By Wanda Ottewell, Senior Editor Harlequin Super Romance
It’s that time of year when many of us brace ourselves and, along with all our friends and neighbors and plenty of strangers, tackle the stores looking for those elusive gifts for everyone on our lists (is it just me, or does that list grow every year?). Some people love this season—for the other eleven months of the year they wait and plan and anticipate December. Other people spend those same eleven months hoping that this will be the one year we skip right over December.
Me? I fall somewhere in between. There are parts of the season I enjoy—what’s better than kids opening their stockings on Christmas morning? And other parts… Well, it feels like a bit too much. Sometimes I worry I have more Scrooge than Santa in me, LOL.
As I’ve been doing my treks through the stores and shopping centers lately I’ve considered all the many ways people celebrate and experience the season. And part of that celebration is definitely the stories. Movies, songs, and books all explore the themes of the season—joy, giving, family, being together. I have friends who have a list of movies they watch every Christmas and don’t consider the season complete until they’ve viewed each one. Other friends have a (growing) list of Christmas books they read with their kids every December.
When I started working at Harlequin I was a bit surprised by the strong demand readers have for Christmas books. I hadn’t given much thought to stories with strong holiday themes. Sure, I’d read a few and enjoyed them, but hadn’t actively sought them. I’ve since had the pleasure of working on a number of Christmas titles and even gotten the good, choked-up, warm feelings from really great stories that showcase love and family.
But do I make a point of buying holiday-themed books for my own reading list? Not really. (See my worry above about my Scrooge factor!)
Where do you fall? Do you love the holiday books and eagerly start combing the shelves in October to grab every one you find? Or do you have Christmas tree blindness and overlook those sparkly holiday covers? And an even more interesting question, are you up for reading about Christmas any time of the year? Or does the mere mention of the holidays before November and after December send you running for the hills?
Looking forward to your comments!
Don't forget, one poster today will win all 6 of this month's Super Romance books, courtesy of Harlequin and the Super Romance team.
37 comments:
I think Christmas is a much bigger deal in the US than in Australia. My European family makes a big deal of the Christmas in January though.
When I hear Americans discussing all their baking, movie-watching, song-listening, book-reading rituals around December, I realise nobody around here really does that.
As for me, however, having grown up with two Christmases every year I celebrate often!
As for Christmas-themed books, I find I’ve been reading them more in the last couple of years because some of my favourite authors have written them. I enjoy those that manage to not be too cheesy, and that deal with normal issues that just happen to be taking place at that certain time of the year!
It's funny, because I don't often - really hardly ever - choose holiday themed stories, but we do quite a bit for the holidays. I have holiday china we will eat off of all month (as soon as I unpack it) and coffee mugs with snowmen. We play CDs of Christmas music and go see the Christmas lights and shows. The girls aren't performing this year, but we'll still be seeing the Nutcracker because it isn't Christmas without Tchaikovsky.
I guess I'm not really the the grinch I thought.
I love the holiday season. The carols start on the radio on Light Up Night (Friday before Thanksgiving), 95% of presents are bought by Turkey day, and Black Friday the tree goes up. *G* Love the soft glow of the lights.
This weekend if I get my SYTYCW entry completed, dh and I might go shopping in the crazy traffic jams and endless lines just for fun. LOL. I can get stuff for the stash for everyone's bdays coming up. And for the lunch and dinner out. *G*
And Christmas romances are hands down my favorite reads. I start reading them Nov 1st until Christmas when I get a new stash of books from Santa.
Normally, I love the holiday season but this year I'm really depressed about it. This year, the job I'm at I'm not making nearly as much as my old job, so I don't have that much money for gift buying. And my husband and I decided to get a divorce a few weeks ago so I'll be alone on the holidays this year. I might just sleep through it this year, or spend it with a good Christmas book and get lost in a good fictional life.
I LOVE holiday themed books so that is one part about the holiday season I will not complain about.
Hi Wanda--I remember once starting a Christmas school holiday with a stack of Harlequin Christmas themed books sitting next to my chair and feeling like I was in heaven because I would be able to read instead of doing battle with 8th graders. That year I was deeply into the holiday spirit. I think I even wrapped evergreens around one of the stock gates. Other years I haven't felt so jolly, but I love being able to read during the holidays and I love Christmas themed books. The beauty of holiday books is that they're about the true meaning of the holiday, rather than egad, what can I get Uncle George that he doesn't already have?
