Running With Quills: SANTA, BABY giveaway

Welcome to Running With Quills, your online newsletter designed to keep you up to date with what your favorite authors (that would be us) are doing throughout the year. Here you will find the release dates of our new books and get information about our backlists. We'll preview our cover art here long before the books hit the stores and we'll keep you informed about works-in-progress and special projects. You'll also receive advance notice of signings and appearances. From time to time we'll give you a peek at our worlds, tell you what we're reading, and introduce you to some new authors.

Friday, October 06, 2006

SANTA, BABY giveaway

It's October! That means, for many of us, holiday preparations. Yes, I start early. Actually, I started a few months ago, with the help of my wonderful future daughter in law, who I adore more than I can say.
But anyway, thinking of the holidays... I got this lovely package from
St. Martins publishers. A beautiful red stocking with a candy cane and an advance copy of SANTA, BABY.
I thought, "How nice!"
Then they sent me a few more, and I thought, "Why not spread the cheer!?"

I have these advance copies, I don't need them, so... why not give them away?
Three copies, ready for your hot little hands!

Please note that this anthology has a new novella from Jennifer Cruisie, but a reissued novella from Carly Phillips and myself.
My novella first appeared in the St. Martin's anthology, ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS.

When my sons were all much, much younger, they once consipired to give me a Barbie car. Now you're wondering why they did that, right? Well, they actually wanted it for themselves, but c'mon, two boys, even at the ages of 4 and 6, don't want to admit to admiring a Barbie car, even if it does some really neat things! So they put their coins together and bought it for mommy. I loved it.
And yes, I put G I Joe in there and let him drive Barbie around. Ha!

Another year, a friend made me this outrageous x-rated apron. I can't say too much about it on a public forum, but I opened it in front of a houseful of family members. At first, I had no idea that it was somewhat inappropriate. I shook it out, saw it had an extra little overlaying skirt in front, lifted the skirt and...
Yeah, um, wow.

All in all, I figure people try hard to find fun, pleasing gifts, and the holidays - with all the crazy gift giving and stress - can be tough. I love it, but then that's me.

So how about you?
What is the strangest, craziest, funniest or most inappropriate gift you ever got?
Let me know, share on here, and I'll pick 3 that I like best, announce the names and the winners can privately send me their addresses to receive an advance reviewer copy of SANTA, BABY.
Sorry, no candy cane. I only got one, and I ate it!

HUGS,

74 Comments:

Lori Foster said...: I'm posting to my own blog to say SORRY for the lateness in getting this puppy posted. As usual, bogger gave me a run for my money, tried my patience, made me curse, and FINALLY when I was ready to fire myself from Quills, it posted.
Grrrr....
I'm not cut out for high-pressure jobs that try my patience, obviously!
Lori; 6:03 AM
CrystalG said...: My mother-in-law gives odd presents often. One Christmas, I opened a present and wasn't sure exactly what it was. There were feathers, rope and bright orange beads sticking out of the box. It was a large wall hanging that had feathers and bright orange beads all over it and when I got it out of the box I held it upside down and she said, "Your holding it upside. It goes the other way." Needless to say, we gave it away to someone who liked it and avoid answering when she asks why it isn't hanging in our living room.; 6:09 AM
Shannon said...: The craziest thing I have ever gotten for Christmas was a pregnancy test. The bad thing was that it was from my dad. He thought it would be funny to see the look on my face when I opened that present. He proceeded to tell me and my husband that the present was in no way a hint. He just thought it might be good for me to have one in case I needed it. That's not really what you want to open up in front of your whole family on Christmas day. Thanks Dad.

