Saturday, December 19, 2009

Guest Author Day with Anne Kane & CONTEST!



CONTEST: One Lucky Commenter will win a $10 Changeling Gift Certificate. Contest ends 12/20/09. Winner Announcement on 12/20/09.

How to Avoid the Christmas Panic…


Christmas! It’s almost here. Are you excited, or is that last minute I-still-haven’t-got-the-shopping-done panic starting to surface? I’m past the panicky point. That was last week, when I finally got over the flu and realized that I simply couldn’t manage to bake up a storm, show up for work every morning, elbow my way through the crowds at the mall, put up a tree, and still have fun – all in the three weeks left before the big day. So, I decided to prioritize. Let me share some of my tips with you.

1. The tree. If you put enough lights and shiny things on it, no one will notice that the ornaments are not perfectly spaced. Lets face it, most of my family knows that I have no clue who Martha Stewart is, and they expect cheerful and sloppy. It’s a matter of conditioning them over the course of decades to just be happy that you didn’t call them to help.

2. Baking. Announce you are on a diet, and that if you bake you might be tempted to eat it all. Not only does that get you out of baking, but everyone who isn’t on a diet feels honor bound to make sure you don’t succeed, so they will show up at your house with plates of shortbread and Santa cookies!

3. Work. Okay, unless your boss amazingly understanding you still have to show up for work in the mornings if you want to get paid. On the plus side, this is the time of year when good customers feel like tipping or bringing you little presents, and if your boss is as nice as mine is, he’s going to cough up a bonus or a nice turkey.

4. Shopping. Unless you did it all in August (which I didn’t) try to order things online. I managed to get just about everything I needed ordered in less than an hour. ( Hint: give gift certificates to your favorite online bookseller or publisher, and the recipient won’t have to go to the mall either!) Of course, I’ve heard rumors that some of you actually enjoy shopping. If you’re one of those types, I envy you. Go. Shop. Enjoy. And rest easy in the knowledge that I won’t be there getting in your way.

5. Win a gift certificate! Yes that’s right. One way to get shed some of the stress is to read a gook book, so to help you with that, I’m going to give one lucky person a $10 gift certificate to Changeling Press. All you have to do is comment below. Tell me how you cope with the holidays. Or tell me you were all done two months ago, and watch me turn green with envy!

There! Now you can get down to the fun stuff like playing with the grandkids and gathering to sing Christmas carols. Christmas is all about family and fun and appreciating the miracle of the season. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas with lots of love and laughter.

Anne Kane

http://www.annekane.com/

http://annekane.wordpress.com/

http://twitter.com/annekane

Sci –Fi and Fantasy with a sensual twist!


11 comments:

s7anna said...

Well, I'm usually pretty good on the gift front since I try and purchase little items all year round. It probably also helps that I don't have very many people to buy presents for. This year I'm doing a larger Christmas dinner and that's the big worry since I've never done that before. Thankfully, I finally figured out what to get my Mum...I've been racking my mind trying to figure that puzzler out and of course she was no help whatsoever...

The best way to cope with the stress is to just take some time out for yourself...indulge in a good drink and relax...I usually read a book.

Have a wonderful Christmas!
Anna Shah Hoque
s7anna@yahoo.ca

susan said...

Morning Annie. At the risk of you turning green..I have to say I have been done with Christmas shopping since Sept. Right after last year's Christmas I got all my supplies for this year, then I added gifts when I saw things on sell all year round. The only thing I still need to get is some snacks to take in to church for our Christmas play this month but they must be fresh which is why I waited till now. I am retired working part time so because of saving money I do after Christmas shopping every year. I really started doing this when our four kids were little as money has always been tight so I learnt early how to save. It has paid off in many ways since I do not get stressed out over Christmas. Thanksgiving Day I start getting my cards ready to send and by the 8th of Dec. they are all mailed out. I have been setting back and reading Christmas books for the past couple of weeks and really enjoy these at this time of year.You may turn green with envy over this. I work at a wal mart store and cashier and I have had customers tell me they think they hate me..because I am done already. I just smile and wish them a Merry Christmas. ha ha Merry Christmas Anne and you will make it fine till Christmas. ha susan L.

Unknown said...

Hi :)
Thank you for having Anne here today. I love discovering new (to me authors). Thank you for sharing Anne. I haven't done any shopping or anything. I get my children after Boxing Day, so I buy everything on Boxing Day (Yay for sales on that day!). So I am coping quite well with the Christmas season thus far.
I like Anne's site. Great interview with Honoria Ravena!
:)
Merry Christmas,
RKCharron

Anonymous said...

Susan, I don't hate you. I'm just baffled. Finished in September? LOL I finished shopping about two hours ago. My secret is that I actually enjoy the last minute rush, so it's really not stressful. Hope you have a wonderfuld Christmas!

Anonymous said...

Anna, I'm still not sure what to send my mother. She's on a strict diet for helath reasons so chocolates etc are out. I'm thinking a nice cheerful flower boquet. I'd better do it soon!

skyla11377 said...

Hey Anne Thanks For The Tips They Are Great. I Finished My Christmas Shopping This Past Thursday Which Is A Miracle Because Usually I Am Scrambling Up Until The Day Before Christmas Trying To Buy Presents....LOL.

Beth said...

I actually got the majority of the bought items by the end of Nov. It's the hand made gifts that are giving me fits. Still not done with them. And haven't even started the baking yet. And I still have to work seven days a week during all this. I have a store and no employees. I'm just ignoring most of the decorations this year. Minimalist at best.
Loved Dawg-Napped!

Happy Holidays

booklover0226 said...

Where I used to work, I would start bugging the guys on 12/1 with the same question, "What have you bought your wife for Christmas?"

On 12/23, they would say, "I'm going Christmas shopping for my wife, what should I buy?" LOL

Anyway, I finished my shopping (all online) in early December; I hate crowds.

Thanks,
Tracey D

Anonymous said...

RK - glad you liked the interview. Honoria is a great writer, I'm sure you'll enjoy her work.

Skyla - I've spent more Christmas Eves than I care to remember trying to finsh my shopping. LOL

Beth - 7 days a week??!! I hope you love the store, because that's alot of work. Still, being your own boss has it's perks, doesn't it.

Tracey - at last! Someone who shares my hatred of crowds.

Merry Christmas everyone! 5 days to go.

s7anna said...

Hey Anne,
I finally figured out what to get my Mum...she loves playing the puzzle games & other games on my iPhone so I figured out the perfect gift...a Nintendo DSl lite system..and a couple of games to get her started. I so hope she loves it...

Happy Holidays

Pat said...

Hi Anne! What a great blog. I love it. I'll make you
feel better, I'm always a day late, a dollar short and
I can't fight my way out of a paper sack much less argue over who had that sale item in their hand first.
I'll still be shopping and wrapping on Christmas Eve before bed because we do Christmas dinner at my sister's all of my children come here on Christmas Eve so our family has their own time to exchange presents before we have to be nice in front of aunts, uncles and cousins. I've done the fun part, I have all the toys to give, but now I have to do the clothes shopping. I promised to take my two grand daughters 11 & 13 to the mall. What was I thinking?
Merry Christmas.

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