Several years ago we lived in the small town of Locust Fork, Alabama. I loved the rural, country feel of this little village, so I set Christmas at Raccoon Creek here. Check out the real-life pictures and the scenes they inspired.

I took this photo in the forest behind our house on a snowy, winter day.

Stumbling farther down a path Emily now realized wasn’t familiar, moisture blurred her vision and snow began to stick to her nose, mouth, and cheeks. She wiped her eyes with a handkerchief from her pocket, but the cloth slipped from her fingers. Never mind. She had to keep going. Perhaps it would be better to die out here in the woods. “No,” she yelled. What was she thinking? She didn’t want to leave the earth now, though she’d be with the Lord. “God help me,” she hollered to the wind. No matter what, the Lord wouldn’t forsake her.

 

 

At the 2016 ACFW conference, we dressed up like one of the characters in our latest book. This is me in a fifties outfit to represent Emily when she traveled back in time to her grandmother’s era.

 

 

 

 

 

Locust Fork Pharmacy provides prescription services and a variety of drug store items to citizens of Locust Fork. Many of the products remind customers of years gone by. One may find vintage greeting cards, antique jewelry, old fashioned toys, or classic candy. Here’s the present day store.

The gray brick store sat on the corner with a side street to the left. Above the door, a sign said Hardwicke’s Drugs and Gift Shop. Under that, Prescriptions. On either side of the door, display windows, brightened by a string of twinkling Christmas lights, displayed mugs and refrigerator magnets with Raccoon Creek written on them, a selection of teas and gourmet candy, bug spray, t-shirts, and postcards. But what caught Emily’s attention were the unique Christmas decorations, especially the little snow globe. She had to have it.

 

Emily Eason wants to distance herself from her parents’ opulent lifestyle in Birmingham, Alabama, and enjoy life in the rural village of Raccoon Creek and her fifties-style home. But after gazing into the little snow globe she purchased from Hardwicke’s Drugs and Gifts, she finds herself transported to another time—her grandmother’s era.

Lance Hardwicke is the pharmacist and owner of Hardwicke’s Drugs. Four years of pharmacy school didn’t allow for much of a social life. Gorgeous Emily Eason, nurse and resident of Raccoon Creek, has captured his attention. The next time she comes in the store, he’s determined to ask her out. Maybe take her to Birmingham to see the Christmas lights in his brand new orange and white ’53 Pontiac Pathfinder.

Can love span the fifty-year gap standing between them? 

 

 

Where to find Christmas at Raccoon Creek:  Amazon