Hi Wanda,
I like to read Christmas books in December. I like the Christmas season to start after Thanksgiving. It is too long now.
I am in more of a Bah Humbug mood, I guess.
Wanda, I love to celebrate Christmas wherever I find it, so Christmas stories are some of my favorites. I cry at the movies, oooh and ahh about the lights and decorations. I don't even mind shopping. It's also the only time of year I put cream in my coffee, real cream, so I enjoy that. Happy Holidays!
I like to read Christmas themed books in the months leading up to the holiday. Adds to the Christmas cheer.
I think I would be a complete Scrooge if it wasn't for my kids. My nine year old is absolutely certain Santa is real. He heard him. My thirteen year old has a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy where Santa is concerned.
I think I will be more in the spirit once we get our tree. My nine year old will also take charge of the decorations. If only I could have him do all the shopping.
I do have a question for you. I noticed you've increased the word count to 85,000 (and me with my 72,000 word MS ready to submit). What are you looking for in the extra 10,000 words? More sub-plots? Secondary romances? More depth in covering issues faced by the couple?
Thanks.
Hi Wanda,
I have a complete double-standard. I love Christmas-theme Regencies, but I'm not a fan of holiday contemporaries.
I think in Regencies, the traditions and celebrations are so far removed from my own life that I can read about them in peace.
In contemporaries, I can't help myself...I get caught up in comparing the holiday pursuits to my own and I often wind up feeling guilty for being an under-performer. Perhaps I'm actually Australian?
Some parts of Christmas I really enjoy like spending time with family. The shopping and things is a different story. There is a lot of work to get done this time of the year.
I embrace the holiday season even though sometimes I feel they just creep up on me. It's definitely a time for family and leisure. Holiday-themed stories can definitely put me in the holiday spirit and what better way than to stay indoors, nice and cozy and lost in a story. What I do try to avoid is the holiday crowds at the mall. Happy Holidays everyone!
Hi, Wanda,
I love Christmas as you know but while I've done less and less decorating each year, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas-themed books. Love the covers, love the stories. Have I mentioned I love them? ;)
I hear you on the fuss of shopping etc, though. My husband and I made one big trip to shop and knocked most of it out that day. Since then we've purchased mostly online and made use of the free shipping offered.
Hope you find your holiday spirit!
Kay - who just realized I have a blog to post tomorrow. LOL Oops!
Love the holiday season, we don't shop much these years, just try to remember the smaller kids. My joy is the decorations, cookie baking and of course the extra time to read. Midnight services at church are the frosting on the cake, or cookies and the case may be. I do get the blues when the decorations are all packed away for another year! The house looks really drab, need something new, but who has money to spend after the holidays. Oh well, grab a good book!!!
Hi Wanda! I love holiday books, but I dont buy everyone I come across. Most of the time I buy ones from a series or by an author I love. My favorite parts of the holidays are the decrations and the baking. I am making Christams Cakepops for all my kids teachers this year, and I can't wait!
Have a wonderful Christmas!
Hi Wanda
I'm a 'running for the hills' girl. I'd quite like to spend Christmas on an Island with my man, my dogs and a great pile of books. If there were some holiday themed books in that pile, no doubt I'd manage :)
Here in New Zealand, Christmas coincides with our summer holidays. That's one reason I do look forward to Christmas, I have the lazy days of summer to enjoy as well.
I hope you and your team have a wonderful Christmas holiday season.
Toni
My Christmas viewing wouldn't be complete without Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation
As for books I eagerly anticipate releases from some of my favorite authors time time of year, but not necessarily for holiday themes.
Great to have you here, as always, Wanda!
I do have a holiday humbug to share. "Holiday Hold Music." I'm on the phone a lot at my day job. Those first songs of the season are always nice to hear, but toward the end (also our busiest time of year)it starts to wear on my nerves.
I love Christmas themed books. I always get too many of them to read in December. Thus I read them year round. If I'm really planning things correctly I have a book to read on the 25th of each month or close to it.
Otherwise I'm a bit of a Scrooge these days. I send out Christmas cards and buy presents for my family's gift exchange. This year I may even get out and buy myself something new to wear.
I love Christmas-themed stories. In fact, I'm happy to read them all through the year. Of course, I enjoy other stories as well, but it doesn't bother me at all to pick up a Christmas romance to read in June.
I love the season in general. I don't always love the crowds when they aren't behaving in the Christmas spirit, but I love most everything else about it. The best part is when I find THE perfect gift for someone on my list, especially if that someone is picky about gifts. Then gift-giving is an absolute joy!