Shannon Upright
smupright@hotmail.com; 6:09 AM
Jolene said...: well, i have to say christmas gifts from my parents in law have gotten to be a lessson in expect the unexpected. We dont get along at all, so the gifts range in the strange range. One of the first years i was married my husband was in Desert Storm they forgot to invite me to the house for the holidays so they mailed me a large plastic clothes pin that sat on the desk for holding notes and had a pen sticking out of it.. must have gotten it on sale as the pen was dried up and the clip broke..lol.. then one year they gave us a bag of potatos(sadly at least it was useful). One year they said they were having pork butchered and giving us some. they did alright they kept the fresh and gave us the stuff out of hte bottom of the freezer that was 3 years old and very not edible. other years gifts include brownie mix, a laundry basket, toilet paper, powdered milk.. hmmm the list goes on.. cant wait to see what this year brings...hehe..
this ought to be a fun post to read tonite after work.. take care everyone...; 6:11 AM
ellie said...: My late mother-in-law never gave me anything except oneyear she gave me a pullover short sleeves sweater which was miles to big on me so she took it back for her daughter. Nice eh.; 6:15 AM
alissa said...: I was given by my sister whom I no longer talk to glass beads which were dreadful so I never wore them and donated them at a later time. How thoughtful of some people.; 6:19 AM
pearl said...: This gift which was really something else put me off. I had given generous and lovely gifts to this friend and she gave me a really tiny, and ugly desk calendar which I never used. It was totally useless and I was upset so I dumped it.; 6:21 AM
Shari C said...: Sad to say, years back when I got married I was an extremely poor cook...and I knew it. Although I tried to make wonderful tasting meals, it usually turned out to be a disaster. One year for Christmas all my relatives and close friends got together and gave me cook books...the simpliest ones and those for the beginner to help me. However, just as a back-up inside each cookbook was a certificate for a restaurant (in case of another cooking failure). For years afterward, we all had a big laugh over my gifts and I always had to show off my new skills to prove I used their gifts...but, I also used all the gift certificates and you can probably guess why...those occasional??? mistakes along the way and also I enjoy eating out._; 6:31 AM
Sara Mallion said...: I have now put this in the correct spot I believe so here goes my story. The first year that my husband and I were dating we had started talking about getting married but had not made any definate plans yet. Well we had decided that we would spend Christmas with his family in Buffalo, NY and I was very excited. Being a girl from South Carolina I had never had a white Christmas so this was a real treat for me. Well on Christmas Eve my now sister-in-law suggested that we open up all of the gag gifts that we had bought for one another(This is a tradition in there family that we still practice today of giving everyone a gag gift every year). Well when it came to my turn from her she made a big speach about how if her brother was never going to be man enough to propose to me and actually make me a member of the family they had decided to do it as a group and propose to me together. So she gave me my gift. When I opened it, it was a large dog chew toy in the shape of a ring. It has a big golden yellow band with a huge pink stone in the center and it's actually big enough to fit on my wrist. I have never laughed so hard in my life. But the surprise was that my now husband had sewn my actual engagement ring under the huge pink stone so when he took the giant ring from me to act like he was looking at it he then pulled out the real ring and got down on one knee and proposed. So my silliest gift ever turned into my best gift ever also. Well that's the story of how Sara Price became Sara Mallion. Hope this was something like you were looking for. Thanks for all the great books and can't wait to read the next one.; 6:54 AM
Anonymous said...: I awoke to find my sexy husband lying under the x-mas tree with nothing on except a red bow on his..."present." lol He said "Merry X-mas, baby. Come unwrap your gift." And I did. ;-)

Bonnie; 7:02 AM
Deborah Chan said...: I got a one of those idog toys for Christmas since I am allegeric to animals but I tell you this toy was still work to take care of.; 7:42 AM
LISA WILLIAMS said...: In answer to Lori. The silliest Christmas present I got was socks...My hubby says my feet are freezing during the winter, lol.; 7:43 AM
Laurie said...: Wow! I'm going to show my husband of 29 years the above post and HOPE I get an early x-mas present!

The craziest present I ever got was a snowcone machine (from my grandparents). It was a red snowman shaped object that you were supposed to put ice in, turn it's tummy and finally, add flavored juice to it. (similar to a slushy) Unfortunately, my dad was a doctor, a General Practioner and wouldn't let me use it. Too germy!!; 7:44 AM
Shuck Ying said...: My funniest Christmas present was a fly swatter from the kids. They know I hate flies in the house and help me hunt them down, lol. Of course, that was not the only thing I got from them but it was the funniest.; 7:45 AM
phenila said...: On Christmas Eve, we would gather at my in-laws and have dinner and open gifts. On this one memorable occassion, my mother-in-law gave me size nine granny panties! I opened that in front of my husband, my children, my husband's brother and his family, and my husband's sister and her family! not only was it embarrasing to receive underwear as a gift but even now years and years later and fifty pounds heavier, size nine underwear would still be too big! I will never forget her insisting that those horrible things were the right size because, "You're not that much smaller than me."

kay erickson
phenila@gmail.com; 8:02 AM
Lori Foster said...: Oh my!!! These are the funniest, saddest, most outrageous posts ever! I love it.
The husband under the tree - too funny! We have 3 sons, so that would NEVER work for us! LOL

Socks I would love. One of my most favorite things in this life (material I mean) are new super soft white socks. They're just so yummy! I love it.

Sara, the ring story is precious. How imaginative and how romantic!

Keep 'em coming ladies! It is going to be soooo hard to choose just 3. Y'all deserve something!

