Today, on my Christmas countdown, I am delighted to welcome author Angela Britnell whose novel, Christmas in Little Penhaven is definitely on my reading list this festive season.
Welcome to my blog Angela, I greatly enjoyed my last visit to Little Penhaven, in One Summer in Little Penhaven, and I would love to know how your characters will be celebrating Christmas…
It’s tricky to answer this without giving away too much of the story but ‘Christmas in Little Penhaven’ is set in a small Cornish village where most of the inhabitants celebrate in the time honoured English manner. But Samantha, my feisty American heroine from ‘One Summer in Little Penhaven’, wants to incorporate her own holiday traditions into her new life so there will be definite parallels with my own transatlantic celebrations.
Here’s the blurb, for a bit more of a hint 🙂
Have yourself a little Cornish Christmas …
Wannabe author Jane Solomon is expecting an uneventful Christmas in her Cornish village of Little Penhaven.
But then super fit American gym owner Hal Muir comes to town, and suddenly the holiday season looks set to be far more interesting. Hal is keen on embracing every British tradition on offer, from mince pies to Christmas pub quizzes – and perhaps some festive romance too …
Please, tell us more about your own transatlantic celebrations and what you’ll be up to this Christmas:
By the time 25th December rolls around we’ll be getting ready to move house but plan to host the family anyway. At least two of our sons and their families will join us but the third could already have moved because they’re in the process of moving too. As far as the Christmas meal is concerned we always combine British and American favourites so as well as roast turkey we’ll have southern cornbread dressing (instead of stuffing), sweet potato casserole and an asparagus casserole plus roast potatoes and sprouts! Desserts will be a mixture too including southern boiled custard and snickerdoodle cookies alongside mince pies and Christmas pudding. We’ll have stockings for everyone old and young and I’ll definitely listen to the Queen’s speech.
Wow! Good luck with moving house at such a busy time of year. And I would love to know what snickerdoodle cookies are, they sound great. Before you go, please take a moment to answer five quick fire questions from my Christmas selection (I am loving everybody’s answers to these!):
Mince pie or Christmas pudding? I love both but if forced to choose it has to be mince pies – preferably homemade, warm and served with Cornish clotted cream.
Singing a Christmas carol or bopping along to a Christmas classic? I love hearing and singing traditional Christmas carols but seriously dislike canned seasonal music you hear played in shops for months leading up to the holidays. I particularly hate sappy Christmas songs – ‘I’ll be home for Christmas’ and ‘White Christmas’ make me gag! My own preferences have sneaked into the character of Jane in ‘Christmas in Little Penhaven.’
Worst Christmas gift? Definitely the sewing machine my husband gave me many years ago. To set the scene I hate sewing, I was suffering from the flu and everything was being captured on video to send to my parents in Cornwall. I had to plaster on a smile and pretend to be pleased while wanting to smash the offending object through the nearest window.
Multi-coloured decs or co-ordinated Christmas tree? IMHO colour-coordinated ones belong in hotel lobbies but everyone to their own! I love unwrapping our tree decorations every year because they bring back wonderful memories. Red hearts from Denmark, carved wooden decorations bought at German Christmas markets, exquisite hand painted glass balls from Italy and cross-stitch ornaments made by old friends no longer with us.
Sprouts or no sprouts? Sprouts – I love them now and my sons all enjoy them (the youngest would bizarrely eat them like sweets as a two year old!) but they’re definitely a taste I’ve acquired with age because as a child I hated them and thought them a plague on Christmas.
Oh goodness, I would be disappointed with a sewing machine too (well done on the fake smile), and I do love hearing a Christmas carol too, though I must confess to bopping along to all kinds of sappy Christmas songs from about October, hehe!
Thank you so much for joining my Christmas countdown and I wish you and your family a wonderful festive season! xx
About the author:
Angela Britnell grew up in Cornwall, England and returns frequently from her new home in Nashville, Tennessee to visit family and friends, drink tea and eat far too many Cornish pasties!
A lifelong love of reading turned into a passion for writing contemporary romance and her novels are usually set in the many places she’s visited or lived on her extensive travels. Thanks to over three decades of marriage to her wonderful American husband she’s a huge fan of transatlantic romance and always makes sure her characters get their own happy-ever-after.
Angela is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association, the Romance Writers of America and the Music City Romance Writers.
If you’d like to find out more of what Angela gets up to (Advance warning: this may include references to wine, chocolate, Poldark and the hunky Aidan Turner) check out: Facebook | website | Twitter | Instagram
Don’t miss author Jane Cable sharing a Christmas read and some festive fun, on my blog on Monday 9th December. xx
Thanks for inviting me here today and it was a fun one to take part in. Snickerdoodle cookies are a plain sugar cookie sprinkled with coloured sugar or cinnamon – my mother-in-law always made them for Xmas and I’ve continued the tradition in fact my boys used to joke it was the only time I ever made cookies!
You are most welcome, and thank you for taking the time to answer while you are so busy. Those cookies sound delicious, and I do love a family tradition. xx