Episodes

  • Are You Holding onto Someone Else's Blessing? De-Clutter and Do Good

    Are You Holding onto Someone Else's Blessing? De-Clutter and Do Good
    Dec 27 2024
    Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today I’m going to talk about resolutions. It’s January, time to think about the ways in which we want to improve our habits, our behavior, and how we interact with the world. Everyone knows the old classics—stop smoking, eat less, exercise more, be neater... and we’re going to talk about some of those resolutions this month. But there are lots of other possible resolutions that are life-changing, or at least life-improving. So, I’m going to propose some of those to you as well this month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    8 mins
  • Celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas

    Celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas
    Dec 23 2024
    Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today we’re talking about the holidays, with two stories from our new bestseller Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Magic of Christmas. These stories are about Christmas AND Hanukkah, and how plenty of people manage to celebrate both every year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    10 mins
  • Starting the New Year Right

    Starting the New Year Right
    Dec 20 2024
    Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Christmas is just about here, but I know I’m already looking forward to what’s coming in the new year as well. We ended our holiday book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tales of Christmas, with a few New Year’s stories and I’m going to share a couple of them with you today, about traditions you might want to start for yourself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    10 mins
  • Someone Has to Be Nice… and Someone Has to Be Naughty, Too

    Someone Has to Be Nice… and Someone Has to Be Naughty, Too
    Dec 18 2024
    Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. Today’s episode is all about naughty and nice as we head into the final days before Christmas. I’ve got two very funny stories to share today, one about a grandma ingesting stuffing made with a very special herb that was supposed to be just for the twenty-somethings at their family dinner, and one about taking a Christmas card photo in a very unauthorized location. Let’s start with that one. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    9 mins
  • The Holidays Wouldn’t Be the Holidays Without Something Going Wrong

    The Holidays Wouldn’t Be the Holidays Without Something Going Wrong
    Dec 16 2024
    Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. I don’t know about you, but I have to say that some of my favorite holiday stories are about the various disasters that have befallen our family events—whether it was a totally raw turkey, or a power failure on Christmas Eve, or an easy to assemble gift that was anything but. Then of course there’s the golden retriever eating all the dessert while everyone’s in another room, or the natural tree that came complete with natural bugs, or the gift forgotten in the back of a closet. Or the time that I wrote “Mom” on the gift list for my children, then shared it with my mother-in-law and she thought “Mom” was her, not my mother, so the kids got two of everything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    9 mins
  • When a Mother's Christmas Gift Keeps on Giving — Every Year

    When a Mother's Christmas Gift Keeps on Giving — Every Year
    Dec 13 2024
    Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul. You know, Christmas is often a time of reflection and a time for remembering the family members who are no longer with us, and that’s hard. But there are so many amazing memories of those people as well, and we carry those with us into our holiday celebrations. My mother died a few days after Christmas seven years ago, so the last time I saw her before she was hospitalized was at my Christmas Eve party. She had such a good time that she and my father were the last to leave. Every other year they had been the first to leave, so I think that somehow, subconsciously, she knew it was her last Christmas. And now I share all her Christmas gifts with my grown children, mostly the excessive number of Christmas ornaments that she loved to give me each year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    8 mins
  • Turning a Negative Christmas into a Positive One

    Turning a Negative Christmas into a Positive One
    Dec 11 2024
    Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today we’re talking about Christmas. Now, there are times when you’re not expecting the holidays to be as good as they usually are. Maybe you’re home sick, or your family members aren’t available because they’re with in-laws or traveling, or it’s a tough year financially… Well, I know I’ve been through those less than stellar Christmases once in a while. But there are ways to turn things around. And that’s what we’re going to hear about today in two stories from our Magic of Christmas Coloring Book. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    8 mins
  • The Natural Generosity of Kids at Christmastime

    The Natural Generosity of Kids at Christmastime
    Dec 9 2024
    Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and today we’re talking about Christmas. Now you may think it’s all gotten too commercial and it’s all about getting gifts, but that’s not what see at Chicken Soup for the Soul. We see a focus on families getting together, and people enjoying the giving way more than the receiving, and people looking out for others in their communities. And that extends all the way down to the kids, who demonstrate all the attributes you’d want to see as far as generosity and compassion are concerned. So today I’m going to share a couple of stories about the natural generosity of kids at Christmastime, from our brand-new coloring book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Magic of Christmas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    10 mins