Christmas Through a Child's Eyes (27 page)

BRIDGET BALTHROP MORTON
(“The Truth about Santa”) freely admits her favorite feast during the holidays is St. Stephen's Day. She adores sitting by the fire, glass of brandy in hand, with nothing to do but admire her tree and the crumpled wrapping paper at her feet.

KATHLEEN M. MULDOON
(“The Baby Jesus Bed”) teaches writing for the Institute of Children's Literature. She has authored sixteen books and numerous magazine articles and stories for children. When not writing, she enjoys playing with her cat, Prissy, and her parakeet, Abraham, at her home in San Antonio, Texas.

AMY AMMONS MULLIS
(“A Different Kind of Carol”) lives in upstate South Carolina with a black Lab and a spoiled Dachshund, instead of a reindeer team. She works as a church secretary, but if she ever grows up, she hopes to live the adventurous life of an elf. Read more of her essays in Letters to My Mother: Tributes to the Women Who Give Us Life — and Love and A Cup of Comfort® for Writers (2007).

CLAUDIA MCKINNEY MUNDELL
(“Giving and Receiving”) grew up in Kansas, but writes from Carthage, Missouri, where she lives with her husband. The mother of two grown sons, Claudia has taught Language Arts in Missouri schools, been active in library work, dabbled at weaving, loves to visit historic places, and enjoys music from the '40s through the '60s.

MATTHIAS L. NISKA
(“An Inexpensive Gift”) holds degrees in Music Education and History from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. His writing interests include character-driven, Christian-oriented fiction, poetry, and personal experience pieces. His poem, “A Writer's Prayer,” will appear in an upcoming issue of The Christian Communicator. He resides in Andover, Minnesota.

MARILYN OLSEIN
(“Dancing with Daddy”) retired from her career in Detroit's automotive industry and is now a freelance writer living in Mobile, Alabama. She is a charter member of the Mobile Writers' Guild and is in the process of completing her second novel.

LINDA KAULLEN PERKINS
(“Christmas Giving”) has had her work appear in Bylines 2007 Writer's Desk Calendar, The Rocking Chair Reader series, A Cup of Comfort® for Weddings, and Classic Christmas by Adams Media. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, the Missouri Writers' Guild, and a critique group. For more information, check out her Web site: http://hometown.aol.com/squatters5/lindakaullenperkins.html.

CHERYL K. PIERSON
(“The Adventures of Baby Jesus”) lives in Oklahoma City with her husband and two “almost-grown” children. Currently, she is working on her sixth novel and a screenplay adaptation. Cheryl teaches writing workshops in the Oklahoma City metro area.

CONNIE VIGIL PLATT
(“Window Shopping”) has finally realized her lifelong dream of becoming a published author. A number of her short stories have been published both online and in print. Her novel, Pair A Dice, can be found at all major bookstores.

CAROLINE B. POSER
(“Boy to the World!”), the mother of three sons, is a technology marketing manager by day and moonlights as an author and columnist. For more information visit her Web site at:
www.CarolinePoser.com
.

DEBRA J. RANKIN
(“Finding Santa”) enjoys reading mysteries and nonfiction. When not baking cookies, knitting, or working in her garden, Debra is working on a memoir about her father.

FRANCES HILL ROBERTS
(“A Good Song for Shaving”) is a retired family therapist who recently returned to school to follow her dream of writing. Frances, a grandmother with a passion for the written word, hopes readers enjoy her account of her happiest and most innocent Christmas.

BOB ROSE
(“The Hairbrush”) is a husband, father, and grandfather. He enjoys cooking and rehabbing his eighty-year-old house. Bob has been a carpenter, music teacher, pastor, counselor, and salesman. He has written for numerous magazines, devotionals, and book anthologies. He makes his home in Wyoming.

JOAN FITTING SCOTT
(“So Little, So Much”) is an award-winning freelance writer. She is the author of Skinning the Cat: A Baby Boomer's Guide to the New Retiree Lifestyles. She has written for
www.office.com
and
www.goworldtravel.com
, and her work has appeared in Distinctive Lifestyles, Where, Key, The Fort Worth Business Press, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, and Greensboro News and Record, as well as several anthologies. She is a member of the Freelance Writers Network and lives in Fort Worth, Texas.