Reading holiday books throughout December has become one of my favorite traditions, and a welcome relief from busy shopping malls.
Not a big holiday person but love to read the Christmas stories by my favorite Authors. But usually only read them in the month of December. I read Robyn Carr,Debbie Macomber,RaeAnne Thayne,Sherryl Woods,Linda Warren,Stella Bagwell and many others. Merry Christmas everyone. Diana Smith
I like to read Christmas books in the summer. I do not want to read about cold weather when it's cold outside.
I buy only Christmas books in Nov and Dec and I buy all of the Christmas books in the lines I read. I will buy a few miniseries books and put them away until Jan.
I really enjoy the books where Christmas is essential to the plot and not a story that just happens to happen at Christmas. And I don't want anything horrible to happen in my books that will throw me out of the romance and my Christmas mood.
I love All things Christmas. My tree is up, the gingerbread houses finished, and the baking well underway. So much fun to have at Christmas.
Thanks for your blog, Wanda! I like Christmas but it's just not the same in Australia when it's summer and we're outdoors instead of inside by the fire. So it's hard for a transplanted northerner to get in the holiday mode. And because I'm hopeless at getting my shopping and cards done on time it's all a bit stressful. However I do love the part about getting together with family and friends. To me that's what Christmas is all about.
I never used to get into Christmas books but the past couple years I try to get those that interest me (still have to have a catchy back cover blurb even if it is Christmas). I did buy some released in October!
Marcie - too lazy to log into Blogger
I am really trying to get into the spirit of the season. But this year it is hard for me. We had a big loss in our family, my mother died and so did my oldest brother's mother in law..
But I am really trying as I said. Reading some great Christmas books. Watching TV Christmas Specials. All my fav movies... White Christmas, It's A Wonderful LIfe, Mircle on 34th Street and Christmas Vacation...
I will put a smile on my face next weekend when I have all my nieces and nephews here for my annual Christmas Tree Trimming party, and will watch the joy in their faces when we go to our Riverside Park, for The Sparkle in the Park Christmas Light Display..
I love Christmas, but I hardly ever read books about it. Don't know why. Never thought about it, but now that I am, it's a little strange. The last Christmas book I read was on the beach in June - it was Mary Kay Andrews' Blue Christmas which was sort of a chick-lit/cozy mystery.
My house is ready for Christmas...we even have an elf running around here :)
I absolutely love the Christmas stories. I don't really see them the rest of the year, so don't read them then. Besides more fun during the season.
Good morning, all!
I'm a little late coming to the party (further proof I might have more Scrooge than Santa in me, LOL).
Sonya, two Christmases sounds like fun...although a lot of work! I agree with you about preferring books that weave the holiday theme in naturally rather than overdoing the themes.
Julia, it's a bit of a letdown to realize you're more into the holidays than you thought, isn't it? I had a similar realization a few years ago when a relative decided to get married around the holidays and the wedding cancelled the family festivities. I really missed it!
Jennifer, you are a very brave woman to venture out to the stores, LOL! And it sounds like there can't be too many holiday-themed books for you. That's great.
Angelina, so sorry to hear about the turn of events for you. Definitely casts a pall on the season. I wish many, many good books for you!
Jeannie, you're absolutely right about how Christmas books can remind us of why we drive ourselves crazy trying to make everything perfect. Your image of a reading holiday is perfect! I might try to carve that out for myself this year...
Tammy, isn't it interesting how the season seems to extend each year? This year I walked into a store before Halloween and they had a full Christmas display. I almost cried because I hadn't even thought about Christmas yet!
Mary, I agree about the lights. My hometown does a huge festival of lights lining both sides of the river for several blocks. It's a beautiful display and feels quite magical with snow on the trees. It's a bit of a family tradition to walk (if it's not too cold, otherwise we drive) through the festival on New Year's Eve.
Crystal, reading Christmas books as a way to get into the spirit sounds good. I might try that next year.
Kristina, if you manage to convince your nine-year-old to do the shopping, I will rent him from you, LOL! I love to shop, but Christmas shopping usually does me in.
And great question about the extended word count! We're looking for a richer, more detailed story however that looks. For some manuscripts a subplot or secondary romance is the perfect way to enrich the story. For other manuscripts the length means digging a little deeper into the characters and their issues. Maybe the hero finds his estranged brother and they reconcile. Maybe the heroine makes peace with her mother. Maybe the hero and heroine tackle that bigger obstacle in their romance.
