The Greatest Christmas Story I Ever Told

Happy Holidays all!

I should preface this post by saying that it could get me into trouble. Last year, I asked my mom if she'd be okay if I blogged about this story and she wasn't too pleased. But I just HAD to share it as it has become one of my favorite stories, ever. But I can understand why she doesn't like it since she technically called her youngest child a "Nazi" in her annual holiday card.

Yep, you read that right.

Every year, my parents send out of those holiday letters with news about the family, including their four kids. For years, my siblings and I each had to submit four sentences about our year. It was a little sad that as I got older it became harder to do. "Elizabeth's STILL at her same job, STILL lives in the same place..." The only thing that was ever really different was where I went on vacation that year. It was all kind of boring, but I'd prefer boring over being defamed.

My senior year of college, I arrive home during winter break. I looked at that year's Christmas letter and read everybody's part. Then I got to mine. Now, I went to the Newhouse School at Syracuse University. That's Newhouse: N-E-W-H-O-U-S-E. But according to that year's letter it said:

"Elizabeth's finishing her last year at the Nazi School at Syracuse University."

I lost it. "Is this some kind of joke?" I screamed in our kitchen. When my parents realized why I was upset, they were both horrified. And, of course, the letters had already been sent out to Dad's list. So, I spent the next day crossing out "Nazi" and writing out "Newhouse" on Mom's pile.

My mom blames the accident on spellcheck, although I have spelled Newhouse many different ways and Nazi has never come up as an option. But it didn't really matter, the damage had been done.

I worked at my dad's clothing store over that break. Anytime any of his friend's came in, I was on the defensive. The following happened more than once:

DAD'S FRIEND: Hi, Elizabeth!

ME: I AM NOT A NAZI!

DAD'S FRIEND: Um, okay. Could I get this gift wrapped?

So to clarify, a) I am not a Nazi, and b) my mom didn't do it on purpose. Oh, and a little friendly advice: always have someone proof your Christmas letter before you send it out.

While I was horrified at the time, in the end it was one of the best gifts I ever received. Because I do love a good story, and nothing can top, "Hey, did I ever tell you about the time my mom called me a Nazi in our Christmas letter?" Comic gold!

May your days me merry and bright...and without any slander in your holiday card!

XO, Elizabeth

The Christmas Card Challenge

Seasons greetings! I used to send out the kind of Christmas cards to my friends and family that required me to write a little note in them. I always enjoyed that, even though my hand would cramp up by the fourth card.

But in 2008 everything changed. I met the New Kids on the Block. And there was no way I wasn't going to do a funny Christmas card with a photo of me and the boys. So I present to you, the greatest Christmas card of all time. 

I have friends that still have this on their refrigerators. I felt pretty proud of myself for this. Until I realized that I've now set the bar pretty high for myself and my future Christmas cards.

Fortunately, the end of 2009 was the publication of my first novel, The Lonely Hearts Club. So I used this opportunity to not only spoof birth announcements, but to do a little publicity on it's upcoming publication.

But then all last year, I was stressed out over what to do for my Christmas card. I could've done something with Prom & Prejudice, but that seemed expected (Seriously, who spends this much time thinking about holiday cards?). So last year on Halloween, I went to see the Packers play the Jets in New Jersey. I was told by a few people to be careful and that the Jets fans might not appreciate my Packer gear. And that gave me the idea for 2010's Christmas card.

And yes, I did go up to complete strangers in Jets gear and say, "Hey, can you pretend to beat me up for my Christmas card photo?" I have no shame. I'd also like to point out that the Packers won the Super Bowl last year, so... You're welcome, Green Bay.  ;-)

This year was the worst. I had an idea, but couldn't pull off getting the picture taken (Thanks for never returning my e-mail, Debbie Gibson's publicist!). I was going to make a joke about me being too busy being in Ireland to think of something clever, but that didn't really seem Christmas card worthy. Time was running out. But then I was off to my friend Chris's annual holiday party (also knows as my favorite party of the year). I would be in a room with about eighty guys. So pretty much this year's card wrote itself.

So this is my Christmas card to all of you. Thank you for an amazing year. I hope you all have a fab 2012!

And now I'm off to figure out next year's card. It never ends.

XOXO, Elizabeth

Wicked Awesome PLUS Prom & Prejudice giveaway!

Hello all! What I'm about to say may seem shocking to some of you. I finally saw the musical Wicked for the first time. I know, I know... What took me so long? I have no idea. But I do know one thing: It. Was. Awesome.

I was able to score front row seats through the Wicked lottery. Basically several Broadway shows hold lotteries a few hours before curtain. You put your name in, and if you're lucky, you get selected for generally amazing seats for super cheap (in our case, it was $25 for front row!). Thursday was the second time I tried for the lottery and I just knew we were going to get it this time. I kept telling my cousin Susan that we were definitely winning. When I put my name in, I said to the guy in charge, "I'm so excited to see the show tonight, because I just KNOW I'm winning." And I did!

