Woeful Spotlight: Teresa Ambord

Teresa's essay in All Woe Great and Small shows why the  good tidings of the holiday season should not extend to slimy, crawling creatures.

Your story in All Woe Great and Small is about an unsavory house guest that disrupted your holiday. What was one of your favorite holiday memories?

One Christmas my son and I were finally able to have a dog again, after a long time without one. Sandy was an Australian Shepherd, covered with long curls of gray hair.  That first year Sandy must have walked too close to the Christmas tree so that one of her gray curls on her neck caught the hook of an ornament and removed it from the tree.  Neither she nor I knew it. That is, till she came strolling up to me, dangling a shiny red bulb at her neck, just as though she'd dawned a necklace. I say she decorated herself to brighten my Christmas. 


Speaking of house guests, if you could invite one famous person (living or dead) over for Christmas dinner, who would it be and why?

The epitome of the Christmas spirit is captured in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life."  I watch it every year and always tear up in the final scene. This movie also happens to star my favorite actor, Jimmy Stewart as George Bailey. If I could have one guest of my choosing to my home for Christmas dinner, it might be Jimmy Stewart.

If Crayola named a crayon after you, what would they name it, and what color would it be? 

A crayon  named for me would have an unusual, but appropriate name, Merry Heart.  Merry Heart would be a vibrant green, a symbol of life. The Bible says a merry heart has a continual feast, and a merry heart is good medicine. I like that!

Promote yourself. Where else can we find more of your writing?

My personal stories have been published in several issues of Chicken Soup Books (CS for the Adoptive Soul, CS Devotions for Tough Times, CS for Positive Thinking, CS Boost Your Brainpower, CS I Can't Believe My Cat Did That, and one upcoming book) several Cup of Comfort books (CC for Christmas, CC for Sisters, CC for Dog Lovers II), other anthologies such as Dad's Bow Tie and one coming soon about blended families.  These are the stories I write for fun. I make a living writing business articles for BizActions.com and I am a paid contributor to a wonderful health and wellness site for women called liteliving.net, multiple senior publications, and I write weekly for AccountingWeb.com.