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turkey ’n’ trimmings meal, although I love that! Here’s why: other than our children, now all married, my husband, Wayne, and I don’t have relatives in the immediate area, which is a very different experience from the way I grew up. During the first few Christmases with our young family, I cooked and baked and wrapped and decorated; in short, I tried to recreate my childhood Christmases. What happened was that I spent all of Christmas Day in the kitchen, slaving away. The children were far more interested in playing with their new toys than in sitting down to a fancy dinner. After about two years of this, Wayne and I decided to set up a buffet instead. During the day on Christmas Eve I cooked. Each of our four children could request a special salad or other dish for Christmas, which I then made. I also ordered a huge deli tray and sandwich makings. Then, early afternoon on Christmas Day, I put out the spread and everyone could eat whenever and whatever they wanted. Now that our children are adults with families of their own, we do a progressive dinner the weekend before Christmas, which has proven to be a lot of fun. We have a course at each house, starting with appetizers and ending with dessert. That way we get to celebrate and socialize together—and our children are free to set up their own family traditions for Christmas.

What’s the best Christmas present you ever received?

I have two answers to this—a spiritual one and a, shall we say, more worldly one. From a spiritual perspective, this question is easy to answer: Jesus, who is, after all, the reason for this celebration in the first place. (And don’t forget that the origin of “holiday” is “holy day.”)

My second answer is something that happened in 1994. Our oldest son, Ted, and his wife, Lana, were returning from their honeymoon just before Christmas and their flight was delayed. They arrived at the airport in Portland, Oregon, on Christmas Eve, where they were stuck. Wayne and I drove all the way to Portland to get them, and then the rest of the family—the kids and my parents—came from their homes to ours on Christmas Day. Having the whole family together, especially when we weren’t expecting to, was such a gift!

What’s the best Christmas gift you ever gave?

A few Christmases ago my entire family went on a cruise around Hawaii. It wasn’t the traditional Christmas, that’s for sure! But it was a very special time since we spent it with our children, their spouses and our grandchildren. It’s been quite a few years since we were all together on Christmas Day and it’s certainly a holiday every one of us is going to remember.

What inspired The Perfect Christmas?

This book was initially published in 2009, and it marked a return for me to romantic comedy. As you know, my heroine goes to see a matchmaker, and that situation was based on news stories I’d recently read, about the fact that people were revisiting this old-fashioned approach to love and courtship. The idea of the three tasks probably has its origin in fairy tales—three is such a traditional and often magic number in stories.

Three of your Christmas stories have been turned into original movies for Hallmark Channel. What was that like?

The books were Mrs. Miracle, Call Me Mrs. Miracle and in 2011, Trading Christmas. The first two featured TV star Doris Roberts as the title character, and both movies were the most-watched of the year on this channel. Seeing my stories turned into movies has been an exciting and fascinating experience, and I’ve learned a lot about the differences between books and scripts. Trading Christmas was first published in 2004 as When Christmas Comes and is partially set in Leavenworth, Washington, which is practically the Christmas capital of the world. This is a town that takes Christmas very seriously.

Speaking of Christmas towns, what about Cedar Cove? Your final book in this series is a Christmas title.

Yes, 1225 Christmas Tree Lane. We’ve included the first chapter in this volume as an introduction and an enticement. 1225 Christmas Tree Lane seemed