Christmas in the Village

Step into a Christmas world where mysteries hide beneath the snow, wooden carvings come magically to life, and the true spirit of the season can appear in the most unexpected places. In Christmas in the Village, Reily Mary Scott brings together a collection of heartwarming, humorous, and sometimes suspenseful holiday stories featuring characters from The Cora Chronicles and The Village Keeper Mysteries. From the Christmas celebrations of the past to the magical Village of today, these stories explore family, friendship, forgiveness, hope, and the little miracles that make the holidays unforgettable.
In "Cora and the Stolen Christmas Angel Caper," teenage Cora becomes determined to discover who took the treasured wooden Angel from her school Christmas play. But her search for a thief leads her toward a far more important lesson about compassion and the meaning behind another person's actions. Elsewhere, "Gunda's Favorite Thanksgiving" reaches back to a lively family celebration in 1912, when a magical six-inch Villager secretly experiences the warmth, noise, laughter, and togetherness of a crowded holiday table-a memory that becomes especially precious when later holidays grow quiet and lonely.
The Villagers bring plenty of mischief and laughter to the collection as well. In "Astrid's Recipe for Farmer Cookies," Holly attempts to make an old Norwegian cookie recipe with six-inch Astrid supervising-a simple plan that soon leaves the kitchen covered with flour, sugar, egg, and melted butter. In "Nils Wins a Trip to the Tree Farm," the Village's hardworking but perpetually grouchy craftsman is sent away from his work for a Christmas outing with Christina, Ian, and Holly, where handmade ornaments, children, snow, and an unexpected fit of laughter may finally remind him that Christmas is about more than meeting a production schedule.
History and Christmas legend become intertwined in several other adventures. In wartime Duluth, "Alice's First Day on the Job" follows a nervous young woman as she steps before a live radio microphone in 1942 to teach listeners how to prepare ration-friendly food while Nicholas and Astrid secretly provide moral support. And in "Henrik-The One Who Put His Nose Where It Did Not Belong," Holly learns the astonishing story of a foggy Christmas Eve in Chicago, when Nicholas lost his troublesome lead reindeer and an encounter with a Montgomery Ward employee may have helped inspire one of the most famous reindeer stories of all time. Another tale reaches all the way back to 1649, revealing how Lars's devotion to his herd becomes part of the magical history behind Nicholas and his tiny reindeer.
Finally, Christmas returns to the present in stories about love, belonging, and unfinished family business. In "Holly's Christmas Night," Holly desperately wants Christina to become part of her family, but two mischievous Villagers secretly crash Christmas dinner and threaten to turn her carefully imagined perfect holiday into complete chaos. And in "Nicholas and Julia," Nicholas encounters an estranged woman on Christmas Eve and urges her to confront the family and home she left behind years ago, opening the door to secrets and choices that reach beyond this collection. Filled with magical woodcarvings, tiny flying reindeer, historical surprises, family laughter, holiday mishaps, and heartfelt reminders that Christmas magic belongs to anyone willing to believe in it, Christmas in the Village is a collection for readers who enjoy their holidays with equal measures of warmth, mystery, humor, and wonder.