Home for Christmas: A Charmington Holiday Romance

During the summer of 1989, Jenny Anders meets Ben Matson on a family beach vacation on the North Carolina Outer Banks. Fresh out of high school and ready to start their new lives—Jenny to Penn State in the fall, and Ben to work at the family hardware store—they didn’t expect to fall in love.

But love-at-first-sight happens anyway.

The long-distance relationship doesn’t deter them. And after a summer of love letters and clandestine trips in the fall, Ben travels to Philadelphia for Thanksgiving with Jenny’s family and asks for her hand in marriage. Much to Jenny’s horror, her father angrily denies his request.

Ben and Jenny devise a plan to elope, enjoy a holiday honeymoon in the mountains, and settle in Ben’s hometown in the Adirondacks, the Village of Charmington. Jenny slips away in the night on Christmas Eve, certain her parents will come around and welcome Ben into the family.

But plans go awry when Ben and Jenny argue, and a snow squall prevents them from getting to the judge. The young couple take refuge from the snowstorm in a farmhouse with an elderly couple. The pause in their getaway causes Jenny to have doubts about their elopement—until she witnesses the power of love and the magic of Christmas.