Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of Christmas

Pumpkins may still be in the patch, but Christmas and the holidays are already upon us, and CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL: THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS - 101 JOYFUL HOLIDAY STORIES is sure to strike a cheerful holiday mood!

I'm pleased to share a personal essay with this collection. In "Meatballs...for Thanksgiving?" (page 26), I demonstrate how a turkey feast might be the norm on most Thanksgiving tables, but variations on the feast can be equally welcomed.

In addition to my essay, this inspiring, heart-warming anthology features 100 more stories that 'Deck the Halls' by tackling themes that extol gratitude, treasured traditions, holiday hiccups and miracles, getting creative amidst the joy of giving and selecting perfect presents, and experiencing the magic of the season through the wonderment of children. All bases are covered...These entertaining stories are the perfect literary pairing for the holidays!  

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL: THE SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS makes a great gift for yourself and/or for those you love. Pick up a copy today!

Note: Royalties from this book benefit Toys for Tots

Happy Reading!

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to all!

Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of Christmas - 101 Joyful Holiday Stories– edited by Amy Newmark

Chicken Soup for the Soul, $16.99 paperback, 368 pages, 978-1611591262

Publication date October 24, 2025

To order this book on Amazon, link HERE

To order this book on Barnes & Noble, link HERE

To order this book on bookshop.org link HERE

To learn more about Chicken Soup for the Soul - books and other related media - link HERE

Think Positive, Live Happy

My story, “Reach Out,” has been included in the latest installment of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive, Live Happy: 101 Stories about Creating Your Best Life. This anthology, edited by Amy Newmark and Deborah Norville (Emmy Award-winning anchor/journalist of Inside Edition), is a collection of hopeful, inspiring stories about living a life filled with thoughtfulness and gratitude. My piece presents a lesson about not being afraid to reach out and do something nice for someone, even a stranger. Sometimes we second-guess ourselves, we hesitate, because we wonder if our outreach will be welcome. But in the case of the experience I share in my story, by taking a simple photograph and sharing it, two lives were changed in very special ways. This collection would make a perfect gift for the upcoming holidays…HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive, Live Happy (101 Stories about Creating Your Best Life) edited by Amy Newmark and Deborah Norville

Chicken Soup for the Soul Books (distributed by Simon and Schuster), $16.00 Paperback, 9781611599923, 368 pp

Publication Date: September 24, 2019

To order this book via INDIEBOUND, link HERE

Happy Thanksgiving!

Kings River Life Magazine has featured one of my mystery short stories in their Thanksgiving issue. "Last Licks" is bound to make you sit up and take notice of the potatoes on your Thanksgiving table in a whole new way. The story can be read online for free. See the link below...Enjoy!

"Last Licks" is a featured in the anthology, THE KILLER WORE CRANBERRY (mystery series) published by Untreed Reads.  The book is available for purchase wherever ebooks are sold. 

To learn more, link HERE

Last Licks

by 

Kathleen Gerard

I didn’t know what hit me. All of a sudden there was a thud! and a wet splat! that triggered everything to go flying everywhere—atop the sparkly crystals of the gently swaying chandelier; the steaming gravy boat that sat alongside that big, trussed up bird, half of it carved up on a platter; the beads of sweat rolling down the glass water pitcher; and even onto the cheek of this runny-nosed kid, who was sitting in a highchair across from the scene of the crime. After it happened, there was silence. Nobody moved. Nobody breathed. Every face looked at every other face, pale and stunned. But it wasn’t until one of the tall, wax tapered candles singed and launched a curly ribbon of smoke in its wake, and that snot-nosed kid started crying, that I knew things were bad. Real bad. And here I was, just a few forkfuls away from cleaning up in the betting pool.

It’s a long story that started back when we were surrounded by this oppressive darkness. There was lots of it. The two of us, Spud and me, we had been stuck in a heap for three months, covered by mounds of well-drained, moist-textured soil that smelled of clay and compost. It was a small plot of land tended by folks who had way too much time on their hands and believed in tomorrow. Every morning, noon and night, I could feel their determined footsteps trampling all over us. The ground quaked with their hard work and ambition. The heavier one wore clod-hopper boots whose soles sank into the earth like dull spikes. He got down on his knees and dimly mumbled his prayers aloud while he dug in the dirt until his fingernails turned black...

To continue reading the story, link HERE

Happy Thanksgiving!

Opinion:   

Who says you can't serve meatballs for Thanksgiving?

 Can Thanksgiving still be Thanksgiving without serving a turkey dinner?

