About the In-Person Adventure

“From a magical Santa suit, to a Christmas tree stand in the heart of New York, to a neighborhood full of quirky characters, and the smell of fresh cut pine Christmas trees, nobody does Christmas like Mary Kay Andrews.”
—Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author

The holiday season is only a month away! Get into the spirit early while celebrating New York Times bestselling author Mary Kay Andrews’s new book, a Christmas novella about love, second chances and people taking care of each other, on this Big Christmas Adventure!

Join us at City Lights Christmas Store for a wonderfully, festive event! Peruse the eclectic and varied shelves within this immense store and learn from Mary Kay about her new novel which follows protagonist Kerry Tolliver as she arrives in Manhattan for the first time to sell her family’s Christmas trees and the adventure that’s more than she bargained for. Enjoy some delicious Christmas cookies with a glass of wine or sparkling cider, surrounded by all kinds of holiday decorations to get yourself into the spirit of the season!

Your holiday extravaganza Adventure includes Christmas cookies, a glass of wine or sparkling cider, a festive presentation by Mary Kay Andrews, a 20% off shopping coupon to the entire City Lights Christmas Store, a hardcover copy of Bright Lights, Big Christmas to be signed at the event, and an opportunity to meet the author up close and personal in an intimate setting.

About the Author and Book

Mary Kay Andrews is the New York Times bestselling author of 30 novels and one cookbook, The Beach House Cookbook. Her first novel, Every Crooked Nanny, was published in 1992 by HarperCollins. She went on to write ten critically acclaimed mysteries under her real name, Kathy Hogan Trocheck.

In 2002, she assumed the pen name Mary Kay Andrews with the publication of Savannah Blues. In 2006, Hissy Fit became her first New York Times bestseller, followed by fifteen more New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestsellers. To date, her novels have been published in German, Italian, Polish, Slovenian, Hungarian, Dutch, Czech and Japanese.

Bright Lights, Big Christmas is a novella celebrating the magic of Christmas and second chances.

When fall rolls around, it’s time for Kerry Tolliver to leave her family’s Christmas tree farm in the mountains of North Carolina for the wilds of New York City to help her gruff older brother & his dog, Queenie, sell the trees at the family stand on a corner in Greenwich Village. Sharing a tiny vintage camper and experiencing Manhattan for the first time, Kerry’s ready to try to carve out a new corner for herself.

In the weeks leading into Christmas, Kerry quickly becomes close with the charming neighbors who live near their stand. When an elderly neighbor goes missing, Kerry will need to combine her country know-how with her newly acquired New York knowledge to protect the new friends she’s come to think of as family.

And complicating everything is Patrick, a single dad raising his adorable, dragon-loving son Austin on this quirky block. Kerry and Patrick’s chemistry is undeniable, but what chance does this holiday romance really have?

About City Lights Christmas Store

City Lights Collectibles opened in September 1991 on the ground floor of a large office block just off of the I-5 freeway at Sea World Drive in San Diego. Brian Young, the founder of City Lights, had retired from being managing director of a sizeable retail group of companies in the UK.  He moved along with his wife Laura and 12-year-old son Spencer from London to San Diego in the golden state of California.

Brian was a great admirer of Americans and their lifestyle. He had spent many vacations in the USA and cherished the idea of retiring there. Unfortunately, going from a very active business and social life to a “what shall I do today” state of mind was not working well for him. A small retail store in a seasonal business was his idea, and that thought morphed into City Lights. Motivated not by money but by the need to be occupied was his reasoning.

Brian intended to be open only three days a week.  The first location was only 1,000 square feet, but it filled his wish to have a destination and to meet a schedule. Old habits die hard.  In the early days, City Lights was mainly a year-round Christmas store with only two collectible lines, Department 56 and Annalee dolls.

Soon the word spread that San Diego now had a Christmas store, and their clientele grew, and with that, so did their product lines. Now the one-person business needed a helper.  So, Laura, who had no customer service experience, was pressed into service. That was when City Lights proudly became a family business and even prouder when their son Spencer graduated from college in 1997 and joined up with his parents.