With So Much Talk of Tiger Woods...Where is Christmas?

Are we missing the reason for the season?

I don't know about you, but it's always been hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit until the week of Christmas. I put my Christmas tree up, decorate the house a little with some Christmas decorations and turn up the volume on the CD player as I listen to Christmas Carols.

This is my Christmas Tree in my living room. Okay, it's not as grand as the White House Christmas Tree or the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center. But in the coming days I know I will enjoy looking at it more and more because I will find the meaning of the season that always escapes me this time of the year when I'm walking through the mall with the kids or going through the motions. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. And oh, what a splendid birthday celebration that is. It saddens me that we forget that when we become so wrapped up in buying presents and...well, wrapping.

But my Christmas spirit will come. It always does. And by the time Christmas Day arrives, my heart will be overflowing with Christmas cheer. I hope all of you are filled with the spirit of Christmas while you go through your daily lives. Tell me, what do you do to get into the spirit of Christmas? Do you have a favorite holiday tradition? If so, please share it with us.

If you're still looking for a great stocking stuffer, please visit your local bookstore or Amazon.com for Yuletide Protector, my December 2009 release from Love Inspired Suspense.

Until next time, many blessings to you all, Lisa Mondello

YULETIDE PROTECTOR INTERVIEW

Today we're welcoming Daria Carlisle, the heroine of Yuletide Protector by Lisa Mondello, Love Inspired Suspense December 2009.

Wow, you've just had quite an adventure.

1. Tell us a little about yourself and how you came to be in the midst of such suspense.
Hi, I was married for all the wrong reasons. After traveling around from place to place as a child, I wanted a real home and thought my ex-husband would give me that. I was wrong. He wanted me dead and tried to hire an undercover police officer to kill me!

2. So, during the book you met Police Officer, Kevin Gordon. Tell us a bit about him. What was your first impression? When did you know it was love?
I'd met Kevin at the market and thoughthe was really cute. He told me he was a police officer and I foolishly thought he wanted to talk about the vandalism in my neighborhood.I've never been bold or brave when it came to men, but I invited him back to my house to show him first hand the graffiti spray painted on my house. Only he wasn't there about the graffiti. He was there to tell me my ex-husband had just tried to hire him to kill me. He wanted me to leave town, but I'd sunk all my money into my fixer upper and had no money to leave.

3. What strengths/skills do you have? What is your greatest weakness?
I can do carpentry. Good thing because this old house needs a lot of work. I'm also pretty independent. Having to make friends quickly and leave town on a moments notice growing up made me learn the hard way how to do for myself. And I am pretty stubborn. When I get my mind set, it's hard to change it.

4. What scares you?
Right now? My ex-husband and feeling powerless.I'm not sure what he'll do next. Strange things are happening around me and I'm sure he's at the bottom of it.

5. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would try to be less independent and allow people to help me. I don't ask for help and always think I need to do things on my own. It's been like that my whole life. But I'm learning through love that it's good to lean on others and allow them the opportunity to help. I don't have to be alone.

6. Where are you in your faith at the start of your story?
I'd never had a relationship with God before I'd met Kevin Gordon. It's not that I'd rejected faith, I just wasn't exposed to it in my life. Kevin showed me how having a relationship with God could be a foundation that can give you strength and help guide you.

7. Where are you in your faith at the end of the story?
I've accepted God into my life and my heart. It was a big revelation for me. Even if Kevin Gordon hadn't stayed in my life, I realized that I still wanted to know God.

8. You've got a scripture at the beginning of the story. Tell us why this scripture is significant.
Jesus said that if you believe, all things are possible. It's sometimes hard to see that when things are so bleak. But when I opened my heart to God, I saw that I was stronger than I thought and that I could take back the security that I thought had been taken from me.

9. If you could be a dessert what would you be and why?
A Hershey's chocolate bar. I can't seem to get enough of those!!


Thank you Lisa for sharing Daria with us today. This sounds like an exciting read!