Mary
• Profession: accidental baking influencer
• Specialty: peppermint bark & avoidance
• Weakness: holiday nostalgia + one handsome stranger
• Dream: a Christmas that finally feels like home again
Mary’s world smells like cinnamon and quiet determination. Baking was her way to hold on to her sister, to tradition, and to a spark of hope that still felt warm even when everything else went cold. This year though, the holidays are stirring up more than just sugar and spice. When a surprise chance at love slips unexpectedly into her kitchen, Mary must decide what she’s really hungry for…perfection? Or something beautifully imperfect.
Ashton
Meet Ashton
• Profession: IT pro by day, and reluctant tree-lot manager by night
• Favorite scent: pine needles and peppermint bark
• Strength: fixing what’s broken
• Secret talent: remembering people by the way they laugh
• This Christmas: learning that love is worth the mess
Ashton used to love Christmas. The lights, the laughter, the promise of something good just around the corner; Christmas meant home. Until the year it didn’t, and he had to start all over. Now he’s in a new city, helping his aunt and uncle run the family tree lot, and trying not to think about what he’s lost. But the season has a way of sneaking in and softening edges he thought were permanent. Especially when he meets a woman who bakes up batches of hope and fun.
Kurt
Meet Kurt
• Profession: TV producer with a taste for “the next big thing”
• Strength: turning chaos into content
• Weakness: missing the story right in front of him
• This Christmas: learning that love doesn’t need a spotlight
Kurt’s life runs on deadlines and camera cues, his days are glossy, polished, and perfectly staged. As a TV producer, he’s made a career out of turning other people’s lives into engaging stories. But somewhere between the deadlines and the applause, he forgot how to live his own story. When his girlfriend’s quiet Christmas vlog explodes online, Kurt sees opportunity. Contracts, lights, a chance to make her (and himself) a household name. But Christmas has a way of showing what’s genuine and what’s just glitter. Perfection looks different under soft lights and falling snow, and soon he discovers that love isn’t something you script and produce…
Uncle Jack Peterson
Meet Uncle Jack
• Profession: longtime Christmas tree lot owner
• Strength: laughter that can thaw frozen hearts
• Weakness: pretending he’s not worried about the future
• Favorite sound: the snap of pine and the laughter of returning customers
• This Christmas: proving that old-fashioned joy never goes out of style
Jack has been selling Christmas trees on the same corner since before Ashton could walk. He knows every customer by name, every pine by scent, and every December by heart. The world’s changed with its fake trees, big box stores, and bills that stack higher than his evergreens, but Jack still believes in the magic of the real thing. This year, though, the magic’s running thin. The lot is struggling, and he can feel the weight of time pressing against tradition. Still, he smiles, jokes, and ties on every tree with care, because someone has to keep believing. And maybe, just maybe, if love takes root here again, it’ll be enough to keep the twinkle lights on one more year.
Aunt Elsie Peterson
Meet Aunt Elsie
• Profession: master heart reader and co-owner of the Peterson Christmas Tree Lot
• Strength: kindness that fills every wreath she hands out
• Weakness: matchmaking (and she’s rarely wrong)
• Favorite scent: pine, sugar, and the man she’s loved for forty-five years
• This Christmas: proving that love, like tradition, only gets stronger with time
Elsie has spent forty-five Christmases beside her husband, Jack, tying twine, shaping wreaths, and watching the city evolve around their little tree lot. She believes in simple joys: warm hands, soft laughter, and the kind of love that stays steady through every storm. When sales dip and expenses climb, Jack worries about numbers, but Mary worries about hearts and making sure every person who walks through the gate feels seen, welcome, and a little more hopeful than when they arrived. This year, she sees something special in the way her favorite baker looks at her nephew. She’s seen love begin enough times to recognize the spark and she knows that sometimes, a little nudge and a cup of cocoa are all it takes to change everything.