I had the opportunity to attend a press junket with Megan Alexander and Broadway and Hallmark TV’s Laura Osnes.
Megan Alexander is an Emmy-nominated national host, author, speaker, actress, and the owner of M.Alexander Productions. We got together to discuss her new Christmas book The Magic of a Small Town Christmas.
In the town of Heartbeat Falls, where skies are crystal clear, the magic of Christmas is celebrated in many different ways: from picking the perfect tree to decorating it with glittering ornaments; from ice skating to eating yummy gingerbread cookies; from hanging handmade stockings to sharing a homecooked meal. Here, the residents know the beauty of a small town doesn’t come from its size, but from the love shared by its people, shining brightly in their eyes.
Megan has been in the entertainment industry for almost 20 years, and she is a mom of three little kids. Her kids were a huge reason why she wanted to write books and produce TV shows that she could not only watch with them but also feel good promoting to family and friends.
I just really want to contribute positive, uplifting content to the world.
This book, The Magic of a Small Town Christmas came out of Megan’s love of Christmas. “I love the holidays, and I launched my holiday travel show, Small Town Christmas last year on UPtv where we go to different towns around the country and we highlight all the ways that our small towns are holding onto their traditions and values.”
In season two of Small Town Christmas airing now on UPtv, Megan takes viewers to a different small town around the country and highlights local businesses and towns that are making Christmas special in their own unique way. She actually gets to visit the North Pole this season!
Megan captures these same small towns in her book The Magic of a Small Town Christmas. In the book, the town of Heartbeat Falls may be fictional, but the characters are close to Megan’s heart. The illustrator Hiroe Nakata, who illustrated her first book, asked her where she saw herself in the story, so from those questions and answers, Hiroe added personal elements like Megan and her kids baking in the kitchen or giving Mr. Richard from Mr. Richard’s Tree Farm the same little bit of beard that her father, also named Richard has, thus drawing him into the book. Megan’s neighbor, Miss Sherry, with whom she often spoke about her life, is also in the book, as Sherry’s Bakery. Miss Sherry cried when learning about being in the book and seeing it for the first time.
The book illustrations throughout the book represent many different types of people. Megan stated that “Diversity was hugely important in putting this together, and all of us, no matter our background, where we are, we all bring our different traditions. That’s something that I tried to put throughout the book and something I also try to feature on the show too, by going to different parts of the country and finding out about different traditions, different churches, different denominations in churches, and how they celebrate the holidays.”
Because the book centers around Heartbeat Falls, I asked if maybe another book around this town could be possible, to which Megan said, “This second season of Small Town Christmas, our very first episode is the Harvest Special, and we filmed their Apple Festival and we go around to their different pumpkin farms. So maybe there’s a small-town harvest book for kids talking about apple picking and pumpkins and hot cider and s’mores.” So we might be seeing Heartbeat Falls again in the future.
Be sure to check out Megan’s book, The Magic of a Small Town Christmas, and watch her in Small Town Christmas currently airing on UPtv.