HUGS,

Lori; 8:09 AM
DFender said...: ...from my earlier post in Betty's latest blog:
Lori:
The oddest Christmas present I ever got...

When I was 15 my 3-years younger brother gave me a "Camaro" decal straight from a '69 Camaro. He said it was gonna be the only part of a 1969 Camaro that I was ever gonna get!

Uh. I'm 40 now and no, I still don't have my '69 Camaro. He jinxed me, I just know it! ;-)

Deb

...and now I can add how much I hate you Lori for being so damn organized with your Christmas preparations...lol. Geez. Ya makin' me look baddddd... ;-); 8:11 AM
Bithalynn said...: My oddest Christmas gift would actually have been a very nice gift, for someone else. I was in High School and was expecting a radio for my car. I had a really big box under the tree, but I still thought it might be the radio, because my mom has a habit of doing the box inside a box inside a box thing. Instead I opened the box and found a.. guitar? To this day I have no idea why she would get me a guitar, I'm really not musically inclined at all.; 8:18 AM
Justine Francis said...: We went to exchange gifts with the family and my husbands Great Aunt who is 90 now forgot me. Thank goodness we were at her place, she went into the kitchen we heard some noise and out she came with my gift in a plastic shopping bag. When I opened it I had gotten Quick Covers from Saran, I have yet to use one. Hey it could be worse I could of gotten the air fresheners for the car like my s-i-l got :-) Cheers!; 8:23 AM
Mollie said...: Last year, a few days before Christmas I went to dinner with my parents and a couple they are friends with. After dinner we were going to drive by so they could look at a car they were interested in buying. When we got the destination they went up to the house and told us all to come (which I thought was a little weird...weren't we just looking at a car?!). The door opens and there is a house full of....weiner dogs! Long haired, wire haired, smooth haired, dapple, red, black and tan...you name it! I didn't even notice there were...PUPPIES! My parents surprised me with a puppy. Who's parents gets them a WEINER for Christmas?! :); 8:52 AM
Kelley said...: I got a whole collection of Chia Pets for x-mas one year as a joke.

How cute your boys got you the barbie car! Do you still have it?; 9:05 AM
Cryna said...: When I was younger my Aunt gave me a pair of skates for Christmas. You can imagine when I opened the package and inside was a pair of skates - not anything like we have - but they were a board on a blade with straps to keep them on your feet - I am sure she must have been cleaning out her attic and found them up there. Needless to say they were never worn it would have been like trying to skate on sandals...........LOL

Cryna; 9:18 AM
tamyena said...: My favorite color is pink and I was a single mother, at the time. My son was about 7, and of course, I had no money to give them to help buy others christmas gifts. Well, he knows I love pink and wanted so badly to give me something for Christmas, so he found this pink flamingo yard decoration and took it over to our neighbors house to have it wrapped up. My neighbor thought it was so sweet but could still see the dirt on the spike that goes into the ground. So she asked him where he got this at. He answered so anxious and so tickled to come up with this idea, "I know my mom loves pink and I found this just standing in someone's yard trying to find it a new home." My neighbor had to tell me about it, and we had to return it, but, it will now and forever remain my favorite christmas gift I just didn't quite get to keep, lol.; 9:24 AM
jackie said...: My craziest gifts always come from my mother in law. One of the weirdest was a HUGE box: inside was a dentist-office sized industrial toothbrush sanitizing cabinet -- a giant 2 foot metal gas chamber that you stick your toothbrush in and add some potion and it gases the heck out of your toothbrush (Lord, is this REALLY necessary?). So I'm supposed to use these big ol' metal brackets and mount this monstrosity on my bathroom wall? (I'm thinking not in this lifetime). It "disappeared" in the goodwill pickup, and thankfully she's never asked about it.
---Jackie; 9:33 AM
btuda said...: The strangest gift I ever got was from my best friend in college. She gave me a red lava lamp. It was one of those "Um, gee, thanks (huh?)" gifts. I had never really considered owning one before so it was out of the blue. Then, once it warmed up, it looked like some mad science experiment involving blood. Lots of it. Then as a bonus it let off lots of red light, which pretty much left me feeling like I was in a red light district. Like my parents were not paranoid enough about my college experiences. Much tamer than their own, I'm quite sure.

