25 days until Christmas
Josi grew up hating to read until her mother handed her a copy of The Witch of Blackbird Pond when she was 13. From that day forward, she read everything she could get her hands on and accredits her writing “education” to the many novels she has “studied” since then. She began her first novel in 1998 and hasn’t stopped. Her novel, Sheep’s Clothing won the Whitney Award 2007 for Mystery/Suspense. Lemon Tart, the first book in the Sadie Hoffmiller Culinary Mystery Series was a Whitney Finalist for 2009. Book six in the series, Pumpkin Roll, was released in September 2011. Josi currently lives in Willard, Utah, with her husband, four children, one dog, and varying number of chickens. For more information about Josi, you can visit her website at www.josiskilpack.com or her blog at www.josikilpack.blogspot.com.
Connect with Josi: WEBSITE | BLOG | Twitter | Facebook
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LDSWBR: What Christmas-related activity would you like to do this year that you have never done before?
JOSI: In Ogden they have a Christmas Village set up around the courthouse on 25th street. I’ve driven by it a few times but never taken the time to walk between the houses and look inside the windows. It seems that Christmas always gets to full, but I hope to make time for the Christmas village this year.
LDSWBR: If you could find one book under the tree this year, what would it be?
JOSI: My Family 2010-2011 digital scrap-book…preferably finished by someone else :-)
LDSWBR: What is your favorite childhood Christmas memory?
JOSI: My parents wouldn’t let us leave our bedrooms until 7:00. They slept upstairs, on the same level as the Christmas Tree, and the kids were scattered throughout the basement. Starting around five a.m. we’d start waking up and congregating in my oldest sister’s room. At exactly 7:00 we would run upstairs and crawl into bed with Mom and Dad. There were nine kids, so this was quite the feat to fit us all in there. We’d giggle and wiggle for ten minutes or so, until Mom and Dad finally agreed it was time to go in. The anticipation of the morning and the connection to my family that happened in those moments will always be priceless memories to me.
LDSWBR: What a sweet memory. Thanks, Josi!
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Buy Pumpkin Roll by Josi S. Kilpack
Read Mindy’s review of Pumpkin Roll.
What time did your family wake up Christmas morning when you were a child? If you have children, did you set a time for them to wake you up on Christmas morning?
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To enter the Countdown to Christmas 2011 contest, complete the following and then tell us what you did:
- **Required entry (+1) – Leave a thoughtful comment on this post. (More than just “Great contest!” please) You must leave a comment on this post for your other entries to count. If you are reading this post through email or an RSS reader, please click through to leave a comment.
- Bonus entry (+1 total) – Follow Josi on Twitter, Facebook or her blog. Send an email to ldswbr (at) gmail (dot) com telling us how you follow Josi.
- Additional entries (one time +1 entry each) – 1) Subscribe to LDSWBR through email 2)Follow @LDSWBR on Twitter 3) Like LDS Women’s Book Review on Facebook (all found at the the top of the right sidebar on the LDSWBR blog). NOTE: If you already subscribe through email, follow us on Twitter, or Like us on Facebook you must tell us in a comment for the extra entries to count.
- By leaving a comment and entering the Countdown to Christmas 2011, you agree to the contest information found here.
- Rearview Mirror by Stephanie Black
- The Next Door Boys by Jolene B. Perry
- Winner’s choice of one of the books in the Sadie Hoffmiller Culinary Mystery Series by Josi S. Kilpack (including Banana Split which will be released in February 2012)
- Seeking Persephone by Sarah M. Eden
- Obsession by Traci Hunter Abramson
- Circle of Secrets by Kimberley Griffiths Little
- Indelible by Lani Woodland and a swag bag!
- Identity by Betsy Love
- The Hainan Incident by D.M. Coffman (autographed copy)
- Count Down to Love by Julie N. Ford
- Geek Girl by Cindy C. Bennett
- The Breakup Artist by Shannen Crane Camp
- Seers by Heather Frost
Don’t forget to comment! Merry Christmas and happy reading!
20 Responses to “Pumpkin Roll by Josi S. Kilpack – Countdown to Christmas 2011”
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7:00 was the time our parents set for opening presents. But, the rule was we could get into our stockings whenever we got up. We just had to leave the presents alone. The tree and the fireplace (with the stockings hanging from it) were in separate rooms, so that made it more feasible. I kept that same rule for my kids. By the time I roll out of bed they’ve eaten their body weight in Christmas candy and have, generally, already broken the toy they got in their stocking.
