‘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?”
About Ronni Davis
Ronni Davis grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, where she tried her best to fit in — and failed miserably. After graduating from The Ohio State University with a BA in Psychology, she worked in insurance, taught yoga, and became a cat mom. Now she lives in Chicago with her husband Adam and her son Aidan. By day she copy edits everything from TV commercials to billboards, and by night she writes contemporary teen novels about brown girls falling in love. When she’s not writing, you can catch her playing the Sims, eating too much candy, or planning her next trip to Disney World. Her debut novel, When The Stars Lead To You, will be released by Little Brown Books for Young Readers in November 2019.
Christmas in Chicago
Sometimes, I think I’m the only person in the world who doesn’t actually mind when Christmas starts showing up in August. While everyone else is focused on Back to School and eagerly looking forward to Halloween, the second I peep a little splash of red and green, I start getting excited.
Christmas is my favorite holiday for so many reasons. There’s the obvious: presents! But it’s not just about the gifts one can buy at a store or online. It’s about the gifts that come with the magic of this season.
There are so many beautiful holidays of light and love in December, so many celebrations of miracles. I love and honor them all, but Christmas holds a special place in my heart. I think it’s because growing up, my mother went out of her way to make it special for my sister and me. A giant tree with her specific designs (that I always ruined with a candy garland or apple ornaments, sorry not sorry Mommy), the Sal Soul Orchestra and the Temptations Christmas records playing on our console stereo, baking Christmas cookies, and going to Public Square, in downtown Cleveland, to look at their Christmas display.
I moved to Chicago in 2008, and I wasn’t sure what to expect that first year, except maybe cold. (And oh yes, there was cold.) But what I didn’t anticipate? So much holiday cheer! The Macy’s on State Street (Marshall Field’s to the old school Chicagoans — before my time here) with its Giant Tree. Beautiful decorations all over the place, lightly dusted with snow. Santa Claus making appearances all over the Chicagoland area, and the joyous sounds of live bands playing carols on street corners all over downtown.
I have a love/hate relationship with Chicago, but when it’s Christmas? I absolutely love this city.
I think it’s because I’m a child at heart, still filled with the wonder of this time of year. The songs, the movies, the television specials. The anticipation of giving gifts that I hope I chose well, and of being around the people I love the most, eating some of the foods I love the most. I love how we tend to do the same cheesy traditions every year, but somehow they don’t feel cheesy in the moment. They feel special, and magical.
And Chicago knows how to bring the traditions.
I love the look of wonder on a child’s face when they see Santa Claus in person. The frenetic excitement from kids and adults alike when the Holiday Train rolls into a CTA station. The madness of the 7th floor at Macy’s, where all the ornaments are 70% off and the lines are a mile long because although you can pay for merchandise on any floor, you stand in line chatting with others who are just as enamored by the holiday as you are.
Chicago kicks off the Christmas season with an official parade right before Thanksgiving, and sometimes even Mickey Mouse shows up. Seemingly overnight, gloriously decorated trees appear in the lobbies of tall office buildings, garland is wrapped around light poles, and shop windows are decked out with holiday decorations and lights. I find myself braving the cold to admire the story book windows along State Street, the huge tree in Millennium Park, and the scents and tastes of Christkindlmarket, the German Christmas market that pops up every year.
People seem happier, more apt to smile, more generous this time of year. I feel like I live December in a haze of Christmas cookies and anticipation, because there is so much to see and do to celebrate the season.
When I invite people to visit me in Chicago, they balk at the thought of coming when it’s still cold out. But Christmas in Chicago makes it all worth your while.
Title When The Stars Lead To You
Author Ronni Davis
Intended Target Audience Young Adult
Genre Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Romance
Publication Date November 12th 2019 by Little, Brown Books For Young Readers
Find It On Goodreads ● Amazon.com ● Chapters ● The Book Depository ● Barnes & Noble ● IndieBound
Nicola Yoon meets Jenny Han in a heated first-love romance about two teens who are torn apart one summer by prejudice and mental illness, and find each other once again.
Eighteen-year-old Devon longs for two things.
The stars.
And the boy she fell in love with last summer.When Ashton breaks Devon’s heart at the end of the most romantic and magical summer ever, she thinks her heart will never heal again. But over the course of the following year, Devon finds herself slowly putting the broken pieces back together.
Now it’s senior year and she’s determined to enjoy every moment of it, as she prepares for a future studying galaxies. That is, until Ashton shows up on the first day of school.
Can she forgive and open her heart to him again? Or are they doomed to repeat history?
From debut author, Ronni Davis, comes a stunning novel about passion, loss, and the power of first love.
