Tristi Pinkston is the author four novels, including her most recent release, Agent in Old Lace. She is currently working on a new series called The Secret Sisters Mysteries.

You can purchase Agent in Old Lace from Deseret Book, www.amazon.com and most LDS bookstores.

Visit Tristi on her website: www.tristipinkston.com and her blog: Tristi Pinkston, LDS Author.

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

TRISTI: We do some of the traditions I grew up with – one present on Christmas Eve, and the rest on Christmas morning; reading the Christmas story from the Bible before we open presents, putting up the tree the weekend of Thanksgiving. Since I married and started my own family, we’ve begun some of our own traditions – we like to go door-bell ditching, taking treats to various houses, knocking and running away, but with a twist. We go to neighborhoods where we don’t know anyone, and we each take turns picking houses. This way, they don’t know who brought them gifts, and we don’t know who we took gifts to! This is a fun way to experience giving from a truly different angle, and to teach children the importance of serving everyone.

LDSWBR: What books are on your Christmas wish list, Tristi?

TRISTI: I want just about every book ever published…

LDSWBR: What books have you purchased/will you purchase as gifts for loved ones this Christmas? (Unless sharing would ruin the surprise!)

TRISTI: I bought my in-laws copies of Mark Shurtleff’s new historical novel Am I Not a Man: The Dred Scott Story, and I also bought several copies of Stolen Christmas, the Christmas compilation book put together by LDSPublisher. These were both self-serving – I edited Mark’s book, and I have a story in Stolen Christmas. Then I got a copy of Alvor by Laura Bingham and one of Janette Rallison’s for my daughter, and my three sisters are each getting a copy of Heather Justesen’s The Ball’s in Her Court.

LDSWSBR: Thank you, Tristi, for sharing your traditions with us. Merry Christmas to you and your family!

I love the idea of taking treats to the homes of people you don’t know- what a simple but effective way to teach children about caring for and serving strangers. What have you and/or your family done for a stranger at Christmastime? Do you have more ideas for simple ways to teach children about caring for everyone, even those they don’t know?

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!