Looking Out The Window: Celebrate With Anita Klumpers As She Talks About Her New Christmas Book, Christmas Passed. She'll Give Away An eBook.

A Warm Welcome to Anita Klumpers

To enter to win the eBook of Christmas Past leave a comment and an email address below.

 Anita shares a Bible verse to nourish our souls and a recipe to whet our appetites.

One of Anita's favorite Bible verses

Like everyone else who loves God’s Word, I have too many mercies to count! But the verse I found highlighted in my dad’s Bible as God prepared to take him home is a joy to me:

Through the LORD’S mercies we are not consumed,

Because His compassions fail not.

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

The LORD is my portion,” says my soul.

Therefore I hope in Him!”

Lamentations 3:22-24 (NKJV)

One of Anita's favorite recipes: Adele’s Apple Donuts

In the early 1960s, we lived in Denver. My mom, Adele, heard this recipe on the radio and jotted it down. It’s been a family favorite ever since. Not sure why they are called donuts when they are baked in a muffin tin. But who am I to question Mom and the Denver radio station?

Ingredients

 1 1/2 c. sifted flour

1 3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 c. sugar

1/3 c. shortening

1 beaten egg

1/4 c. milk

1/2 c. grated raw apples

TOPPING

1/2 c. melted butter

1/3 c. sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and 1.2 c. sugar. Cut in shortening till mixture is fine. Mix together eggs, milk and apples. Add all at once to dry ingredients, mix quickly and thoroughly. Fill greased muffins cups 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. While still warm, dip in melted butter and then mixture of combined cinnamon and sugar.

Note: when I’m in a hurry (aka lazy) I’ll spoon the dough in a 8x8 or 9x9 square pan, and when I take it out of the oven poke holes in the cake, pour the butter over it and sprinkle immediately with combined sugar and cinnamon.

That sounds yummy. 

Tell us a little about yourself, Anita.

Thanks for asking! I’ve recognized myself as a child of God since I can remember, and I’m so thankful for parents who raised my siblings and I to love and serve our Savior. My husband, also a Christ-follower, and I have three grown sons, six grandchildren, and our own contracting business. I live in the Midwest and follow the Packers, the Brewers and the Cubs. Usually with tears and moanings.

Were you an avid reader as a child? What did you read?

Oh yes! I was usually referred to “Anita in the corner with a book.” I read anything I could get my hands on. Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, the Happy Hollisters, biographies of Jane Hull and Clara Barton, the Little House books—I was insatiable!

What inspired you to write this particular book?

Honestly? The fact that my publisher was calling for submissions, and I wanted motivation to write AND COMPLETE a Christmas novel.

What do you love about this book? And what do you hope readers will tell others about it?

Dinah is a great girl and I love her.  She has a passion to learn and know about practically everything, and sometimes can’t help blurting out her knowledge, which some people take for arrogance. But she isn’t at all. I love the interplay between generations. It’s so important that we don’t plant ourselves too deeply with only those our age! And like Dinah, I am a Christmas maniac!

If readers tell others this was a fun read spiced with suspense and romance and mixed with faith, love and hope, I would be delighted!

In three words describe your writing process.

Procrastinated. Frantic. Disorganized.

About Christmas Past

Dinah loves Christmas. She loves history, the old Wagner House, and the elderly women working to preserve its heritage. She loves almost everything except Mick Wagner, her childhood nemesis.

But if they want to save the Wagner House and solve a mystery that's been hiding in the attic for almost eighty years, they'll have to join forces. And they have to do it quickly, before one of them dies trying.


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Gail, thank you so much for inviting me to your blog!

It's my pleasure!