Love in a Decked Hall: Honor Valley Holidays, #3

By Shanae Johnson

He's all about discipline, she's all about dessert, and their worlds are about to collide in the most delicious way.

 

Holly Evergreen is excited to take on the mission to spread holiday cheer by preparing a meal especially for the children on base. Christmas is her favorite time of the year, and as a pastry chef she's thrilled to make sweet treats for the kids in the community whose families sacrifice the most. But when her older brother's best friend is announced as the chef for the adults, the sparks that fly just might burn down the kitchen.

 

Ryan, regimented and health-conscious, takes one look at Holly's sugar-laden Christmas menu and decides it needs an overhaul. Holly, however, believes that the joy of the season comes sprinkled with sugar and a dollop of whipped cream. With the big holiday dinner drawing near, the two clash and sizzle, discovering that their differences might just be the ingredients for a love they never saw coming. 

 

Can Holly make Ryan see the sweeter side of life? Find out in this holiday romance that weaves together an older hero, his best friend's all grown up sister, a little sugar and spice, and the spirit of the holidays. 

Love in a Decked Hall is a part of the Honor Valley Holiday romances; a heartwarming, small town, military romance series that explores the power of love, growth, and healing set during the most magical time of the year! These stories are short and sweet -the perfect length for an afternoon pick me up or an evening escape before bedtime!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Those Johnson Girls
• Release date: Dec 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223594864

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

The air in Holly Evergreen’s kitchen was thick with the scents of cinnamon, vanilla, and melting chocolate—a heavenly tapestry of aromas that hung in the air. Holly’s focus was singular: perfecting the quintessential Christmas cookie. The baked good was a creation meant to offer a warm hug and a whispered assurance that everything would be okay during the most wonderful time of the year.

Holly’s fingers sifted through flour, soft and powdery like the season’s first snowfall. The dough beneath her hands was supple, a blank canvas begging for artistic touch. Glancing at her reflection in the oven’s glass door, she saw her plump, plus-sized figure and smiled. She was the kind of woman a young, jolly Santa would adore. In a world that often prized stick figures, Holly was unabashedly herself—full of love, full of life, and full of the spirit of Christmas.

The upcoming holiday dinner at the military base was both her mission and her challenge. The menu she was crafting was more than a list of dishes. It was an anthology of love notes, all written in the universal language of sugar and spice.

These desserts weren’t mere treats. They were messages to the kids on the base. You’re loved. You’re special. This Christmas, you won’t be alone.

Even though that last message wasn’t necessarily true. Many of the kids would be alone. Children of military families made just a great a sacrifice as their parents, often going without their parents’ presence on birthdays, school events, and holidays.

Holly, these cookies look divine, as always. But are you sure about the triple chocolate chunk?

Holly wrinkled her nose at her cousin Felice as though she’d said the most ridiculous thing in the world. Christmas without chocolate is like Santa without his reindeer—simply incomplete and wholly unimaginable. With a smile, she pressed a chunk of chocolate into the dough.

Joy, her other favorite cousin, piped in from her place at the kitchen table where she was cataloguing kids’ letters to Santa. You know the dinner at the base is a big deal. Make sure you’re preparing for all kinds of tastes, not just those who appreciate a sugar rush.

The caution in Joy’s voice stirred a fleeting unease within Holly. She knew the world was full of people who viewed her craft—her passion—as trivial or indulgent. But to her, each sugary creation was a vessel of joy, a talisman against life’s cold realities. She believed in the transformative power of her sweets, their ability to turn any frown into a smile, any evening into a celebration.

Holly took a deep breath, inhaling the mingling scents of sugar and spice that filled her little corner of the world. Tonight, as she planned the menu for the holiday dinner, she would infuse it with her philosophy—that love, like baking, was a generous act. She held on to the hope that her creations would not only fill plates but also warm hearts, turning this Christmas into a season where joy was the greatest gift of all.

She would be testing this recipe out tomorrow at the family cooking class she hosted each month on the base. As she slid the cookie tray into the oven, Holly wished not for a perfect cookie, but for a perfect moment—when the military families would bite into her creations and taste the love and warmth she baked into every morsel. As the oven’s heat began to rise, so too did her hopes for the coming holiday season.

Felice began a rousing rendition of Jingle Bells as she went over the list of songs she planned for the choir. Felice was in charge of the Christmas carol concert this year. Joy was in charge of the toy drive. The Evergreen family had pretty much been predisposed to love the winter holidays, so it was no surprise that each of the girls took up extra duties during the season.

How’s carol practice going? Holly asked Felice.

Her cousin’s eyes were as bright as tinsel as she answered. Everything’s falling into place, but we still need a baritone. Know anyone?

Holly took a thoughtful sip of her peppermint mocha, her mind flipping through a mental Rolodex. Hmm, a baritone. Let me think on it. You never know who might walk into the bakery one of these days.

Right, between your cookies and my choir, we could practically build a gingerbread chapel.

That’ll be Ginger’s job, said Felice. You know her mom’s looking to retire, and Ginger’s hoping to be put in charge of the gingerbread house competition this year.

Looks like the new generation of Evergreens are all taking the reins.

You guys, I’m having the hardest time with finding gifts for the toy drive.