Hilltop Christmas

By Kathleen D. Bailey

Description:

When Jane Archer comes home to tiny Hilltop, New Hampshire, her goal is to take care of her convalescing grandmother and get back to Boston as soon as possible. She doesn’t expect to be saddled with the direction of the Hilltop Christmas Festival, three days of activities exalting the birth of a God she no longer serves. But Gram asks her to take over the Festival this year, and she can’t say no to the woman who saved her life.
The Rev. Noah Hastings didn’t want to come to Hilltop in the first place. Too small, too cold for this California boy. And he has trouble figuring out these Yankees, with their “thin sharp faces and sharper wits.” It’s his first church, and his goal is to amass some “ministerial brownie points” and be out of there. But his early life with his father has left Noah with damaged confidence, and despite his call, he’s not sure he can handle a pastorate, let alone Jane Archer.
Though the people of Hilltop have never stopped loving her, coming home reawakens memories for Jane of a childhood no child should have to live through. She feels her carefully-constructed world crumbling, even as she resists the pull of Christ on her life.
But when the integrity of the Festival is threatened, Noah must call on his Lord, and Jane on the God from whom she's drifted, to find justice and restore Hilltop to what it is.

Book Takeaway:

Accepting who you are in the eyes of God. Jane was a sexually-abused child who dedicated her life to hiding behind her accomplishments, and Noah never measured up to what his earthly father wanted. Through different channels, they come to see themselves as good enough for God.

Awards:

Why the author wrote this book:

For many years, my family and I attended two special Christmas festivals. One, “Lights on the Hill,” was held in the next town over. The other, “Festival of Lights,” took place in a mountain town several hours away, at a Catholic shrine and monastery. While different in many ways, both exalted Christ over commercialism. “Lights on the Hill” fell victim to a lack of volunteers, “Festival of Lights” to a lack of vocations. Both furnished me with memories for a lifetime and were crucial to the concept of “Hilltop.”
This book is dedicated to “Lights on the Hill” and the “Festival of Lights.”