We've talked in length before about one of my favorite gifts, a leather-bound copy of MY IMMORTAL that my darling hubby had printed for me way before I was published "for real." It is such a great gift, in fact, that I often wonder how I'll ever match it.
Truth is... I already did.
Today is not just the third day of Christmas, it's also Steven's birthday. He turns the big 4-5 today. (Yes, that means I robbed the cradle by about a year.) As anyone who has a December birthday can tell you, sometimes you really get cheated out of the big birthday stuff, simply because there's a major effin holiday (or, more accurately, something like 30 different holidays) around that time. A lot of the time the two gifts are combined, particularly when they're big ones.
The biggest gift I ever gave my hubby was not only a Christmas gift, but a birthday gift, and an anniversary gift... for like... five years solid.
It was 2002, and we had left Texas for a short-term stay in California to help out a sick family member. While we were there, we ended up going to a mall that had a pet store. (Yes, yes. I know, I know. Hear me out.) Because the prices were fairly steep in said store, and these animals were all pedigree, I knew that there was zero chance we'd leave the joint with an animal.
We're great big ol' softies, you see. Especially when it comes to animals. We have had up to six animals at a time, just because we couldn't bear to part with them. Neither of us has any self-control in the matter. If we see something cute and cuddly, and we have room to keep it, we generally fold like a cheap lawn chair.
Well, nothing in this pet store was cheap, so I knew we were in the clear. I decided, just to put a smile on Steven's face, to let him check out the Pug puppies. He'd always wanted one. I wasn't quite convinced. (I wanted a Jack Russell.)
So we meet this eight-week old male Pug puppy that we promptly take back to the play area. Within about a minute, this puppy reaches up to Steven and starts to nibble on his beard. We have come to refer to this as the "taste test," because after this, the puppy was all about us.
And we were frankly all about him. I fell like a ton of bricks the second this puppy claimed Steven.
Well, of course our credit sucked so we couldn't get approved to buy him. (Told you. Lawn chair.) If it were not for a generous loan made by said family member, which took me about six months to pay off, we never would have been able to bring our little bubbas home.
I've never for one day regretted it.
We were warned ahead of time that Pugs were needy, and they always wanted to be with you, and they could easily overheat or get exerted, and shed practically a new Pug every day. I think they said these things to deter us. Didn't work, even though each and every trait is 100% on the money.
But I can safely say I've given no greater gift to my hubby, who has never wanted anything more than he wanted this dog.
*Clears throat* Excuse me... this person with fur.
Thirteen years later and Winston Q. Pooter, as he has come to be known, continues to bring joy into our lives every single day.
So happy birthday, baby... again! And Merry Christmas. And Happy Hanukkah. And Happy Festivus.
There's a meme going around that says, "The older I get, the more I realize that the best Christmas presents aren't things." You don't need to be an older person to realize this. You learn this every year you and your spouse put yourselves dead last so that you can give your kids the best Christmas you can, even when you can barely give them anything at all.
Steven and I have weathered these kinds of economic challenges in the course of our marriage. There have been some very lean years, when all we really had to give each other is... well, each other.
It's always, always been enough. I don't need one damn thing under that tree to have a good Christmas. I just need my family. I've learned the hard way that they're much more valuable to me than anything that can be bought with something as banal as money.
And so... here is our Christmas song for the day, a version I discovered last year and just loved.
Okay. I kinda skipped the Whoovie yesterday. But I have a good excuse, Teach. The kids had rented some movies, so we decided to have some family time instead. But I won't leave ya hanging. Tonight's Whoovie is a Doctor Who Double Feature, "The Christmas Invasion" and "Runaway Bride," to get us caught up on our Doctor Who when Steven can watch too, since Doctor Who is his absolute favorite and it's his birthday besides. He'll be able to rev his geek engines just in time for the release of the new Star Wars movie, and I think that's a fitting way to spend his birthday. We'll start between 8:00 and 8:30pm PST, to make sure that dinner and all that good stuff is out of the way.
Knowing how scheduling works with me, that may make it after nine. Just fair warning. I don't think I've ever been on time for anything in my life.
Except dessert. Bah-dah-bump.
We'll probably also throw Love, Actually in there, because why not? It's British. It's romantic. And it's Christmasy. I probably won't live tweet that one though. It begs for some serious cuddle time.
My elf Brittany decided to dedicate her next baking project to Steven. It's a red and green velvet birthday-slash-Christmas cake.
And since it's for Steven, of course Tigger was in charge of quality control. (Spoiler: He loved it.)