We were always able to convince my parents to get up by 6:30, but the deal was a decent present before digging into presents. To help us avoid the temptation to peek they taped a sheet up to cover the entry to the living room. I’ve kept the same tradition, after all it helps with the grumbles of empty stomaches and we get to play longer.
We could get into our stockings at a set time before my parents got up. My mom was such an early riser that she would be up to watch us. Then we would anxiously wait until Dad got up about 45 minutes later to open presents. I liked that when it was present time we started youngest to oldest and watch while each present was opened. We do much of the same thing with our children, although my husband has hot chocolate waiting for me to enjoy during the present opening Christmas morning.
We could wake our parents up at 7 and were to stay in our rooms until then. Some nights my brother and I would stay awake for most of the night. A couple of times my parents had to wake us up. I would sometimes sneak out into the living room, after my parents were asleep, to check out the gifts. One year, I was being so very quiet until I knocked over a game, which was set out. I then had to find a flashlight and set it up. I thought no one knew, until the next morning at breakfast when I was informed by my dad that he heard someone sneaking around. When my kids were little we allowed them to wake us up at 6:30-7 am. They have to wait until everyone is up, before they can go into the living room. This gave my husband time to set up the video camera, turn on some Christmas music, and the lights. Even though they are older, they still wait.
I can’t remember an exact time we had to wait to get up, but we did have to be dressed and have breakfast before any presents. With our kids now, we make them wait until about 7:30 or so before they can go check out their stockings and then we pass out the presents to open in turn (youngest to oldest).
I can’t remember what time we got up for Christmas as kids. I do remember that it was dark and that we usually got up way before the time we actually went up to the Christmas tree. We would sometimes stay over with my grandparents on Christmas, which as a parent, seems like a nightmare to me now, but we enjoyed it as kids.
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We usually get our kids up around 7-7:30. That’s when I got up when I was little too. :) If not a little bit earlier. And that Pumpkin Roll on Josi’s book? It looks delicious. Mmm…. pumpkin….
I am an evil parent. I have an 8 am rule. They are not allowed to even think of making noise until 8. As a kid, my parents had no rules at all so it is highly likely that we woke those poor people up about the same time they were actually going to sleep.
I don’t remember what the time was but we could not go in the living room until our parents came to get us. Sometimes I would try to peek around the corner of the hallway, but you couldn’t see much. I will definitely set a rule for my kids when they get older because I need my sleep.
This is a really fun series of books, and I love the recipes thrown in.
As a kid I dont remember for sure, but I do know my dad would make us wait for a long while so my mom could sleep in some. Me and my oldest sister would always get horrible tummy aches from the anticipation so we’d usually go play games in her room. :) Now, with my kids we usually start around 6-7ish, as soon as they wake up.
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We don’t have kids so we sleep in as long as we can. Our dog gets us up around 8am though. As a child my parents would always tell us what time we could come out of our rooms on Christmas morning. They would sometimes let us unwrap a gift that would be a new game we could play until the time arrived. My brothers were allowed to come to the room my sister and I shared.
I also loved The Witch of Blackbird Pond.
I love that your parents would not let you up until a certain time. It was the same with my family but my Dad would tape toilet paper over our doorways so he could tell is any of us had tried to sneak out early. We could talk to eachother but would have to wait til my parents gave us the ok to break out of our doorways and head toward the tree. You book looks really entertaining and fun. Thank you for taking the time to write it and share it with us.
~A
We used to have to wait until about 7:00 to come out of our rooms and then wake Mom and Dad up. It seemed it took them forever to get out of bed and going in the morning. We could never figure out why they were always so tired on Christmas morning :) With my kids we don’t have a certain time either. One year we opened presents at 5:30 a.m. because we were all so excited. I love Christmas morning!
By the way, I LOVE Josi’s books!!!!!
When I was a child, my sister and I could only open our stockings once we woke up. We had to wait until the grown-ups finished their special breakfast of oyster stew (yuck!) and if one certain set of aunt and uncle came, we waited for them to come back from Catholic mass. So our present opening started around about 10 AM and lasted for an hour or two because a person opened one present at a time and we all paid attention. It is nice this way because it makes the present time last. Now that I am married and we have a little one, we’ll see what our own tradition becomes. She’s still too young to really know what’s going on yet. But I think we’ll open presents one at a time.
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My kids love to come out early in the morning to see what is under the tree. We usually don’t get up until about 7am for opening gifts. Love just being together and remembering the real meaning of Christmas!!
Thanks for such wonderful books!!!
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