Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul and we’re talking about dogs a lot this month because our new book is out—What I Learned from My Dog. We spent two years collecting the stories for this book and they are really entertaining, but also pretty inspirational, because they show us how fabulous the dogs in our lives are. We learn so much from our canine best friends—like how to be forgiving and grateful and live in the moment. The stories in this book can be really funny too, what with all the stories we have about dogs being dogs… like when they get into trouble but we end up bragging up whatever bad thing they did. And they are quite the heroes too, always knowing when we need comforting or when we’re sick. And if they are rescues, they somehow figure out how to return the favor by rescuing us too.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul, and it’s Wow Wednesday. We had Wow Wednesdays on the podcast years ago and I don’t know why I stopped, because the stories are so worth telling. Today I’m sharing three of my favorite stories about family bonds that persist after death, amazing coincidences that are basically unexplainable, and the messages that a daughter got from her late mother, and that a granddaughter got from her grandfather, both as he was dying and then after his death. I know the people who wrote these stories and they really did happen.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul and I’m pleased to share new stories with you from Chicken Soup for the Soul: What I Learned from My Dog. We really do learn so much from our dogs--our best friends. They truly make us better versions of ourselves, and they show us the power of gratitude and forgiveness and resilience. They know when we need comforting and they know when we need to laugh. And if they are rescue dogs, they find a way to rescue us back. Life with a dog is always an adventure, too, and that’s what today’s stories are about, the comic relief and misadventures of having a dog.

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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.

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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.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul and I want to share a couple more stories with you from our book about the Spirit of Christmas. This is going to be the last new episode of the podcast before the holidays, so I wish you the very best for the last day of Hanukkah and the coming Christmas extravaganza. Today’s stories about are about a couple of our writers’ favorite traditions for Christmas Day and the day after.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark and I want to share a couple of stories with you today from Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of Christmas, stories about a couple of ways to get creative at Christmastime. I love publishing these stories about new and different ways to handle the holidays, because I always get good ideas from them, and I feel that could be very helpful to our readers.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul and I want to share a couple of stories with you today from our book about The Spirit of Christmas. This is such a happy time of year, but what about the families that are going through hard times? You probably live in a community that has giving trees, and community gift collections, and plenty of ways to contribute and make Christmas more magical for families in need. And that’s what we’re going to talk about today – what happens when a family falls on hard times, which is often just a temporary issue. Often, those families end up helping out another family during a future Christmas.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul and I want to share a couple of stories with you today from our book about The Spirit of Christmas. I’m still working on gifts – I have to buy them for a couple of dozen people, what with 17 people just in the immediate family – so I love some of the creative ideas I get from our Christmas books. And today I want to share a couple of creative ideas that were just so personal and perfect for the family members who got them.

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Hey, it’s Amy Newmark with your Chicken Soup for the Soul and I want to share a couple of stories with you today from our new book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Pets, Pets, Pets. This is such a fun book. I haven’t counted but I think there are at least 40 kinds of pets in this new collection, every kind of furry, feathered, scaly, flying, walking, swimming, slithering, indoor or outdoor, tame or wild, tiny or gigantic pet imaginable. No matter what kind of pet people have, their stories are all about how their pets provide them with companionship, comfort, understanding and lots of life lessons. Plus a lot of laughs and entertainment. And so much good stuff for kids, who really bond with their pets, often using those pets to help them through whatever tough times they are facing.

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