Today we have the wonderful
Lily Carlyle
with us !!!
Welcome
Lily, so great to have you here with us…I have a few Christmas questions for
you…
What is your
favorite childhood Christmas memory ?
My parents never allowed us to put up the
Christmas tree until just a few days before Christmas, despite endless nagging
from me and my sisters. However, we were allowed to begin listening to
Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving, and I swear we got out the
Christmas albums first thing Friday morning! The first song on our favorite
album was “Home for the Holidays,” sung by Perry Como. To this day, hearing the
beginning of that song brings back that magical childhood feeling of
anticipation.
Do you like
to decorate your house? Anything special
that you do for your decorating?
I like
having my house decorated! I can’t say I actually enjoy doing it. I love the
variety of ornaments we have—ones I made as a child, ones my children made, old
family heirlooms, gifts from friends, cheap ones I buy at Target in January, etc. They’re all precious to me.
Do you have
any special tradition that your family celebrates for the Christmas Holiday?
We
have what some might see as an odd breakfast tradition. Kielbasa and eggs, to
honor my father, who perfected the unusual dish, and Grandma’s Coffee Cake, a
recipe from my mom’s side of the family. (recipe available in Making Magic).
Although the coffee cake recipe is by no means difficult, it does have one
rather tricky step which inevitably leads to blasphemy on Christmas Eve. My own
special and inappropriate holiday tradition.
Are you the
holiday cook or do you let someone else do the cooking?
I do the cooking, which
is a mixed blessing for my family!
Do you like
to be where there is snow for the holidays or are you a snowbird that likes to
fly south for the winter?
Well, I’m a
Pittsburgh native who has lived in Atlanta for fifteen years, so although I’ve
flown south but I’d prefer to be in the snowy north with my family.
As a reader,
do you like to read Christmas stories?
Of course.
As a writer,
do you like to write Christmas stories?
Yes. My two favorite stories that I’ve
written were Christmas stories. “Santa Bebe,” published in For the Love of Christmas by Still Moments Publishing this year and
“Big Tom” published in True Romance
magazine a few years back.
Do you give
the gift of reading for Christmas ?
My goodness, yes. We’re a reading family.
For fun, I
have a few personal questions,
Your
Favorite 5
1) Favorite Christmas
song – “The Best Gift,” sung by Barbra Streisand. I remember listening to it as
a child and not really liking it. Then I had my own little Christmas baby
almost 8 years ago and I’ve loved the song ever since.
2) Favorite
Christmas movie- Holiday Inn. I love old movies! And Rudolph the Red-Nosed
Reindeer, although I suppose it’s technically not a movie.
3) Favorite
Christmas story - “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry and “A Christmas Memory”
by Truman Capote.
4) Favorite
Christmas color- Red.
5) Favorite
Christmas food – Cookies!
And for a
bonus, if you were given the gift of travel to anywhere for the holidays, where
would you want to go???
Vienna. Or the Alps. Maybe Moscow. Or Budapest. I’m
pretty easy!
Where can
our readers find you??
Email:
lilycarlyle@hotmail.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LilyCarlyle
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/writerlilycarlyle
Is there an
upcoming or current release you would like to share with us today and where can
we find it?
“Santa Bebe”
in
For the Love of
Christmas
Ok, before we let you leave us today, do you have a favorite holiday
recipe you'd like to share? I loke to
cook and am always looking for new recipes to try and share.
Well, here’s
Grandma’s Coffee Cake recipe, which is also available in Still Moments
Publishing’s Making Magic.
However, I
strongly discourage you from cursing while making it. I know my grandma would
be disappointed in me for doing so, more so if she knew I encouraged others!
Grandma’s Coffee Cake
Batter
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 ½ cups sifted flour
¼ pound butter, softened
½ - ¾ cup milk
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp salt
Streusel mixture
1 cup light brown sugar
1/8 pound butter
4 tbsp. flour
¾ cup chopped walnuts (opt.)
4 tsp. cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375. Grease & flour 9” square pan. Mix
ingredients for batter. Spread half of batter in pan, sprinkle half of streusel
mixture. Spread remaining batter (you may find it helpful to add a bit more
milk to make it more spreadable). Sprinkle remaining streusel mixture.
Bake 25-35 minutes.
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