A Match Made at Christmas, a collection of Christmas romance novellas

A Match Made at Christmas, a collection of Christmas romance novellas
Friday, November 8, 2024 by Lori Dejong

Categories: Friday's Fiction / GUEST AUTHORS

When Dreams Change Course

Have you ever had a dream that just wouldn’t let go? That you were willing to do the hard work for, put in the time for, and wait patiently for? And if your dream came to pass, was it all you’d hoped it would be?

This is the quandary Aubrey Mayfield, the female lead in my recently released Christmas novella, Jingle Bell Matchmakers, is faced with. As a talented young singer, she’d always dreamed of becoming a Christian music artist, making records and touring the country with her singing partner, and love of her life, Cody Lansdale. However, when they’re finally “discovered” during an open mic night in Nashville their senior year of college, it’s not a Christian music gig they’re offered, but the chance to make a country music album.

Cody has no interest in changing course, but he doesn’t stand in the way of Aubrey chasing after her dream, leaving her in Nashville to make it on her own. And she does.

But after eleven years, three albums, and countless miles on the road, Aubrey, now billed as “Aubrey May”, is lured home by some questionable intel from her mother. And when she and Cody, now a widowed single dad and worship minister at the church they grew up in, keep finding themselves in the same place at the same time, they begin to wonder if there’s something going on behind the scenes.

Turns out their mothers have some help, and matchmaking by committee is charging full steam ahead. But Aubrey’s going back to Nashville after the holidays, after all, and Cody has a ministry and a little girl to raise, so is it all for naught?

Except Aubrey’s wondering if her career is everything she’d dreamed it would be, hoped it would be. Wondering if everything she’s sacrificed and all the hours, sweat, and tears she’s put into it over the past decade have been for nothing. Unless God can take her dream and turn it into something even more amazing than she could have ever imagined.

Isn’t that just like God?

To take what we may consider broken, or a disappointment, or even an outright failure, and make something beautiful with it? For nothing placed in the Master’s hands will ever return void.

ABOUT A MATCH MADE AT CHRISTMAS

Lori Dejong’s “Jingle Bell Matchmakers” is part of the anthology, A Match Made at Christmas, featuring several authors. If you enjoy short, fun, contemporary romances, especially set around Christmas, check out this collection of Christmas romance novellas, which includes Aubrey and Cody’s second-chance romance story, “Jingle Bell Matchmakers.” It was such fun working alongside my fellow Scrivenings Press authors and friends, Amy Anguish, Heather Greer, and Sarah Crouch, for A Match Made at Christmas. Each story has a matchmaking premise, from a precocious little boy, a headstrong gal who thinks she knows best, a committee of spunky ladies, and a quartet of mall elves. And all woven with threads of faith, love, hope, and joy. Exactly what Christmas is all about!

Here's a snippet from “Jingle Bell Matchmakers”:

Hoodwinked. And by her own mother, no less.

Aubrey dragged her hastily packed suitcase behind her while lugging the matching carry-on up the front steps of her childhood home. Even after eleven years, the porch remained the same.

“Aubrey. You’re here!”

Coming to an abrupt halt, Aubrey tried to glare at said con artist mother as the woman barreled out the door toward her, smile wide and arms outstretched.

Her breath left in a whoosh when those arms grasped her in a tight embrace. She could do nothing but hold on to keep her balance on her high-heeled platform shoes.

Mom pulled back and took Aubrey’s face in her hands. “Oh, sweetheart, I’m so happy you came home.”

“You mean, before my poor, sweet, sick nana succumbed to the slight head cold she’s nursing while baking cookies on this fine December Friday I’d planned to sleep through?”

At least Mom had the decency to blush, being caught in her own chicanery. She dropped her hands and crossed her arms over the reindeer head on the front of her sweater, complete with red, fuzz-ball nose. “You saw Mama already?”

“Went straight there. After catching the seven-fifty flight out of Nashville, which means I was at the airport at six a.m. All because—how did you put it? Oh, that’s right. Aubrey, honey, you need to come home. Your nana’s not well and wants so badly to see you before it’s too late. Yes. I do believe those were your exact words.”

Her mother’s sigh produced a little cloud puff in the cold air. “Well, I didn’t lie. She’s had this awful cold all week.” She turned and walked back through the still-open door. “And she’s said numerous times how much she’d like to see you come home while she still has her faculties.”

With a shake of her head, Aubrey adjusted the tote’s strapover her shoulder and took the handle of her suitcase, following her mother inside the warm, farmhouse-style home she’d been raised in. A complete departure from the modern high-rise condo she left before sunrise.

“Nana will still have her faculties when she’s a hundred years old.”

“While that’s probably true, I don’t think she wanted to wait that long to see you. Now, I have your room all ready for you. I’m putting together some things for the church Christmas auction tonight, so go on up and get settled.” She turned at the foot of the stairs, her eyes imploring. “Honey, I’m sorry if I was less than forthright. But it’s been forever since you’ve had a proper Christmas with us here in Cantwell.”

Guilt loosened the irritation in Aubrey’s chest at her mother’s duplicity. It was true she hadn’t been home for Christmas in a while. Not since that last one during her senior year at Belmont University. When she and Cody had come home for winter break and returned to school engaged to be married. And hopefully on their way to a big career in Christian music.

Cody Lansdale.

Aside from not leaving this house for the next two-and-a-half weeks, there was considerable doubt she could get through this visit without seeing him. Cantwell’s population sat a smidge south of twenty thousand, and he was now the worship pastor at the church she’d grown up in. Things hadn’t exactly ended ugly, but words were said that left them both wounded. Before she handed him back his ring and watched him walk away.

ABOUT LORI DEJONG

Lori DeJong is a contemporary Christian romance author who enjoys penning stories full of grace and the redemptive power of God’s love. She resides in Georgetown, Texas, with her husband and is the mother of one grown daughter. Lori's debut novel, Love's True Calling, was the 2022 winner of the ACFW Genesis Award for Romance and was released in June 2023. Love’s True Home released in June 2024, and Love’s True Measure will release in June 2025. Lori's Christmas novella, "Jingle Bell Matchmakers", released as part of A Match Made at Christmas novella collection in October 2024.

To purchase A Match Made at Christmas: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DFXF5DHV

Website: https://loridejongwrites.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/loridejongwrites/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loridejongwrites

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/38460845.Lori_DeJong

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