It's grown on me over the years (yes, I still have it) and we primarily bring it out at Halloween and make mad scientist evil laughs around it.; 9:45 AM
Gabrielle said...: Let me start by saying that I am one of the most hardest people to shop for during the Christmas holiday, and to top it off, my birthday is 3 days later. So about 4 years ago, my then husband and father of my three sons, came up with a brilliant idea to kill two birds with one stone. On Christmas morning, as the boys were opening their gifts with us and my mom and stepdad, I was handed this beautifully wrapped large box. As I opened it, it was a gorgeous jewelry box from Bombay Co. I was then filled in on how he wanted to get me a dowry box, but since we have no daughters, he felt it was inappropriate. As I began to try and open the jewelry box, I realized it was locked. I looked all over for the key. He then informed me the jewelry box contained my birthday present and I was not going to receive the key until the morning of my birthday. That was the longest 3 days until my birthday. Not only did I have to wait to see what was inside, I couldn't even use my new gorgeous jewelry box. The entire family laughed for a good 10 minutes and I think about that every morning when I open it to pull out my jewelry for the day.

Gabrielle; 9:56 AM
Lori H said...: Every year my grandma made us PJ's for one of our christmas presents the only problem was... she took our measurements every THREE years so the first year they fit really good but by the third year some of us (my brothers, sister and I) couldn't get them on. Oh and we had to try them on for the whole family every year. It didn't stop til we hit our teens.

I have to tell you the sweetest gift too. I am a single mom so my mother takes my son shopping (he's 5) last christmas he picked out a $20.00 ring. When I opened it he told me that when he grew up he would be my husband.; 9:59 AM
Little Lamb Lost said...: A friend had noticed my penchant for the bizarre and gave me the most interesting and funny gift I have ever received.

The item was a heat sensitive dress in stretchy material. As the material warmed from body heat it turned from bright pink to white. My boyfriend at the time had great fun grabbing me in strategic places for the white hand print effect. One needed direct contact to the dress material in order to provide enough warmth to the material for the change. Can't tell you how much fun that dress was!; 10:04 AM
Jennifer Y. said...: The strangest gift I received might not be so so strange or funny to everyone else.

When I was a kid my family would celebrate Christmas Eve with my dad's family. When it came time to open presents, they would have the grandkids open them by age...youngest first. Well, as one of the oldest kids I always had to wait. One year when I was 13, I watched as they handed out gifts and my youngest cousin (age 2 or 3 at the time) opened her gift from our grandparents...aww...a coloring book and crayons. Then I noticed something..."Hmm," I thought, "all of the gifts for the grandkids look suspiciously the same...same shape and everything. Nah, they wouldn't give us all a coloring book." One by one my cousins (6 of them) opened their gifts and sure enough it included the same coloring book and crayons. So when it was my turn, I kind of knew...I opened the package and there in big bold letters the coloring book read "My First Words"...I was 13 years old and pretty much knew the words "apple" "bird," and "cat" by that time. I must have had a confused look on my face (at first I thought the gifts were mixed up, but remembered my cousins had already opened theirs) because my grandmother came up to me and said, "I know you are a bit old for it, but I thought you'd like the pictures."

The thing is I kept that coloring book, but never colored in it. I found it a couple of months ago while cleaning. Now it is special to me because it was a gift from my grandparents...it reminds me of my grandaddy who passed away unexpectedly almost a year ago.; 10:07 AM
Meg said...: The first Christmas we were married my husband bought me a snow shovel. He wrapped it carefully and asked me to guess (even though it was completely obvious) what it was..

Newly married, I played along and guessed and tried to hide my disappointment.

He proceeded to give me a box of opened chocolates.

I was more upset by this as I was on a diet and spefically told him so. Plus it was already open! Gack!This to me was more an issue as the man I adored was clearly not listening to me!

Then he pressed the chocolates on me and kept trying to get me to have one at 8 o'clock in the morning.

Rather than have a fight on Christmas, I took the box from him and opened it.

Inside was an emerald and diamond ring!

This is HIS favorite story to tell.He likes telling people that the look on my face was priceless.

He also never fails to mention that if he tried this again after ten years of marriage, that he would be a dead man!
Meg; 10:20 AM
Meljprincess said...: In my stocking was this plastic nose and you reached up inside the nostrils to play with the slimy boogers.; 10:20 AM
Lori Foster said...: dfender, I LOVE the holidays. Not only shopping for everyone, but there's just something in the air. Faith. I've written many books about it. ;-)
I love having family around, and singing Neil Diamond Christmas songs, and seeing the lights and thinking of all my blessings.... I'll be doing my Christmas cards in the next week or so. Gotta stay ahead of the chaos! :-)

Kelley, I had all kinds of Barbie stuff, but then one year we donated everything to a local fellow to takes gently used toys and gives them to the needy. He dresses as Santa and LOVES what he does, and we loved seeing him do it.

