Colgan and can be found at this link The Christmas Book Hunt.  The setting for this story is London and small towns in the UK.  

The main character, Mirren is on a hunt to find a rare book for her Aunt Viola, who is dying.  Viola remembers this book from her youth and her dying wish is to once again see this book before she dies.  The book is rare and hard to find because the author Robert Louis Stevenson had teamed up with a famous author who did illustrations for the one book.

Mirren is determined to find this book for her aunt and her search takes her to several small towns that have lots of rare book shops.  Along the way she runs into a handsome stranger who, unknown to Mirren is searching for the same book for his uncle's rare book shop.  All of this is taking place in the days leading up the Christmas.



Holiday Hideaway

Mary Kay Andrews, the author of over 30 award winning novels, wrote this delightful short story.  You can find it at the following link.  Holiday Hideaway  

In this enchanting story, Tilly is not very happy about the upcoming holidays.  She is recently divorced and down on her luck, so she is staying in one of her companies unoccupied rentals until her new apartment is ready.  All is going along until the owner, George,  shows up to sell his granduncles house.  He is staying in the house so Tilly hides out in the attic.  Fun ensues as Tilly tries to avoid running into George.

This story is taking place just before Christmas and you will need to read it to find out what Christmas magic happens.


Happy Reading and Happy New Year




Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”


Saturday, December 9, 2017

Fun December Review of a Few Christmas and Santa Memories

A collection of personal Christmas stories....
 

Coal in the Christmas Stocking … and Baseball Cole

Handmade Lump of Coal Soap
Handmade Lump of Coal soap by SEAandCLEAN on Etsy
The old-fashioned custom of children who misbehave finding a lump of coal from 'Santa' in their Christmas Stocking instead of presents has many origins, mostly cultural.

In Italy gifts at Christmas began with the birth of Jesus and is where La Befana (a witch who delivers presents) instead of Santa Claus leaves toys for good children, and coal for bad ones. Today, Italians use a candy, called Carbone Dolce, (dark, rock-like candy that looks just like lumps of coal), as a joke.

In Holland, the coal legend began around the 16th century. Dutch children would put their clogs by the fireplace before stockings were used and got a lump of coal if they were bad and a small toy, cookies or candy if they were good.

Other countries have their own legends or stories to tell.

Interesting to note that in Scotland and Northern England it is considered lucky to receive a lump of coal as a gift on New Year's Day. It's part of their 'First-Footer' celebration and represents warmth for the year to come.

Being a baseball fan (and the baseball fan contributor here on Review This!), I tend to relate 'everything' to baseball.  A December 2014 headline in MLB news is what brought this whole story about.  It stated “Which Club will get Cole in its Stocking?”  The story goes on to state that there are a number of 'Cole diggers' (baseball teams) vying for  the acquisition of the Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels.  We didn't  know for awhile which team ended up with Cole as their new pitcher, but the Boston Red Sox seemed the most interested at that moment. (Red Sox ~ Stockings ~ Hmmm!)

*Editor's Note: Cole Hamels actually ended up with the Texas Rangers in 2014.  Today he is pitching for the Atlanta Braves.

 
Christmas stocking Coal or Baseball pitcher Cole.  The stocking lump-of-coal seems appropriate for this time of year. Baseball is appropriate ANY time of year (to me, the baseball nut). :-)



Santa, I Can Explain...

Image of cat & Christmas Tree ornament in a cross stitch pattern kit
eBay Cross Stitch Pattern
I sell craft supplies and patterns on eBay and it is always delightful to receive a note from a customer about a particular item.

I sold this cross stitch pattern shown in the photo of a cat sitting next to a tree ornament lying on the floor and the words “Santa, I can explain!” 

The buyer sent a note saying she couldn't wait to cross stitch this design as her cat takes all the stuff off the tree and hides it.  Then takes the branches and gets rid of them.  So this picture is for her cat. :-).

Personalized stories like this make my eBay selling most enjoyable and gives me such a nice feeling that something I've listed is exactly what someone wanted or fits a situation perfectly.



Handmade by Santa?

Santa Christmas coaster
Handmade Christmas Coasters Available on Etsy

Since early childhood, we've known that Santa, with the help of his elves, makes all the Christmas toys for good little girls and boys. As we grow up, we begin to doubt that Santa Claus actually made everything by hand.

I confess I had some doubts myself, until last month when someone bought a batch of yarn I had for sale in my eBay store.  You see, the shipping address for the yarn purchase was – wait for it – NORTH POLE, AK.

I'm now totally convinced that 'Santa's Workshop' actually exists.  




Handmade Santa Humpty Dumpty
Santa Humpty Dumpty


*NOTE: The Santa Humpty Dumpty I shared above has sold, but a cute Humpty Dumpty in Red, White and Blue is available in my Etsy Store right now. You can check it out here if you wanted a Humpty Dumpty Nursery Rhyme character in plush crochet! :) 

Merry Christmas, Everyone!

 


(c) A collection of stories originally written by me (Wednesday Elf) on a former online site.



Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”


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