Christmas with Robin
Robin Lee Hatcher discovered her vocation as a novelist after many years of reading everything she could put her hands on, including the backs of cereal boxes and ketchup bottles. However, she’s certain there are better plots and fewer calories in her books than in puffed rice and hamburgers.
The winner of the Christy Award for Excellence in Christian Fiction, the RITA Award for Best Inspirational Romance, and the RWA Lifetime Achievement Award, Robin writes both historical romance and contemporary women’s fiction. A Carol for Christmas?(October 2006) is her 50th release, and she has four books slated for release in 2007. Robin enjoys being with her family, playing with Poppet (her high maintenance Papillon), spending time in the beautiful Idaho outdoors, reading books that make her cry, and watching romantic movies. She is passionate about the theater, and several nights every summer, she can be found at the outdoor amphitheater of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, enjoying Shakespeare under the stars. She makes her home in Boise.
1. Tricia.. What is your favorite Christmas tradition … then and now?
Robin.. I love the way my extended family gathers together on Christmas Eve. We eat, we laugh, we open a few gifts. Some years we go to church, some years we don’t. My memories of my immediate family being with my aunts and cousins and grandmother go all the way back to when I was 5 years old. The memories change through the years as cousins married, we had children, family members passed away, grandchildren came along, but always there is that knowing I am part of a family filled with love and encouragement.
When my two daughters were little, we would take a Saturday to make cookies, to eat and to give away to others. I would roll, cut, and bake. They would sit on stools and the long kitchen counter and frost. There would be one bowl of red frosting, one of green, one of blue, one of yellow, and one of white. I cut snowmen and stars and Santa Clauses and Christmas ornaments. There was frosting and a fine mist of powder all over the counter. Oh, and all over my daughters’ mouths. Those December Saturdays ended a long time ago, but I still remember them fondly and miss them.
2. Tricia.. Spiced cider or eggnog?
Robin.. Spiced cider. Pour the cider into the slow cooker, drop in the cinnamon sticks and cloves and let it simmer. Mmmm. Tastes great and the house smells wonderful, too.
3. Tricia.. What verse from a well-known Christmas carol speaks to your heart?
Robin..
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Did you know
That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you’ve delivered
Will soon deliver you
All the words of Mary, Did You Know are so powerful. As a mother (and grandmother), I cannot help but think what it was like for that young girl as she held baby Jesus in her arms, remembering what the angel of the Lord had told her, pondering the miracle of her pregnancy, trying to imagine what it meant that her son was the Promised One, the Messiah. She couldn’t have known, of course, what that truly meant or the sorrows and joys that lay before her.?
“This child that you’ve delivered will soon deliver you.”
Oooh. It leaves me in awe and so very thankful for His gift of grace.
She invites you to visit her web site at http://www.robinleehatcher.com
and her Write Thinking blog at http://robinlee.typepad.com/
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