Saturday, December 12, 2009

Happy, happy days!

I hope everyone is trying to stay sane and grounded in December, which has to be the craziest month of the year for many of us. I made the very very bad mistake of going to the mall today --on a Saturday -- with not quite 2 weeks left until Christmas. Bad, bad, mistake. On the bright side, I found new pillows and a gorgeous quilt set for my bed at a very good price and stocked up on the video games my kids are hoping to find under the tree. It only took me an hour to calm down from the crowd-induced hyperventilation. (whew!)

We are counting our blessings here, because my Navy Guy husband finally came home Thursday from a 6 1/2 month-long deployment. We are all so thrilled to have him home and our thoughts and prayers are with all of you whose military family members cannot be home with you for the holidays. We've been through that, on previous deployments, and know how hard it is. So extra hugs to you and please, everyone, give special love to your military family friends and loved ones.

I have some fun news of my own: Romantic Times BookClub magazine just nominated Atlantis Unleashed as a Reviewers' Choice finalist in the 2009 contemporary paranormal category! That book was my baby, for many reasons, so I'm thrilled to see it honored like that. And I'm with wonderful, wonderful, company: Ilona Andrews, Kresley Cole, Larissa Ione, Sherrilyn Kenyon, and Jennifer Lyon are all finalists in my category. What an honor!

Tuesday I'm going to New York for my annual "Happy holidays with my editor" trip. I'll be filming Project Paranormal (deets later) at Berkley and doing dinner and a show with my lovely editor and her darling assistant. Plus seeing wonderful friends. (I hope it snows!!) I'll try to blog and post pics from there - NYC at the holidays is gorgeous and wonderful.

Stay tuned, by the way, because my new website is in progress and I should be able to unveil it soon! Can't wait - the design is gorgeous.

So, much much much going on!! To celebrate the Reviewers' Choice nod, I'm giving away 5 autographed copies of Atlantis Unleashed to 5 randomly selected folks who tell me in the comments something special you're doing this month to celebrate the holidays.

hugs and may your shopping be crowd-free,
Alyssa

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is there a link to get your book?

Beth S.

Anonymous said...

I am going to see the premier musical of a budding composer named Deanna Szabo.

Beth S.

Rhonda said...

Hi Alyssa,
I and my family will be getting together for the holiday's to celebrate christmas and new year's together. We have a party with food, music, and an exchange of gifts. Also as a family tradition we watch A Christmas Story. "You'll shoot your eye out.";)

Sheena said...

lol, I'm lucky since I'm almost done with all my holiday shopping...and I managed to do at least 75% of it online (yay!). Still need to pick up a few things for my dad and book a spa day for the ladies in the fam :)

I'm looking forward to the holiday just because my entire family will be together over break! My sister goes to school outside of the US, and since my brother and I are away at univ and grad school, we haven't all been together since the summer. Plus, I'm super-excited because we are heading down to Texas for a few days to visit my cousins, which means I get to escape the freezing Midwest for a bit :)

Hope your holidays are wonderful, Alyssa!

Alyssa Day said...

Beth, that sounds wonderful!

Rhonda, we watch A Christmas Story, too! Love that movie.

Sheena, congratulations on having your family together!

Linda Henderson said...

Congratulations on your nomination and your husband being home. This Christmas we get to celebrate my new granddaughter. She was born March 19th at 23 weeks weighing 1 pound 2.7 ounces and was 11 1/2 inches long. Before she was born they didn't give us any hope at all. They were asking funeral arrangements and everything. Well, our little miracle girl came out fighting and after 4 months in the NICU came home mid July. She now weighs about 8 pounds and is 21 inches long. She is still small, but she's a whopper compared to what she was. So we are all celebrating the miracle of her birth this holiday season. Kind of appropriate I think.

Donna said...

Happy Holidays to you too. I am happy that "Navy Guy" gets to be home. I did most of my shopping online to avoid the mall.

Unknown said...

