Liz Adair & Gale Sears – Countdown to Christmas 2009

Liz Adair is the author six novels. Her most recent release, Counting the Cost, was a Finalist in the National Best Books 2009 Awards.

Counting the Cost is available for purchase from Amazon, Inglestone Publishing, and book clubs can download a PDF for free or purchase for book clubs at half price at www.lizadairfreebooks.com.

Watch the book trailer for Counting the Cost here.

Visit Liz on her website: www.lizadair.net and her blog: Liz Sez.

LDSWBR: What favorite holiday traditions do you and your family participate in every year? Will you be starting any new traditions this year?

LIZ: Christmas Eve is the day our family spends together. We meet at mid day to carol at the local nursing home. If we start practicing in September, our low-brass family band is able to play a few numbers, but this year we were laggards and didn’t start building up our lips in time, so we‘re just singing.

After we finish at the nursing home, we have our Christmas Eve dinner. As we take our places at the table, there’s a small gift box at each plate containing a 24-piece puzzle with a personalized limerick written by Grandma (me). Each person puts his puzzle together and reads it aloud, after which we enjoy our Christmas feast.

Then we all gather in the living room to watch the young ones act out the Nativity as Grandpa reads the Christmas story. We finish the evening by singing carols, and then the old folks (Grandpa and I) go home and the younger people watch a Christmas movie.

Christmas morning, each of our children carries on the tradition we began when they were little, taking turns opening our gifts as we sit around the Christmas tree so the giver of the gift can watch as his gift is opened and appreciated.

As far as traditional food is concerned, every year I make my mother’s fudge recipe, and some years I even make her fruitcake. I’ll be blogging about the fudge the week of December 15.

LDSWBR: Liz, what books are on your Christmas wish list?

LIZ: After reading Laurie Lewis’ action packed Dawn’s Early Light about the War of 1812, I’m interested in reading a biography of Dolley Madison. I’m going to ask Laurie which is the best one for a non-scholar like me, and I’ll put the word out to family that it’s on my list.

LDSWBR: What books have you purchased/will you purchase for loved ones this Christmas? (Don’t spoil any surprises!)

LIZ: I have a sister-in-law who loves to read, and I usually try to give her several books for Christmas. She’s a Marsha Ward fan and so I’m giving her the third in Marsha’s saga about the Owen clan, Trail of Storms. I’m also giving her Joan Soward’s newest book, Haunts Haven, and Tanya Mills’ topical book set in Iraq, The Reckoning.

I’ve got a bookworm granddaughter that I’m giving Janette Rallison’s clever and hilarious My Fair Godmother.

LDSWBR: Thank you for sharing with us, Liz. Merry Christmas!

Gale Sears is the author of four novels, two Christmas booklets, and one children’s picture book. Her most recent releases include The Route and Christmas for a Dollar. Gale is currently working on her next book, The Silence of God (working title), a historical fiction novel set in 1917 Russia during the Bolshevik revolution.

Gale’s books are available for purchase at Seagull Book, Deseret Book, Amazon and Costco (Christmas for a Dollar).

Learn more about Gale on her website: www.galesears.com and her blog: Stories Around the Kamp Fire.

LDSWBR: Gale, what favorite holiday traditions do you and your family participate in every year?

GALE: My background is Danish so I’ve carried on the Kamp family tradition of having Aebleskeivers for Christmas morning breakfast.

LDSWBR: What books are on your Christmas wish list?

GALE: A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity. All the others I’ve already purchased for myself!

LDSWBR: What books have you purchased/will you purchase for loved ones this year? (Unless it would ruin the surprise!)

GALE: Women of Virtue and Master (the other must remain a secret).

LDSWBR: Thank you, Gale. Happy Christmas!

Fudge is one of my favorite Christmas treats (after the Oreos dipped in dark mint chocolate that I make each year). Some people don’t care for fudge (I know, hard to believe). There’s a candy shop in Gardner Village near where I live that makes a pumpkin spice fudge in fall that is quite yummy. What are your thoughts on fudge? Do you make it, or just eat it? What is the most unusual flavor of fudge you’ve eaten or seen, and what’s your favorite fudge flavor? Do you have a link to a great fudge recipe?

LDSWBR will hold a drawing on Christmas Day for a $25 eGift Card from Deseret Book, as well as a variety of books being offered by some of the LDS authors that will be featured on the blog. Simply post a thoughtful comment on the Countdown to Christmas author posts to enter. Here are the rules:

• LDSWBR reserves the right to decide what determines a “thoughtful” comment.

• Only one comment per person per “Countdown to Christmas” author post will be entered into the drawing. This allows the potential for 24 entries per person at the end of the contest. Feel free to comment more than once per post if you’d like, but only one comment will be accepted as an entry.

• Contest ends at 12:00 Midnight MST on December 24, 2009. Drawing winners will have until 12:00 Midnight MST on December 31, 2009 to claim their prize. After that time, another name will be drawn to receive the prize.
  

• Book prizes can only be shipped within the contiguous United States.

Books that have been generously donated by the author for drawing prizes:

• Loyalty’s Web by Joyce DiPastena
• Hidden Branch by G.G. Vandagriff
• Altared Plans by Rebecca Talley
• A Modest Proposal by Michele Ashman Bell (includes a bonus copy of Michele’s Christmas booklet, A Candle in the Window)
• Her Good Name by Josi Kilpack
• MISSING by Ronda Gibb Hinrichsen
• Famous Family Nights by Anne Bradshaw
• Love Letters of Joseph and Emma (autographed copy) by Angela Eschler
• Family Home Evening Adventures by Rebecca Irvine
• Counting the Cost by Liz Adair
• Shudder by Jennie Hansen
• Mormon Mishaps & Mischief by D. N. Giles & C. L. Beck
• Dawn’s Early Light by Laurie (L.C.) Lewis
• The Fairy Thorn (brand new release!) by Dorothy Keddington
• Torn Apart (signed copy) by Diony George
• Pursued: A Maggie McKenzie Mystery by Lynn Gardner

Thank you so much!