Countdown to Turkey Day with The Knight Agency: Maria Geraci

UPDATE: The winner of THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB by Maria Geraci is Sara! Congrats! Please send your physical addy to Contests(AT)KnightAgency.net.

Today Maria Geraci, author of the upcoming release THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB, as well as THE BUNCO BABES TELL ALL and THE BUNCO BABES GONE WILD, helps us continue our countdown to Turkey Day with a fun Q&A post about Thanksgiving traditions at her house. She also graciously agreed to take a Thanksgiving quiz to see if she was smarter than a 5th grader. See her results below. :-)

To win a copy of THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB, leave a comment. The winner will randomly drawn and announced tomorrow morning.

1. Who’s in charge of carving the turkey at your house? That would be my husband, Mike Geraci (I have a strange habit of using his full name when referring to him). I clean the turkey, stuff it, and cook it. He carves it and then takes all the credit!

2. Name one thing you usually only eat at Thanksgiving that you wish you could have every day. Oh my God. Years ago, I found this great vegetable medley recipe. You take a large bag of frozen vegetables (carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli). Dump it in a casserole dish. Add 1 can of Durkee’s fried onion rings (reserve a small amount of onion rings for topping), 1 small jar of chopped pimentos, 1 can of cream of mushroom soup, 4 ounces of sour cream, shredded Swiss cheese (about 6 ounces) and mix it all together. Add pepper to taste. Place in a 350 degree oven for about 30-40 minutes until bubbling hot. In the last 10-15 minutes of cooking, you can sprinkle the top with the rest of the fried onion rings and some more cheese if you want.

My kids absolutely love this stuff. I only make it on the holidays because I don’t want to know how many calories are in it!

3. What is your fondest or funniest Thanksgiving memory? Probably the Thanksgiving I was still in college and couldn’t go home because I was working a part time job and had to work the Friday morning after the holiday, so I was really bummed. My parents surprised me and drove up to school (a 5 hour trip) with a complete meal. We had Thanksgiving dinner, just the 3 of us, in my little apartment!

4. How would the main character in THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB celebrate the holiday? Funny you should ask, because this scene actually happens in the book! Grace begins Thanksgiving day with her family by keeping their years long tradition of watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade on television. Her brother Charlie (who’s a main secondary character in the book) misses it because he’s working, which causes some tension between them. Then her mother and her abuela go out power shopping, while Grace decorates their artificial Christmas tree and Grace’s dad (Pop) and Charlie decorate the house Clark Griswald style (think National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation movie.)

5. Are you smarter than a 5th grader? The following quiz was created for elementary school kids. Take the test, and share your score – and elaborate on why you think you are a Thanksgiving whiz or maybe why social studies was never your strongest subject.

1. What year did the Pilgrim first celebrate Thanksgiving?

a) 1521

b) 1621 (correct answer)

c) 1721

d) 1821

Yay! I got this right. Maybe I am smarter than a 5th grader!

2. How long did the first Thanksgiving celebration last?

a) 1 day

b) 2 days

c) 3 days (correct answer)

d) 4 days

Oops! So the right answer is 3 days and not 4. But… If I was one of those pilgrims, we’d definitely be celebrating as long as we could. I mean, I’d take any chance to break away from milking cows and tending crops and cleaning and the other multitude of chores I’m sure women did back then. Wouldn’t you?

3. Which president established Thanksgiving as the last Thursday in November?

a) Abraham Lincoln (correct answer)

b) Andrew Johnson
c) Franklin Roosevelt

d) George Washington

Abraham Lincoln? Are you sure? I’m pretty positive they didn’t teach this back in my 5th grade.

4. Where was the first Thanksgiving celebrated?
a) Mayflower
b) Plymouth (correct answer)

c) Springfield

d) Boston

Yay!

5. Wild turkeys can NOT fly.

a) True

b) False (correct answer)

This is a perfect example of a trick question. Of course, I got this right, but still…

What a fun quiz! I love Thanksgiving! There’s no pressure to buy or give presents. Just good food, surrounded by family and friends and the knowledge that I’ve made it one more year on this planet with the opportunity to give thanks for all the wonderful things I’ve been given. This past year, I’ve had several friends diagnosed with different medical problems. Thankfully, everyone is doing well and fighting their hardest to keep healthy. It makes me doubly thankful that my husband and kids are healthy and safe and that we have a roof over our heads and food on our table. You really can’t ask for more in life than that.

I’m also extremely grateful to have a new book coming out next month. It’s called THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB and it’s a romantic comedy about a woman who turns her dysfunctional book club into a boyfriend club, where women come together to discuss the men they’ve dated, comparing them to classic literary heroes and villains.

It’s getting some great advance reviews. Publishers’s Weekly says, “Geraci (BUNCO BABES TELL ALL) fills the fluffy but enjoyable story with literary references, and her leading lady is endearingly flawed. Romance readers will revel in the Austen-perfect happy ending and the warm friendship among members of the club.”

I’d love to give away a copy of the book to one commenter (will be mailed out the first week of December- perfect for your holiday reading!)

Thanks TKA!

Maria Geraci writes fun, romantic women’s fiction. Her third novel, THE BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH CLUB, comes out December 7, 2010, in trade paperback, from Berkley, Penguin, USA. Please visit her website at www.mariageraci.com for more information on her books.