My husband and I have been playing hand bells for midnight mass the past 9 years and we love. That's just our thing. Now that we have a little one, Christmas day is exhausting since we don't get to sleep in. But the music at our church is spectacular so the lack of sleep is worth it. :-)

Twimom227 said...

Yea for your family-Navy Guy is home! That is special in and of itself!

I haven't even started my shopping. Oh well. I hope to accomplish a lot on Monday, when I have the day off and both kids are in school.

Our special times will be just hanging with the family. My parents, who live out-of-state will be here for a week. The kids are excited to see Gramma and Bub. The whole family has off the week between Christmas and New Year, so we hope to get some household projects completed.

Thanks for the opportunity to win the book... Alas, I already own it (not that I wouldn't LOVE an autographed copy), but if my name is drawn, please give my copy to someone else. Merry Christmas!

Ida Brugler said...

I am hosting Christmas dinner this year at my house. At least that is what i was told a couple weeks ago. SUSPRISE! Merry Christmas to me! so things will be really busy.
We usually make reindeer food with magical giltter to make a path from our road back our driveway so the reindeer can have a wonderful snack and recharge thier magic while Santa is here.
Even the older kids still humor me on this little thing.

Ida Brugler said...

I am hosting Christmas dinner this year. or so i was told. SUSPRISE! Merry Christmas to me.
Accually we will make magical reindeer food and take it to the road and sprinkle it back the drive all the way to our house. So that while Santa is here the reindeer can recharge thier magic to fly. The big kids play along and humor me.

Rebecca at the Well said...

Hey Lady,
I can't say that I am doing anything special during the holidays. It kinda sucks to be single and living in the back of beyond. However, I would love to win the books becuase then I would have something to read :)

Merry Christmas
Becki from the florida panhandle

Julie said...

So glad to hear your Navy Guy is home! Thank him for me. :)

I'm planning a big Christmas bash with all my friends who are home for the holidays. :D

Cybercliper said...

Yeah - big "high five" - Navy's Guy's home!!!

My DH and I will have a quite Christmas at home with a feast to celebrate.

Since we're a couple of long time married fuddies with everything and anything we could possible need we don't give gifts to each other. Instead we take the money we would've spent and buy toys for as many of the asking organizations as we can. Playing with those toys while choosing which ones to buy is the best fun of the holiday for me.

Unknown said...

I am taking my little girl to see The Princess and the Frog =) I cant wait for the next book!

Unknown said...

Well our extended family has three birthdays this month. So next weekend we are doing a birthday birthday birthday people-who-live-in-snow-territory Christmas. Until January when we do another birthday birthday birthday party. Whew!

Unknown said...

I'm taking my mom to see the play A Chritmas Carol Friday. Then on Christmas day we are all gathering at my grandparents house to celebrate the day.

Anonymous said...

British Airlines workers went on strike right in the middle of holiday travel season. Family is stranded there for the time being.

But there is a very good chance a flight can be grabbed from Ireland to Canada :) for a family get together. Large reunion, family is coming in from all over. So it'll either be great or completely disaster lol

TS

Mary Kirkland said...

I'll be having christmas dinner with my family on the 24th. Everyone is coming over to my place even though my living room is reallllly small. We are going to borrow some chairs and fit everyone in here. I was told by my siblings that they want me too cook because I cook better than anyone else in the family. :)

Oh and I found an orphaned bunny a forever home today. We found him in the alley of our apartment complex and kept him until we could find him a good home. Merry Christmas bunny.

lyndah said...

Happy holidays! Many congratulations to you for your nomination and the return of your Navy Guy. My brother is career Navy and has been stationed far from us for many holidays. So this was a very special Christmas for us because our whole family was together for the first time in years! Including my parents, we had 4 generations, with members of three of them active duty and former Navy Guys and Gals! I really want to thank you for the many hours of pleasure I've enjoyed when reading your books. I'm really excited about your nomination as it is well deserved. Also, I can hardly wait for the next book. May your 2010 be even more successful than 2009.

Lynda H