I love all these stories, but folks, save the "awesome" gifts stories for my blog NEXT week! ;-) I'll be giving away more gifts then. Maybe even something cooler than a book! Bwhahhahaha!

Isn't this fun!? I think so.

Lori; 10:28 AM
Kathy K said...: Oh heavens... some of these answers are absolutely priceless and some are just plain hilarious [slimy boogers... fun].
My husband is of a very practical nature and, regrettably, over the years that we've been married I have received a number of kitchen appliances. Now, I can cook but it's sure not my thing ~ the kitchen's a good place to eat, but I REALLY, REALLY like it when someone else does the dinner-thing ~ and I know that he meant well, but the second year in a row that I opened up a frying pan or some other such item, I could barely refrain from using it in the time-honoured tradition of a wife ticked off with her husband. *sheesh*

The funniest, cutest present was from my then 5-year old son. He was a huge fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and spent most of his kindergarten year making various turtles and equipment for himself and for his classmates. Well, for Christmas he made me a set of the 4 of them [Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo & Michaelangelo] plus their weapons - all out of paper and twist ties [so that the weapons could spin]. I still have them - and this is 15+ years later.
Kids can make the absolutely BEST Christmas presents 'cause they come from the heart.

Thanks, Lori, for a great trip down memory lane!

Kathy; 10:45 AM
Laura said...: The most inappropraite gift given was from my aunt to my sister. Candles. Taken out of context, there's nothing wrong with it, but earlier that year my sister almost burned our house down & had completely gutted her room from a candle on her nightstand. To this day, we aren't sure if my Aunt was deliberately adding insult to injury, or if she really was clueless as to why my sister wouldn't want candles as a gift.; 10:45 AM
Anonymous said...: My hubby has given me the best and worst gifts I've ever recieved. One year he bought me ...drum roll...a bathroom scale! Can you believe it! Then for our 19th anniversary, he bought me a diamond anniversary band and said that he couldn't wait until our twentieth to give it to me. But the best part of the gift was what he said when he gave it to me ..."I'm a better person for having know you." I'll cherish that forever.; 10:52 AM
Anonymous said...: my boyfriend and I had been dating for a while when, for our two-month anniversay gift, he bought me a life-size inflatable doll and asked if the THREE of us could move our relationship into a more intimate level. I kid you not. I was appalled....to say the least.
We parted ways not very long after. He took the doll.

LOL.

Annie; 11:11 AM
Janet said...: Lori,
One year I told my mother-in-law that I wanted a beaded book thong. I love my mother-in-law dearly but she sometimes forgets what I've asked for. Well, needless to say, she did remember this time. Since she didn't know what a beaded book thong was, she decided to make me one. Anyway, when I got it there was a really gaudy bead on the end and the top part actually looked like thong underwear with little beads on it. She made the book thong out of yarn. I still have it and show it to the ladies at book club for a good laugh. Even my mother-in-law laughed about it when I told her that a beaded book thong was not supposed to look like thong underwear.; 11:20 AM
kim said...: i gave a t -s hirt to an old boyfreiend with the message belongs to kim. it was weired. great prize; 11:34 AM
Masiyahin said...: Some background –
My husband: conservative but sweet guy
Me: amateur photographer

I love taking pictures, especially funny posed ones. My husband was always refusing to let me take pictures of him that he thought were embarrassing or risqué, although I did use him as a model for many shots (one of my favorites is of him in an art museum pretending to catch this statue of a running nymph - I can email it to you if you really want to see it).
When my husband and I got married, he didn’t work for two years while pursuing his MBA. On our first Christmas, I really wasn’t expecting anything from him as finances were tight. He surprised me by giving me an unmarked CD with the advice that it was something I should look at when I’m alone.
Late on Christmas evening, I opened the CD file and the title of this PowerPoint presentation was, “How Do I Love Thee?” To some of the silly tunes that we sing to each other, there were a couple dozen digital pictures that popped up on the slideshow. They were of my sweetheart in different poses that I asked him previously to do while in his birthday suit, but he would refuse: him in a kitchen apron cooking breakfast, peeking behind the wall separating the toilet from the shower while sitting on the john, watching a movie on the TV with a bag of popcorn on his lap, making a bookshelf – were only a few of my favorites. The pièce de resistance was him lying facedown in bed with the blanket strategically covering part of his bottom.
Crazy? Yes, that I could even imagine him doing all those.
Funny? Ha, wait til you see them…on second thought, you shouldn’t!
Silly? Totally! He told me that it was my influence, but I knew by the gleam in his eye before we got married that told me he could be fun too.

