‘Tis The Season: Authors Talk Holidays is a special seasonal feature on Pop! Goes The Reader in which some of my favourite authors help me to celebrate the spirit of the season and spread a little holiday cheer. So, pour yourself a cup of hot chocolate and snuggle in by the fireside as they answer the question: “What does the holiday season mean to you?” You can find a complete list of this year’s participants and their scheduled guest post dates Here!
About Kit Frick
Kit Frick is a novelist, poet, and MacDowell Colony fellow. Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, she studied creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College and received her MFA from Syracuse University. When she isn’t putting complicated characters in impossible situations, Kit edits poetry and literary fiction for a small press, edits for private clients, and mentors emerging writers through Pitch Wars. Her debut young adult novel is See All The Stars (Simon & Schuster / Margaret K. McElderry Books, August 2018), and her debut full-length poetry collection is A Small Rising Up In The Lungs (New American Press, fall 2018).
My small family is big on presents. Which is not to say gifts exchanged are grandiose, although my parents have always been generous with their giving. Rather, the Fricks and Stewarts (father’s and mother’s sides of the family, respectively) are big on production value: gifts piled four layers deep beneath the tree, then lining every wall of the living room, beautifully wrapped and decorated with small ornaments that don’t quite fit on the tree or with the cutest or most beautiful holiday cards that have been saved going back decades. It’s a display of packages suited to a large family gathering — and we’ve been six at most over the years. Suffice to say, Christmas at my family’s house is quite a sight to behold.
While some of our holiday traditions have been religious, and others centered around food, music, travel, and time spent together, the family tradition I keep coming back to is the most secular of them all. It’s about giving—and embracing both the commercial and wacky side of my family’s holiday culture.
When I first brought Osvaldo — my then-boyfriend, now-husband — home for Christmas, he was floored by the sheer quantity of presents. I couldn’t blame him. That we go overboard is certainly true, and the majority of gifts check the standard boxes of clothes, books, games, jewelry, and so on—but then we add our own special sauce. “Just wait,” I said. “If it can be wrapped, it goes under the tree.”
Rolls of Scotch tape: present.
Boxes of Ziploc bags: present.
Cans of soup: present.
Cleaning supplies: present.
Getting the picture?
By our second or third Christmas together, my husband started getting in the spirit. We one-upped by family by washing and returning my mom’s Tupperware via a wrapped package under the tree. It was a hit.
This year’s goal: step up our gifting game. I’m not sure what we’ll do yet, but we have approximately twelve days to figure it out.
Happy holidays!
Title See All the Stars
Author Kit Frick
Pages 320 Pages
Intended Target Audience Young Adult
Genre Contemporary
To Be Published August 14th 2018 by McElderry Books
Find It On Goodreads ● Amazon.com ● Chapters ● The Book Depository
It’s hard to find the truth beneath the lies you tell yourself.
THEN
They were four — Bex, Jenni, Ellory, Ret. (Venus. Earth. Moon. Sun.) Electric, headstrong young women; Ellory’s whole solar system.NOW
Ellory is alone, her once inseparable group of friends torn apart by secrets, deception, and a shocking incident that changed their lives forever.THEN
Lazy summer days. A party. A beautiful boy. Ellory met Matthias and fell into the beginning of a spectacular, bright love.NOW
Ellory returns to Pine Brook to navigate senior year after a two-month suspension and summer away — no boyfriend, no friends. No going back. Tormented by some and sought out by others, troubled by a mysterious note-writer who won’t let Ellory forget, and consumed by guilt over her not entirely innocent role in everything and everyone she’s lost, Ellory finds that even in the present, the past is everywhere.The path forward isn’t a straight line. And moving on will mean sorting the truth from the lies — the lies Ellory has been telling herself.
One Response
Thanks Jen,
you seem to be so involved in so many adventures.
Thank you very much for passing on your finding to others.
Cheers Sharon…
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