AL SERRADELL
(“A Musical Miracle”), a Los Angeles native, is a veteran writing instructor in the Oklahoma City area. A professional journalist, Al has worked for newspapers in Oklahoma (Journal Record and Guthrie News Leader) and Colorado (Rocky Mountain News), and co-owns an editorial business, FabKat Editorial Services,
www.westwindsmedia.com
.

SHARON SHEPPARD
(“Mother Knows Best”) is a wife, mother, grandmother to five boys, and freelance writer, living in Central Minnesota. A former college English instructor, she has also taught English as a Second Language in Riga, Latvia. Her fiction and nonfiction pieces have appeared in scores of magazines and anthologies.

FAITH SHERRILL
(“Belonging to Winter”) was born in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1983. Twenty-two years later, she moved to California, where she has worked a number of jobs while writing her first novel, Moon Child.

LYNNE COOPER SITTON
(“Some Gifts Cannot Be Wrapped”) has published stories, verses, and illustrations in anthologies, greeting cards, and on the children's Web site for Focus for Family. Lynne and her husband live in South Florida, where she is president of the American Christian Writers' Association. Besides her sons, Lynne also has two granddaughters who will hear their great-great-grandmother's stories.

RITA H. STRONG
(“The Sweeping Angel”) resides with her husband of sixty years in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Her articles and stories have appeared in national and local publications. Rita directs a “Fun in Writing” class at the Senior Center in the city.

DONNA SUNDBLAD
(“Forty Dollars”) is a freelance writer and author. She lives in rural Georgia with her husband and flock of pets. Donna shares the joy of storytelling with her grandchildren, and her love of writing spreads beyond the pages of her books to workshops, the development and teaching of online writers' classes, and a monthly column for writers. Her books Pumping Your Muse and Wind walker are available in print or ebook format. For more information, visit Donna's Web site at
www.theinkslinger.net
.

ANNEMARIEKE TAZELAAR
(“The Saint and the Santa”), born in the Netherlands, moved to Michigan after World War II. She has lived her adult life in Washington State as a teacher and business owner, and spends her spare time writing. One of her stories is featured in The Rocking Chair Reader, and several articles appear in the A Cup of Comfort® collection.

CHERIE TROPED
(“A Gift for Veronica”) is the author of three children's books. An award-winning journalist and playwright, Cherie is a contributing writer for The Los Angeles Times and other national and regional publications. A graduate of St. Joseph's College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, she lives and writes in Los Angeles.

PATSY THOMAS
(“Seeing is Believing”) is currently working on her first full-length project, a historical time-travel romance novel. She loves to travel and read, and has worked in the banking industry for the past twenty-five years. Patsy has two grown sons, and lives with her husband, Joseph, and pug dog, Picabo, in Yukon, Oklahoma.

WAYNE R. WALLACE
(“Home for the Holidays”), now retired from the local electric utility company in Oklahoma City, is a college professor working on his first novel. His story “A Bike for Christmas” was published in Classic Christmas: True Stories of Holiday Cheer and Goodwill.

STELLA WARD WHITLOCK
(“Grandpa's Love”) is the wife of a Presbyterian minister, mother of four, grandmother of seven, writer, and teacher. Stella currently teaches at Methodist University, Fayetteville, North Carolina.

MEGAN (MOLLY) D. WILLOME
(“The Sweetness of Giving”) contributes to Wacoan, a monthly lifestyle magazine, volunteers her time and expertise on newsletters for nonprofit organizations, and also writes for Directions: The Magazine of the Texas Hill Country. Additionally, Megan's work has been included in several anthologies.

LESLIE J. WYATT
(“Evergreen”) is a freelance writer for children and adults, with more than eighty articles and stories accepted for publication, as well as a middle-grade historical novel, Poor is Just a Starting Place (Holiday House). Leslie and her husband of twenty-four years have six children and live in an 1880s farmhouse in rural Missouri.

H
elen Szymanski and her high school sweetheart, Thomas Polaski, have been married for thirty-two years and have three grown children of whom they are very proud.

Over the course of her career, Helen has progressed from poet to essayist, photojournalist to author, and newspaper editor to book editor. As an enjoyable pastime, Helen keeps the magic of her own childhood Christmases alive through her Web site
www.theelfdoor.com
, where she designs elf doors, a hobby she began when she was eight years old. Contact her at [email protected].