Monday 14 December 2009

Authors' Christmas - Part 2

merry christmasHere we have the second in a series of three posts, Authors' Christmas, in which four authors talk about their Christmas celebrations.

What is your favourite childhood memory of Christmas?

Becca Fitzpatrick, author of Hush, Hush:
When I was five years old, the only thing I wanted for Christmas was a ride on Rudolph. My mom kept encouraging me to ask for at least one other present, but I was adamant that if a ride on Rudolph was the only thing I asked for, Santa would have to give it to me. On Christmas Eve, my older sister Heather and I stayed up as late as we could, listening for the sound of reindeer hooves landing on the roof. Every time we nearly drifted off, one of us would bolt upright and whisper, “I think I heard something!” Eventually, we fell fast asleep. The following morning, I woke up, ran down the hall to my parents' bedroom, and started crying. I thought Santa had forgotten me. That's when my mom pulled me into her arms and told me that I had in fact taken a ride on the back of Rudolph! She said she and Santa both kept trying to wake me up, but I was in such a deep sleep, I slept through the whole thing. I couldn't believe it! My one and only ride on Rudolph, and I slept through the whole thing...

Luisa Plaja, author of Split by a Kiss and Extreme Kissing:
Visiting my parents' friends near Rome and spending Christmas in a group of five kids. Or possibly the Befana, a witch who visited our Italian flat on January 6th and brought a black bin liner which always contained the best toys! Befana was often a bigger deal than Christmas, present-wise.

Emily Gale, author of Girl, Aloud:
Making my chocolate-bar-filled Christmas stocking (you know, those mesh ones that have a Topic in them – Topic! Old school) last longer than my brother’s. Used to drive him insane.

Ruthanne Reid, author of Guardian:
Opening presents by the light of the multi-colored strands on the tree while listening to carols my dad put on the stereo and smelling the breakfast he had cooking for when we were through.

What is your favourite part of Christmas now, as an adult?

Becca Fitzpatrick:
Every year, my family makes a gingerbread house. It's our annual tradition. The first couple years, the houses always fell apart – once, the roof caved, and another time the whole house leaned sideways until it finally fell over. We've gone back and forth between using real gingerbread, graham crackers and buying the do-it-yourself kits. Now, nine years later, we're getting pretty good.

Luisa Plaja:
Definitely my children's excitement!

Emily Gale:
With the exception of their desire to listen to the singing mice fifty times a day, it’s the children. They think it’s magical. I’m happy to be able to live vicariously through them on that score.

Ruthanne Reid:
My husband. Seriously. Nothing is like Christmas with him - even when we'd just-moved and had no furniture, he made it wonderful. We celebrated that one on the floor with a poinsettia as our "tree." It was awesome.

I love Becca's Mum, don't you?! So cool! How about you, what would your answers be?

8 comments:

  1. Hi Jo :)
    Excellent post. Thank you to the authors for sharing. I really enjoyed their answers.
    Happy Holidays,
    RKCharron

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm glad you enjoyed it! It's great to find out about authors' lives away from books, and Christmas is just a great topic to talk about! :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. Glad you enjoyed reading the authors' answers! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a fabulous feature! I am really enjoying this.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you, I'm so glad you like it! The authors were lovely enough to answer the questions, so it's great people are enjoying it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. LOL. Becca's answer was so funny. Fantastic

    ReplyDelete
  7. I know! That's just SO cute! I love it! Glad you enjoyed the post :)

    ReplyDelete