That was fun to remember...thanks for helping me recall it!

Best,
Regie; 11:52 AM
rosten18 said...: A former boyfriend (who I broke up with a couple of weeks before Christmas) decided to give me a gift anyway. He wasn't very happy about the breakup, and in an attempt to win me back gave me what at first appeared to be a box of construction debris. The majority of the time during the two months I dated him he'd been working on an addition to his house, and as it turns out, he was trying to remind me of all of the good times we shared by including such things as scraps of shingle, sheetrock, nails, etc. An accompaning letter explained this.

In other circumstances this could have been a wonderful idea (the letter anyway, I still have my doubts about the rest of it), but considering I wasn't very thrilled with the idea of him giving me a present anyway, opening that box in front of my entire family (including my grandparents) did not exactly endear him to me. It ended up in the trash pretty quickly.; 11:59 AM
Estella said...: I had moved to an area with a shortage of water, and complained about having to carry water to my flowers, to my mother-in-law. She got together with my best friend and they made a yoke with a bucket suspended from each side so I wouldn't be lopsided when I carried water. My family thought it was hilarious.; 12:46 PM
Cheryl said...: The 2nd Christmas we were together, my now ex-husband went Christmas shopping with his friend. My gift that year was a set of steak and carving knifes in a butcher block. And that was only because that is what his friend got for his wife. So, not only was it an inappropriate gift for me, it was also unoriginal. Which to my thinking is much worse. Maybe I'm weird but I think a gift for a loved one should show that a little thought and effort went into the selection of said gift. I sure wanted to use those knives right away but not for their intended use.; 1:02 PM
Lois said...: The most memorable for my Mom is when I was roughly 5ish, I really, really wanted the Barbie Townhouse. I told everone that I came in contact with that I wanted the Barbie Townhouse. Well, Christmas morning, there was this long box. . . opened it, and there it was, the Barbie Townhouse.

Now, I don't remember it much, but it's a memorable one for me because I get to hear the story and see the picture -- think of Home Alone with the aftershave scene, just much happier. LOL :)

Lois; 1:13 PM
joye said...: this comes undedr the category of eerie. My twin sister gave me the same present I gave her (a purse) and she mailed it to me from way across the country. i guess we have the same tastes.
And it always bugged me that a husband thinks his wife wants something as a present to help her clean the house better!; 1:24 PM
joelle said...: I received from my husband the most useful and practical gifts imanginable. An apple peeler, a can opener, a jar opener and pepper spray. Needless to say I was thrilled to bits with this imanginative display of goodies.; 1:31 PM
sharon said...: My mother-in-law was to put it mildly not at all giving. In fact most of the time just forgot to give anything. One year she gave me a small plastic tray from a vacation in Florida and she wanted to impress upon me the expense and the construction of this special item. It really depressed me.; 1:33 PM
WVU Fan said...: One year my sister made the entire family reindeer necklaces out of clothes pins and beads. The reindeer had little red balls for the noses. That got thrown away the next day.; 2:19 PM
Marianne Arkins said...: When I was in sixth grade (I was TEN y.o.), I got a 24AA training bra IN MY STOCKING. I opened it up in front of God and everyone -- "everyone" including my older brothers and my step-father.

I was mortified as only a pre-pubescent tween can be.

It was almost as bad as when I got my "starter kit" of sanitary supplies in the mail when I was in seventh grade.

Nothing embarrasses me much anymore.; 4:57 PM
Karibear said...: I've been trying and trying and I can remember very few gifts that weren't inappropriate, to say the least. When I was a kid, we always - but ALWAYS - got clothes for Christmas. School clothes. Once we were old enough to no longer believe in Santa, the gifts pretty much stopped. After that, every time my mother cleaned her closet she'd send me her discards. Once in a great while she'd decide I needed new shoes, so she'd go to Goodwill and get some. They were never wide enough [I have really wide feet] so she'd get narrow ones 2 or 3 sizes too long, cuz she was always sure they'd stretch enough. They didn't. And high heels weren't exactly the thing for homesteading in Alaska, either - not that I could ever convince her of that.

My kids always came up with something they'd made at school which I loved, and I made special things for them, but Christmas just isn't in it in my world, and never has been.; 5:01 PM
Brandy said...: Darn, I have no crazy, funny or innapropriate gift story. My parents had alwys been good about Christmas and Dh tries really hard to give the right thing. The only thing that comes close for me is that no matter how often I explain to my MIL that I don't like for others to give me clothing, she does it every year!! And may I just say, our tastes are so NOT the same. I am EXTREMELY CONSERVATIVE with my clothing choices, MIL not so much!; 5:31 PM
Lori Foster said...: These stories are so fun! I think I'll wait until I return from my signing tomorrow (a few hours south of me) to pick the 3 winners. Hope that works for everyone! It should be early evening tomorrow.

