My Story Behind the Story of Christmas Trinkets by Loree Peery

A year ago, I lost myself in the holiday romances of Hallmark Christmas movies. Those stories helped keep the spirit of romantic love alive within my heart. They always make me feel good, and somewhere I made a note to incorporate a piece of antique jewelry into my next story. Then Christmas Trinkets came together piece by piece toward the end of January as I brainstormed characters and worked on the plot ideas.

As for the concept of trinkets, I’ve always enjoyed old things. Curious objects or treasured keepsakes make me wonder about the people who owned them and the stories behind the objects. Especially old keys. What secrets did those jagged edges open? My husband was executor for two bachelor uncles and a childless aunt, so we acquired a few antiquities over the years. At the time Christmas Trinkets sparked, I had an image in my mind of a short, thick chain with a double heart shape at the end. I concluded it was a pocket watch fob. I asked hub’s permission to go through those old boxes that had belonged to his ancestors.

That chain in my mind’s eye never showed up, but I ran across a trinket that had always raised my curiosity. I took a picture and posted it on Facebook. Between the inquiry and my own search, the object turned out to be a glove clip, circa 1940s, that attaches to a purse strap so the gloves aren’t misplaced.

As per setting, my other Christmas stories took place in or near Lincoln. I have an affinity for small towns and pictured places in two real towns to make up Edgewood, not far outside city limits. The bank vault in Auntie’s Antiquities was inspired by a vault where a working garage was built around it, near my home. The brick bank building it originated from is across the street from the garage and rented as a small home.

I’ve discovered I use a particular word over and over in every story I write, and it’s never the same word. In Christmas Trinkets I typed the word never 63 times on 95 pages. I often don’t catch the word in my own edits, and then it’s too late to fix in galleys.

Something comically weird happened with Trinkets. My editor asked me a question about the story. I went to open my document folder and didn’t have the file. I couldn’t find it anywhere on my computer. I checked the flash drive I use for back-up, and there it was, in a doc 25 pages longer than the one I had sent her. (I found that file, whew, in my email sent folder.) I retrieved and opened it.

But why the difference in length?

Curious to figure out the mystery in the file sizes, I compared the documents page by page. I discovered multiple pages covered in lines of yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyys.

I’ve heard of cats walking across keyboards and adding gobbledygook letters to the screen. No cats in my house. I also know an author who fell asleep slumped over her keyboard. I must have dozed off myself.

Merry Christmas to you all. I encourage you to use your imaginations the next time you run across interesting pieces of old jewelry or keepsakes. There’s a story behind such objects. But never forget, the greatest story of all time is the reason we celebrate Christmas.

Christmas Trinkets blurb:

She was looking for coffee and conversation. He was looking for a quiet place to write. What they found was a connection that would make this Christmas unforgettable.

Hayley Wolfe shares a kinship with the lost and lonely. Growing up without a father taught her that you can’t always count on people. Her strong faith in God taught her that her Heavenly Father is unshakable. When she meets Kameron Kohl at her antiques and coffee shop, she’s immediately drawn to his warmth and charm.

After being abandoned on the steps of a church as a baby, Kameron Kohl has spent his life rejecting God and meaningful relationships. After all, his own mother didn’t care for him, so why should anyone else. But Kameron never expected to meet Hayley Wolfe. Her faith in Christ, her inner beauty and selfless openness towards strangers, has Kameron falling for her hard.

When Hayley notices a connection between Kameron's keychain and the locket passed down to her from her mother, she wants to investigate further. Kameron refuses. As friendship turns to love, Hayley will have to rely on God to soften Kameron’s heart.

Will the connection between their Christmas Trinkets lead them to love or unanswerable questions?

Author bio:

Christian romance author LoRee Peery writes to feel alive, as a way of contributing, and to pass forward the hope of rescue from sin. She writes of redeeming grace with a sense of place. LoRee clings to I John 5:4 and prays her family sees that faith. She has authored the Frivolities Series and other e-books. Her desire for readers, the same as for her characters, is to discover where they fit in this life journey to best work out the Lord’s life plan. She is who she is by the grace of God: Christian, country girl, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, friend, and author. She’s been a reader since before kindergarten. Connect with LoRee through these links: www.loreepeery.com

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