Send in your manuscript now, even though it's written to the old length. Let us take a look at it and, believe me, we can come up with added story elements! Looking forward to reading it!
Ellen, interesting insight about historical versus contemporary holiday stories! I think you're on to something. I suspect I'm an under-performer on the gift front. I have friends and family members who are amazing at giving the perfect gift I never even knew I wanted, but once I get it, I can't live without it. That's so not me! I struggle and agonize over every one. So what I lack in originality I tend to make up for in volume, LOL. If I give lots, then people won't notice it's not exactly what they wanted, right?
Virginia, I'm right there with you!
Na, since you're the second person to suggest holiday themed books as a way to shift me from Bah, humbug to Ho, Ho, Ho, I will try it next year!
Kay, I have always been in awe of your celebration of the season! You do make it look easy and festive and fun. I usually take a similar approach to shopping--one big marathon session, then quick trips and online to fill in the gaps.
Gloria, I agree with you on the let down following the holidays! Everything is bright and sparkly over the holidays and when it's all packed away, we're stuck with a whole lot of winter (at least here in Canada!) and very little sparkle.
Alina, the cake pops sound very ambitious...not to mention delicious! Since I don't bake, I'll have to find someone to make them for me
Toni, I love the sound of your holiday! And the idea of celebrating Christmas in the middle of summer is fascinating to me! One year when I was a kid, we had a green Christmas. There was no snow whatsoever and the temperatures were so mild we were outside without coats on (unheard of in December!). It was such an anomaly that we probably have more pictures of us--outside, of course--that year than any other.
Rogenna, great reminder! I love that movie--will have to watch it this year. And yes, the piped-in music is nails on a chalkboard after a while.
Kaelee, I vote you buy yourself something new! I have a bad habit of buying equal number of gifts for myself as others, so I'm always in support of treating ourselves And I like the pattern of a holiday-themed book for the 25th of every month. That's cool.
JV, I get the same thrill when I've found the perfect gift. It doesn't happen often (see my comment about the volume, LOL), so it feels like an extra accomplishment when it does.
Summer, nice how you use the books to keep you in the spirit.
Diana, you're another one who's selective about your holiday books. I tend to be that way about all my personal reading. Sadly, I don't have the same time to read I used to, so when I do read, I want something wonderful.
Chey, interesting thought! Now that I think about it, you're right. It's not much fun to read about cold weather when it's cold outside, LOL.
Linda, thanks for sharing your preferences! You help pinpoint one of the things I love about chatting with all of you. It's fascinating to read how differently we all approach our love of reading. Isn't it cool that we can have something in common yet have entirely different ways of experiencing it?
Joan, I'm with you--the holidays are about getting with family (because I haven't said that several times here, LOL). I can imagine how different the holidays must be for you now. As I'd mentioned before, trying to imagine Christmas day while wearing shorts and possibly heading to the beach flies in the face of all my Christmases so far, LOL!
Marcie, interesting that you've now gotten into holiday books. Seems there's hope for me
Kathleen, sorry to hear about your losses. But you're absolutely right about how the enthusiasm and joy of kids can put us all in the spirit. My perspective on the holidays changed a lot when my nephews and niece arrived. Christmas morning is completely different with little ones!
Liz, could I borrow that elf? Just for a few days to finish the shopping, the wrapping, the...?
Marybelle, that's a great way to think about holiday stories!
Thanks everyone for having me here this year! It's been wonderful to stop in each month and chat. I'm looking forward to doing it again next year.
I wish you all the best for the holidays!!
Wanda
Testing.... I'm having Blogger trouble this morning and can't get my blog to post. It's sort of a follow up to Wanda's. Stay tuned!
Wanda, glad to hear you are concerned about any scrooge-like characteristics. I do like holiday-themed books and I like them in December. I pretend I do not see holiday items before Thanksgiving. So right now, Tis the Season! But Bah, humbug if too early.
Did my Christmas cards today...why I am late blogging! lol Have read several Christmas books and done most of my shopping. Merry Christmas to all!
I enjoy reading Christmas stories all year round. They give me a warm and fuzzy feeling, so to speak - even in the heat of summer. I have read at least 250 books every year since 1974, so any book is a good book to me. (Well ... I have had a couple of lemons - to ME - during that time, but they couldn't have been that bad since the authors are quite famous! They just weren't MY cup of tea....)
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