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Opinion/Editorial: "Other Views" (Section A-23)

BY KATHLEEN GERARD

To read the article in its entirety, click on the highlighted title above

Italian-American Pilgrims

From My Shelf

In my novella Cold Comfort, a workaholic photojournalist returns to an Italian-American enclave in Rhode Island to spend Thanksgiving with her only remaining relative, a hip 96-year-old aunt who texts and blogs. Challenged by a blizzard and a blackout, the aunt is intent on serving the family's traditionally Italian, seven-course Thanksgiving feast when a character off-handedly remarks, "Maybe your aunt thinks the pilgrims were Italian?"

With Italians, it's always about the food. But Italian-American culture has brought more to the American table than just culinary prowess. Their immigrant influence has distinctly touched all the arts--especially the literary landscape heralded by Gay Talese, Francine Prose, Mario Puzo and Adriana Trigiani.

Joseph Luzzi launches My Two Italies, his deeply personal Italian-American memoir, with a story about how, as a boy, a beloved aunt arrived at his house one morning and gave him a pet rabbit that, hours later, wound up served on the family dinner table. This is just the beginning of Luzzi's historical examination of the contradictions imbued in Italian culture both in the U.S. and abroad.

In All This Talk of Love, novelist Christopher Castellani lovingly explores the hopes, wishes and dreams of the Grasso family, Italian-American immigrants and their offspring, who, in this last book in a sweeping trilogy, must cope with their roots, the price of sacrifice and loss, myths and memories.

Italian-American writer Ann Hood chronicles a strongly feminine point-of-view in her novel An Italian Wife, a multi-generational saga centered on Josephine Rimaldi, a young woman who journeys from Italy for an arranged marriage and how the trajectory of her life is sensuously infused by family, faith and love.

Maybe after you whip up some Turkey Tetrazzini and Pumpkin Pie Gelato from your Thanksgiving leftovers, you'll be inspired to crack the cover on a book penned by a "pilgrim" of Italian-American descent. 

Note: This article is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this piece as published on Shelf Awareness for Readers (11/18/14), link HERE 

COLD COMFORT, New Novella: Featurette

NORTHJERSEY.COM : ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT : BOOKS

Local Author releases new novella, “Cold Comfort”

PASCACK VALLEY COMMUNITY LIFE

October 16, 2014

Click HERE to read the feature

COLD COMFORT is available for purchase wherever e-books are sold.

Click on licks below to purchase novella at:

Untreed Reads (direct from publisher)

Amazon (Kindle)

Barnes & Noble (Nook)

iBooks

Google Books

Kobo

COLD COMFORT by Kathleen Gerard

Publishing Date: October 13, 2014

Publisher: Untreed Reads LLC

ISBN: 9781611877212

ASIN: B00NFPVKEM

Novella: COLD COMFORT by Kathleen Gerard

Cold Comfort is a very special story about the bonds of family and old flames—and the unexpected power of love. I hope this novella will warm your heart...

Here is a brief synopsis:  It's Thanksgiving weekend and photojournalist Anna Maria "A.M." LaRusa returns to Federal Hill, a small Italian-American enclave in Rhode Island, to spend a quiet holiday with her only remaining relative, her Aunt Minnie, a 96-year-old who texts and has a blog. But when an anticipated blizzard nor'easter threatens the region, there is a change in plans. As A.M. and her aunt prepare for the holiday and the storm, A.M. unexpectedly runs into a man she hasn't seen in ten years—a man whom she still refers to as "the guy who broke my heart in college"—and her weekend and her life are suddenly upended. Stuck amid the cold, snowy deep freeze that paralyzes the region, A.M. begins to wonder if her wounded heart from a long-ago unrequited love will ever thaw.

The novella is available for purchase wherever e-books are sold !

Link HERE for Amazon  (Kindle)

Link HERE for iBooks

Link HERE for Barnes & Noble  (Nook)

Link HERE for Rakuten-Kobo

Link HERE to order via Google Books

As always, I appreciate your support and encourage you to share your review about the story on Amazon, iBooks, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, Google Books etc.  



And thank you, in advance, for passing on this information to other readers!

 Be sure to check out my other titles on Amazon and iBooks!

Cold Comfort (a novella) by Kathleen Gerard

Histria Books, 99 cent e-book, ASIN: BOONFPVKEM, 61 pp (215 kb)

Publication Date:  October 13, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!

Opinion: Cultivating Gratitude

Plant a seed of gratitude to harvest new hope

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Opinion/Editorial (Section A-22)

BY KATHLEEN GERARD

To read the article in its entirety, click on the highlighted title above

Happy Thanksgiving!

Opinion: A Pinch of Civility, A Dash of Gratitude

Thanksgiving Day Column

November 24, 2011

Opinion/Editorial (Section A-22)

BY KATHLEEN GERARD

The Record

To read the op-ed in its entirety, click on the highlighted article title above