Barbara EscherBarbara Escher fell in love with Christmas at an early age. She grew up in Philadelphia and loved seeing the city come alive with light and color as Christmas approached. Many years later, Barbara looks back on her passion for Christmas and remembersthe years she spent teaching and creating stories. First for every kid on her block. And later for a classroom and her own children. Even when she helped companies craft their success stories, she often found a way to sneak a little Christmas in the back door! After all, telling stories and making things come to life, whether it's a business or a stuffed toy, have a lot in common. One day Barbara decided that she wanted to tell a very special kind of story. So she stopped running her business and spent more time writing the children's book that had been in her head for so long. That book became The Girl Who Found Christmas. Today, Barbara lives in Tampa, Florida with her husband Joe Merkt and Hope, their Havanese lapdog. She still loves Christmas and delights in decorating her Christmas tree with ornaments made by her children long ago. Tampa is less than an hour from the Gulf beaches, and Barbara loves to dip her toes in the waves when she isn't writing. She also loves spending time with her children, grandchildren, and grand-pets (three dogs, three cats, and a turtle named Michelangelo). When she was a little girl, Barbara read every book she could get her hands on from the Betsy-Tacy stories to all-time-favorite Nancy Drew. Today, if you came to visit, you would see that she still has a book open in every room of the house! For more information or to see reviews of the book, visit www.RedMittenBooks.com Read More Read Less