CHRISTMAS EXTRAVAGANZA: Jennie Jones

 

Mistletoe Madness with Jennie Jones

 

What are your plans for Christmas 2014?
Who knows? We might have company, we might join others. No doubt I’ll discover the nitty-gritties on Christmas Eve – arg! What time does the supermarket close?

 

Tell us about a usual Christmas in your home?
As above.

 

Any gift in particular that you’d love to see wrapped under the tree?
A big doll’s house – a huge doll’s house. I’d love to spend downtime re-arranging the furniture in it and all the itty-bitty ornaments. The doll who would own the house is Sindy from the 1960s but she’d happily share it with me.

 

What is a typical Christmas lunch and/or dinner at your house?
A roast – no matter the temperature outside or how high the air-con is turned up inside. Then something delicious for dessert about two hours later to add to the calories. Trifle or Christmas pud with cream. (We don’t count calories on Christmas day, do we?)

 

Tell us, what is the one dish that gets served every single year? Is there a story behind this?
Potato Dauphinoise (thinly sliced potatoes layered with cheese and seasoning then topped with cream and baked in a slow oven). You can serve it with anything. I discovered this when living in a bedsit in London whilst young, poor and happy. It is a princess’s dish, yet so basic. Still a favourite.

 

Essentials for an Aussie Christmas…
Company – with quiet moments on the side whenever we need them (usually the bathroom, yes?).

 

Your best Silly Season survival tip?
Don’t get stuck behind a man with a trolley in the supermarket – some guys don’t know how to steer trolleys the way we girls do. Those guys (poor things) are bewitched, bothered, bewildered and in the way.

 

What will you be reading this Christmas?
Actually, I’ll be watching more than reading. Now our daughter has left home, it’s only me and my husband unless there’s a big shindig going on somewhere. I like to spend Christmas day afternoon watching a DVD series – maybe catching up on the latest Downton Abbey series, or watching my all-time favourites: White Christmas and It’s a Wonderful Life.

 

What have been your big achievements in 2014?
Writing three stories in my Swallow’s Fall series – one full length, and two shorter length (It was a challenge, believe me!)

 

What are your plans/goals for 2015?
Figuring out where to head next with my writing. I think Swallow’s Fall is finished (although there’s another storyline up my sleeve if I want it). Also, and important to me – I want to continue to support our daughter in all her nearly-nineteen-year-old exciting endeavours.

 

 

12 Days at Silver Bells House
Jennie Jones

Kate Singleton has twelve days to find herself. With Christmas Day and her thirtieth birthday approaching, the best thing a city-chic fashion designer who no longer has a raison d’etre can do is nullify herself in the country. With Chardonnay.

When trouble strikes, the country presents her with Jamie Knight – a gallant but uncommunicative He-Man who drives an excavator and rescues her, her shoes, and her case of Chardonnay from a boggy field.

The adventure should be over – nothing but a good story to tell to her friends in the city – but her saviour turns out to also be an unexpected roommate, the new owner of Silver Bells House, Kate’s holiday home.

Forced together and dragged into the community Christmas spirit of the town, Kate and Jamie flounder their way through mistletoe, kissing games, carolling choirs, and a bone-deep yearning for community and acceptance.

Can the enchanting Silver Bells House and the holidays bind them together? Or will love get lost on Highway B23 back to the city?

Amazon Australia  |  Amazon US  |  iTunes

 

 

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