Marianne, that's almost the bra size I wear now! LOL. I gave up on puberty lending a helping hand after I turned 30. Ha! LOL

HUGS!

Lori; 5:43 PM
arkansascyndi said...: One year, I returned every Christmas presents my hubby had given me. Wrong sizes, etc.

The next year, I got a beautiful card with a check in it! It was a lovely card! :); 6:42 PM
Dana Grubbs said...: Hi everyone,

Every year my Aunt gets my sister, my Mom and I something that she thinks is "ultra special" just for us. She has a thing for funky socks....none of us do. So the last 2 years we got socks that were just so wrong and have sat in my drawer since then. One pair played jingle bells with every step you took and the other were what I called "mork" socks. They were rainbow stripped and are like gloves with each individual toe holes.

The really sad thing was each year to go along with the socks she bought us all sweaters to match the socks. My Mom, sister and I are all people who like to "blend into the woodwork" and not stand out and the socks and sweaters are totally not us at all. But I guess these are better then the cd's and movies an ex used to buy me...they were always things he knew I wouldn't like, but were on his "wish list". So he was always so happy when I told him he could have them. I picked some real winners in my day....; 6:57 PM
Anonymous said...: Okay it isn't really a gift (should have been) but I once got an I.O.U. from a former boyfriend, it wasn't even a "i'll get this for you later", it was just a shrug and "Sorry I don't have a gift for you, the ATM ate my card" on CHRISTMAS EVE mind you! (I'm sure I don't need to tell you why he's a 'former'!)

I know the male mind set is different then ours but this was the first time I realized HOW different and that lots of men wait until Christmas Eve to shop. Which can sometimes lead to nice expensive baubles but usually seems to lead to kitchen applicances. There should be a law that men shopping on Christmas Eve, or hell even within three days of Christmas, are prohibited from shopping anywhere but jewelry stores.

Happy Holidays Everyone!; 7:04 PM
froggie said...: My husband and I haven't exchanged Xmas presents in years. We prefer giving to our kids, but pre-children, we did the whole 'Big Happy Family Christmas Day' at the in-laws. My husband's family had no idea who I was or what I liked (still don't!) because while dating, I didn't get too many chances to get to know them as I came from another province. (they probably thought I was some kind of alien - being French-Canadian and all!?) That first Xmas was horrible. I received huge, clunky, square black & white checkered earings. Needless to say I never EVER wore them. I figured, ok! give 'em the chance to get to know you, things'll get better, NOT! Last year (after being part of the family for 12 years) I received a broken church bazzard candle holder in the shape of a snowman. #1: I hate candles, especially the smelly ones. Anybody that's anybody can tell you that... if you care to listen. #2: I hate my husband's family. I've given them PLENTY of time to get to know me... s***w them!; 7:18 PM
Judy F said...: That is a cute story Lori. I don't remember off hand any odd or strange gifts but then again its late and I am tired. LOL; 7:24 PM
Madeline said...: Hi Lori, I guess my Christmas story didn't post. Oh well better luch next time and I thought the beer can hat was a good present. Madeline; 7:39 PM
Ranurgis said...: Well, I can't say that I ever received an outrageously funny gift--not that I can remember. I think I may have mentioned that on the whole our family was totally serious, probably stemming from my father's time in Hitler's army and my mother's, and in the end, my suffering hunger and deprivation near the end of the war and after the war. Things lightened up a little more at home while I was abroad after finishing high school.

