Why Christmas is my Favorite Holiday
by Kathy Coatney
January 3, 2022
Note from blog manager: Kathy turned this in with plenty of time to get this in the queue for December 13th. However, I (Maggie Lynch) was overwhelmed with a combination of work commitments and family responsibilities and this post fell through the cracks. Kathy’s holiday books are wonderful. Though Christmas has passed, these stories will still warm your heart and provide a great love story and happily-ever-after.
Christmas always has so much magic and joy, especially when you have young children around. Their squeals of excitement and wonder at the smallest things always make the holiday more special for me.
I’ve always believed it’s important for children to believe in magic and what could be more magical than Santa Claus? I think it builds their imagination and makes it easier to grasp concepts that can’t be seen. I never rushed them into reality.
There are two instances when my children were young that stand out for the holidays. It was Christmas Eve, and they were three and seven. We were coming home from visiting the grandparents, and there was a howling north wind that night. In the distance there was a tower with a red aircraft warning light.
The kids started yelling from the back seat, “Hurry, hurry we have to get home, That’s Santa’s sleigh. He’s on his way.”
When I looked to where they were pointing, sure enough with the wind blowing the red light it looked just like Santa’s sleigh. We raced home, put out the cookies and milk and scrambled into bed. Almost forty years later, they still talk about that night.
The other Christmas memory I cherish happened about four years later. My husband and I were upstairs in our bedroom wrapping presents for the kids. We were discussing the rollerblades we’d gotten them and that we still needed to get the protective gear.
A noise broke into our discussion, and we looked out the window to see the kids in their treehouse spying on us. We promptly closed the curtains, but they had more fun trying to find out what we’d gotten them than what they got.
I don’t think a memorable Christmas requires perfect decorations or special food. The memories come from paying attention to the little things and holding them close to your heart. And this is what I try to bring to my Christmas stories.
I especially love my Vermont Christmas Romances with the matchmaking Jody and Nick Claus spelled C-L-A-W-S who are actually the real Santa and Mrs. Claus. Jody is based on a dear friend who died unexpectedly in 2021. She loved Christmas so much she put up three trees every year and her husband had a Christmas village that filled their dining room. Writing these books was like having her with me again, and I’d feel her shaking her head whenever I went off track. That’s a special memory I carry with me when I’m writing these stories.
What’s your favorite Christmas memory?
I have two books in the Vermont Christmas Romance—The Murphy Clan series.
Santa Comes to Snowside, Book 1
What music do Santa’s elves like the best? Wrap music!
Annie Murphy, a transit bus driver in Snowside, Vermont, loves scavenger hunts and the corny jokes her riders share. She has a heart as big as the city and gave up college to raise her orphaned nephew without a second thought. But so far true love has eluded her.
A downturn in the economy five years ago sent Jack Davidson down a path to enlightenment. Giving up a lucrative career in finance and his swanky high-rise apartment, he invested all his savings to start Job Hunters 4 You, a nonprofit that helps the unemployed find work. The only thing missing is that special someone in his life.
Jody and Nick Claws arrive on Jack’s doorstep in matching red and green plaid flannel shirts, the spitting image of Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus. The pair are on a mission to work their Christmas magic on two lonely hearts—Annie and Jack.
Nothing kicks off the holidays like a match made in heaven.
Jingle all the Way to Snowside
, Book 2
Sweet Christmas romance. Check. Matchmaking Santa and Mrs. Claus. Check, check. Two lonely hearts. Check, check, check!
She’s a country girl living in the heart of the city. He’s an ex-SEAL teaching kindergarteners.
Sadie McCluskey loved the holidays until she lost her parents in a car accident at sixteen, then her ex-husband left her a week before Christmas. She’s content spending the holidays working her urban farm until Hank Dabrowski walks into her life. Now, all she wants is to get Hank under the mistletoe.
Hank needed a change after ten years as a SEAL. When his fiancé dumps him, he leaves his hometown of Angel Falls, Vermont, and moves to Snowside to teach kindergarteners! Burned, but not broken, Hank still believes in true love, especially after Sadie gives his kids a tour of her farm. Watching her share her joy of farming with them ignites a spark deep inside him. But can he convince her he’s the Christmas gift she’s been longing for?
Jody and Nick Claws arrive on Sadie’s doorstep in matching red and green plaid flannel shirts, the spitting image of that other jolly yuletide couple. Can these holiday matchmakers work their Christmas magic to help two reluctant hearts find their happily ever after?
Nothing kicks off the holidays like a pair of lonely hearts in need of Christmas magic.
Kathy Coatney has spent long hours behind the lens of a camera, wading through cow manure, rice paddies and orchards over her twenty-year career as a photojournalist specializing in agriculture. Kathy also loves—and writes—deeply emotional, small-town contemporary romance. Ironically, her books carry an agriculture thread in them, some more than others. Please note Kathy used to write these books under Kate Curran, but now writes all her books under Kathy Coatney. Kathy also writes a series of nonfiction children’s books, From the Farm to the Table and Dad’s Girls. You can learn more about Kathy at her website.