This was out of a box, but she added her own kind of flair like she always does. I, personally, think it counts.
It's only fitting that the freebie I offer on Steven's birthday is the book that would have never been written without him, our baby... COMIC SQUAD.
COMIC SQUAD tells the story of a lonely girl and and an awkward geek who share only one thing in common: their love for all things Joe Dakota. These comic book fans have been searching high and low for a special comic book/3-D glasses combination, never knowing that used together they actually open a portal between our world and the world of Joe Dakota's Chastenville. Worse... the only way they figure it out is by accidentally releasing the villain, the dastardly Dr. Horror, into the real world. It is a world that makes him even stronger and harder to fight. By no coincidence, it has the opposite effect on their favorite hero.
These two fans and their outcast friends must summon the courage to face off this villain, before he destroys their entire town, all on their very own.
This is a book for all ages, so if you have some kids on your list - this would make a great gift. My story talks about being brave enough to be your OWN hero, and to recognize the heroism in your own family and friends. I love this story, mostly because it wouldn't exist without Steven. He's been reading comic books since he was a kid, and used to manage a comic book store in Fullerton way back in the day. He was going to Comic Con way back before it was cool. Not only did he consult with the story, but he also wrote most of the comic book store dialogue.
It is a perfect mix of the both of us.
Plus he created Twitch. And I love Twitch.
So get your copy of COMIC SQUAD today, December 16, 2015, completely FREE! Merry Christmas... from BOTH the Voights.
An excerpt:
With Joe Dakota safely tied up in one of the examination rooms, Dr. Horror was free to put the finishing touches on the green potion. Using tongs, he delicately poured it from a beaker into a test tube, and secured it with a cork.
Twitch picked up the beaker to examine the strange, glowing fluid.
“Put that down!” Dr. Horror barked. Twitch was quick to comply. “It’s the only batch in existence. All I need is for some nitwit to pour it out… or worse yet, drink it.”
Outside the room Alice suddenly found herself hunched down by the door, the 3-D glasses hanging by one of the straps of her overalls. She looked inside the room, and gasped when she saw Dr. Horror and Twitch, and the bubbling tube of green.
“What would happen if someone drank it?” asked Twitch.
Dr. Horror smirked at him. “You ever dissolved snails with salt?” Twitch nodded. “It’s like that.” Dr. Horror spilled a drop of the liquid on the lab table. It bubbled and smoked and sizzled right through the metal surface. “Only it hurts.”
“So what’s it going to do to Joe Dakota?”
Dr. Horror chuckled. “Joe who?”
“Joe Dakota. You know. That big, strong guy who comes along and messes up all your plans...”
“I know who, you twit. But after tonight, I think he might be more of a what.”
Alice flattened back against the wall. A million questions flooded her brain at once, the most important of which was how to get out of there without getting caught. The second most important: how to get out and take that strange and dangerous potion with her? She grabbed the magical glasses.
One thing was certain; she could do neither without them. She tucked them into a pocket for safe keeping.
She peered back around the door to find both Dr. Horror and Twitch standing with their backs to her. She knelt down and quietly duck-walked across the room, then hunched down beside their lab table. Listening for their steps going in one direction, she managed to go in the opposite direction, remaining hidden from their view as they turned for the door.
“Come,” Dr. Horror told Twitch, “let’s make sure that Joe is safely secured for tonight’s main event.”
They departed the room, leaving the beaker and test tube on the table. When she thought the coast was clear, she peered over the edge of the table, her heartbeat so loud it thundered in her ears. She found herself staring directly into the creepy, bubbling, green fluid in the tube.
She gulped as she reached for it, hesitating only slightly as she spotted the deep hole that one drop had burned into the table’s surface. She’d read the books, she knew what Dr. Horror had created this stuff to do. Just as the original formula had reinforced every cell inside Joe Dakota’s body, reinforcing them with the power to rejuvenate at the least little hint of destruction, this new formula was created to do the opposite. Injecting this potion into a human body would cause each cell to break down and combust. The destruction would be quick and total. That was why she knew she couldn’t take a chance and leave it behind. Just as her hand touched the tube, lightning filled the room and thunder rattled the windows; Alice nearly came up out of her overalls.
Finally, before she could lose her nerve, she grabbed the tube and stuffed it into one of her many pockets and prayed the cork would hold.
She sprinted to the door and checked to see if the hall was clear. She crept out slowly and quietly with no idea where she was heading, but determined to make sure that potion never went anywhere near Joe Dakota.
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