Probably the craziest gifts were ones I got together at one Christmas. I started to open a gift and knew right away that it was books. Oh, great, I thought, can't ever have too many books. Then I got a look at the titles and authors. One was a hard-cover of Anne Rice's latest Vampire book, the other Bill Cosby's on fatherhood. My sister-in-law picked them out. She knew very well that I didn't like anything about vampires. I think it was payback for the time that I had said to her about a show she was watching, "You sure have a weird sense of humor." And maybe it was to show me that they really *weren't* good at picking presents. And was Bill Cosby's book ever going to be of use to me except to be somewhat funny? After all, I'd never have been a father even if I'd had kids. So, yeah, I'd say that was the craziest gift ever.; 8:41 PM
Anonymous said...: One of the strangest gifts I remember getting from an Aunt that doesn't like me was a 4-pack of free Christmas glasses she got at a fast food drive through. Nothing says I love you like giving the gift you don't want and know she won't like (it was one of many, so it was always obvious -- she made it real clear as my husband always got a really nice gift). She loved to embarass me and dig that candy cane a little deeper each year. I would rather have her try and give up the chip on her shoulder and just remember it was Christmas and forget the gifts. It always felt like I was having pins pushed under my fingernails. She never even tried to get to know me. Oh well, I was always happy to donate my gifts to someone who could use them. Yes, it's true -- Scrooge does live on. Once again, oh well, that's not what Christmas is about anyway but I thought I would share... :); 9:28 PM
Brandy said...: Seems I'm not the only one with a difficult MIL!; 10:08 PM
jennybrat said...: One Christmas, my then boyfriend gave me a tube of lipstick in a very strong shade of red. It just looks so wrong on me. He probably thinks every woman wears red lipstick even though I never do.; 11:27 PM
Anonymous said...: My dad used to prepare a Christmas basket which we'd open beforehand. He filled it with various little things, like shampoo, candy and little trinkets. It was in the middle of when the Star Wars movies were being re-released and my brother was obsessed. My dad handed me a paper bag with the tag reading, To: Ro, From: George Lucas. I opened the paper bag and inside was a Boba Fet action figure. Immediately my brother started crying because that's the one HE wanted. He received Princess Leia. I don't think dad realized how upset E. was going to get over the doll. I graciously gave it to him after a few days of tormenting him.

The memory still makes me giggle and for years my brother would get upset if we teased him about it.; 1:12 AM
bamabelle said...: One Christmas I received a pair of musical Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer bikini panties. Yes, they actually had a small button when pushed played the song and Rudolph's nose lit up. I mean I believe in spreading the Christmas spirit, but I have to think there is something wrong with having Christmas music emanating from your crotch. Still, I did wear them lol.; 10:47 AM
Anonymous said...: One Christmas when we were first married, my mother-in-law gave me a book entitled, "The Idiot's Guide to Dealing with Your In-Laws." In addition to this, I got a case of assorted wines from her and all the fixings for chocolate martinis from my husband.

I was told it was like an initiation into the family, but I have my doubts. :)

Valerie; 12:44 PM
Maureen said...: One year my husband gave me a piece of paper that said I had a new Viper system. I had no idea what it was. My husband was all excited because it was a remote starter and alarm system for my car. My daughter says, "Why'd you get her THAT for Christmas?"; 1:47 PM
Lori Foster said...: Hey everyone! I'm back from the signing. I had a GREAT time. We hooked up with my middle son and his fiance, who go to school at EKU, only 15 minutes or so away from the JoBeth where we signed.

So anyway...
Wow, it was tough to only pick 3 stories! I easily could choose them all, and narrowed down, 10 are stellar!
But I only have 3 arcs, so...

Justine Fancis... you're #1! I could just imagine the sara pot covers as a gift! LOL

Sara Mallion, you're #2! Loved the proposal story. :-)

Estella, you're #3! A Yoke! Now that DID take imagination, and it's pretty darn funny to boot.

So ladies, if you'll email me your addresses at lorifoster1@juno.com I'll get your arcs of Santa, Baby in the mail to you.

To everyone, thank you, thank you for sharing your stories! I really appreciate it, and I loved them all, and I so wish I had enough arcs for everyone.

HUGS!

Lori; 4:19 PM
Meljprincess said...: Congratulations winners!; 8:06 AM
Cryna said...: Congratulations to all the winners.....enjoy your prize......

Cryna; 9:06 AM
Jennifer Y. said...: Congrats winners!; 9:48 AM
Grjade said...: One year I received a pair of bright red knit gloves from a cousin - the middle finger on one was stiched closed and both were for the left hand.; 11:35 AM
Stella said...: Great stories. Lori, this was an excellent blog.

Stella; 4:34 PM
Lori Foster said...: Thanks Stella.

I still need the winners to contact me!

Justine Fancis... you're #1! I could just imagine the sara pot covers as a gift! LOL

Sara Mallion, you're #2! Loved the proposal story. :-)

Estella, you're #3! A Yoke! Now that DID take imagination, and it's pretty darn funny to boot.

So ladies, if you'll email me your addresses at lorifoster1@juno.com I'll get your arcs of Santa, Baby in the mail to you ASAP.

Thanks,

Lori; 5:25 AM
Madeline said...: Congrats to the 3 winners. Madeline :); 4:12 PM
Madeline said...: Congratulations to the winners. Madeline :); 4:13 PM

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Friday, October 06, 2006

SANTA, BABY giveaway

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