I’d like to start by thanking Jackie for letting me stop by today! Before I promote my book, I’d like to get you all in the Christmas mood by talking about exchanging gifts.
The gift exchange often comes in two parts. The first part comes when you trade gifts by the Christmas tree, or over a glass of wine, or in any number of ways. Sometimes you are genuinely excited about the gifts you’ve received. Sometimes your reaction is more lukewarm, and sometimes you just have to wonder “Does this person know me at all?”
So, if you’ve gotten a gift that you just don’t need or want, what do you do? Most of us don’t want to be rude. You can simply say “thank you” and keep the gift, figuring that you may still find some use for it. Or maybe you feel too guilty to do anything else. Or perhaps you feel that exchanging the gift at the store is the best course of action.
Here is a list of things to consider before making the final decision of whether to keep or exchange the unwanted gift.
1.) Do you know anyone else who might appreciate the gift more than you? If yes, you can consider re-gifting it to someone else. Some people may consider this rude, but as long as you genuinely think they’ll like it, I say it’s acceptable.
2.) Will the person who gave you this gift take it personally if they learn that you exchanged it for something else? Will they use their ninja skills or mafia ties to make you suffer for the insult?
3.) If the answer to the previous question is yes, what are the odds that they’ll notice the item they gave you is missing from your home? Is it worth the risk of grievous bodily harm?
4.) What is the approximate monetary value of the gift you’d like to exchange? This question is not meant to sound shallow. It’s simply meant to determine whether anything you might be able to get instead would be worth the effort of standing in outrageously long lines and possibly offending the nunchuck-wielding gift-giver.
If you determine that it isn’t worth the effort of exchanging the item, then I recommend making the best of things. This is a time of year to be grateful for what we have, and fretting too much over the hideous leggings someone bought you is kind of missing the point of things.
Now here’s a snippet from my novella Self-Help 101 or: How I Learned to Take Over the World Through Tolerating My Family.
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Dealing with these types of situations is like preparing for battle. Strategy and quick thinking are all that could save you. No matter the position I took, I knew I’d get my share of hugs and all that, but the first child inevitably got the first hug. The dreaded atomic hug, fueled by many months of absence, was the bone cruncher. Sure, absence may make the heart grow fonder, but it also makes the arms grow stronger. Trust me, I know from firsthand experience how uncomfortable it can be going through an entire Christmas celebration with aching ribs. I was more than happy to let Tyler have that honor.
* * *
Title: Self-Help 101 or: How I Learned to Take Over the World Through Tolerating My Family
Author: L.G. Keltner
Genre: Holiday/Humor
Length: 27,000
Cover Art: L.G. Keltner
Release Date: December 1, 2015
Blurb:
Dani Finklemeier has decided to write a self-help book about how to take over the world, but she’s not sure where to start. After all, she’s only seventeen and looking for a better way to make money than babysitting. She buys a self-help book that promises to teach her how to write a self-help book in the hope of getting the job done.
Not that it’ll be easy to get any work done this holiday season. Her family is staying at the house for Christmas, and fights break out almost immediately. Dani also has to deal with the fallout from an unexpected kiss with her best friend Seth and the feelings that go along with it. On edge around her family and unsure how to interact with the one person she’s trusted with everything in the past, she can only take what inspiration she can from the crazy circumstances surrounding her and see what happens.
One way or another, it should be an interesting holiday.
Bio:
L.G. Keltner spends most of her time trying to write while also cleaning up after her crazy but wonderful kids and hanging out with her husband. Her favorite genre of all time is science fiction, and she’s been trying to write novels since the age of six. Needless to say, those earliest attempts weren’t all that good.
Her non-writing hobbies include astronomy and playing Trivial Pursuit.
Purchase Links:
Amazon-http://www.amazon.com/dp/B017NADK4C
Amazon UK-http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B017NADK4C
Barnes & Noble-http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/self-help-101-or-lg-keltner/1122797603?ean=2940152405781
Kobo-https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/self-help-101-or-how-i-learned-to-take-over-the-world-through-tolerating-my-family
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Celebrate the Small Things is a Friday blog hop where we share things, big or small, during that week. 