I've never been in the front row of a show before. I was really excited, then I started to remember how much the Wicked Witch and her monkeys freaked me out as a child. Then I started to get nervous. Was I going to get scared?

And of course, what was the first thing that came out once the show started? The monkeys. Right in front of me. I turned to Susan and said, "I do not like this." But fortunately, I started acting like an adult and became totally mesmerized with the show. Being close-up you really get an appreciation for everything from the intricacies of the costumes to the background players staying in character the entire time. And of course, there's the music. I knew a few songs (mostly thanks to Glee) and bought the soundtrack the second I got home.

I also loved how the story of The Wizard of Oz, something we all grew up with, was re-imagined thanks to Gregory Maguire who wrote the book that the musical was based on. I love origin stories and the author in me was super jealous of his brilliance. Looks like I've got another book to add to my ever growing to-read pile.

I highly recommend Wicked to anybody who comes to NYC or if the traveling show comes to your town. You will NOT be disappointed!

GIVEAWAY TIME! As some of you may have noticed, my comments have been shut down for some time. First, I was getting too much spam, then I wasn't getting legit comments. BUT! I've called in the Big Guns (aka my friends Laura and Kevin) to fix it and we think we got it to work. So what better way to celebrate (and make sure it's working) by holding a contest to win a signed copy of Prom & Prejudice! All you have to do to enter is to post a comment below. That's it. It's open WORLDWIDE too! I'll pick a winner by Tuesday, December 13 by 6:00 pm EST.

Please note, I will be approving comments, so your comment will be held for moderation. I'll be in and out on Sunday, so don't worry if it takes me a few hours to approve.

Good luck! XO, Elizabeth

What I Have in Common with Kelly Clarkson

Greetings! I can't begin to tell you how excited I am with all the great new music that's out. I've been listening to two albums on repeat this past week: Florence + the Machine's "Ceremonials" and Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger." I love that women are having such a great year in music. Adele's "21" is currently in the running as my favorite album of the year, but both Kelly and Florence are making a very strong case. It's going to be a tight race! I love me some K. Clark (that's my nickname for Kelly Clarkson and I'd like it to catch on, so Kelly hears it and thinks "that's awesome, whoever thought of that should be my best friend." It could happen, right?). Anyways, when I read USA Today's review of "Stronger," I had to laugh. It starts, "Guys, if you start going out with a girl who tells you how much she loves Kelly Clarkson's latest album, run away. Fast." Odd enough, I've heard pretty much the same thing about The Lonely Hearts Club.

Kelly sings songs about not putting up with stupid guys (one of my favorite lyrics on the new album is "Dumb + Dumb = You" from the song "Einstein"). Or that walking away from a bad relationship will make you better in the end. ("What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stand a little taller. Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone" from the title track.)

In The Lonely Hearts Club, Penny Lane Bloom decides to stop dating guys in high school because they've done nothing but cause her and her friends heartache and trouble. I recently had a high school boy write to me that I am "what's wrong with the world." Um, I'm pretty sure there are other things that are wrong with the world besides someone standing up for themselves. But thanks for giving me so much credit!

Writing (or singing) about strong women can make it hard when you're dating. When Matt Lauer read Kelly that USA Today review when she was on Today, her response was "Which is funny because I haven't had a boyfriend in so long, maybe I'm scaring them!"

I've had more than one person ask me how I handle talking about my books on a date. Well, I have a tendency to not give out too much information when I meet a guy (like my last name, because one Google search can give him so much information about me and I believe in an equal playing field). This is pretty much how I handle questions about my books on a first date:

GUY: So tell me about your books. ME: They're contemporary teen fiction. GUY: So what are they about? ME: Stuff. GUY: Oh, okay... What's the title? ME: One is a modern retelling of Pride and Prejudice. GUY: Um...

It's not like I'm embarrassed about my books or not proud of them, I am very proud of them. I have received so many wonderful letters from girls about how The Lonely Hearts Club has helped them get through a tough relationship (the best compliment ever was "it helped stop the tears at night.") And I will continue to write books about strong girls who will not compromise themselves for a guy (or if they do, it'll be with consequences). But let's face it, some guys can't handle a strong, independent woman. I'm not talking about all men, of course! There are plenty of amazing guys out there. And I have complete faith that I'll meet one someday (and so will Kelly). But, for now, I think I'm in VERY good single company.

Oh, did I forget to mention that I once met Kelly?!?!?! I DID! AND I gave her a copy of The Lonely Hearts Club because I'm that big of a nerd. (I do think I look like a drag queen in this photo, but Kelly is adorbs as always!) And I already snapped up tickets to see Kelly at Radio City in January (I totally jumped around like a lunatic once I got them. Again: nerd.)

I do want to make one final comment: K. Clark is not fat. This makes me so mad. Just because she isn't an emaciated skeleton doesn't mean she's fat. She's a beautiful, talented, and healthy young woman. I'd love to have an ounce of her singing ability. So all you haters out there making fun of her (or anybody's) weight, take a look in the mirror, because you're the one with the problem.

And with that, I leave you with the most played song on my iPod. Enjoy!

XO, Elizabeth

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