2. What is significant about Nadine finding her discarded nickel after retrieving Marge Thurman's important papers?

3. What is it about Marge Thurman that causes her to purchase dogs for her granddaughters? How does this characteristic reveal itself in other parts of the book?

4. One of the discoveries that Nadine makes is that she just might have a lot in common with Marge Thurman, whom she has come to despise. In what ways are Nadine and Marge very similar?

5. What important discovery does Nadine make when she returns Marge's important papers and realizes that Marge was praying desperately for their return? How does this key discovery influence the rest of Nadine's Christmas activities?

6. What is so ironic about Nadine contracting the flu at the end of her Christmas holiday?

7. Why do you suppose that Jennilynn, rather than Nadine, is the first one to discover the true significance of the "giving thing"?

8. What has made Marge Thurman the introverted, selfish person she is?

9. What is so significant about Nadine's decision to finally give her Christmas quilt away?

10. During your growing up years, what experiences did you have that help you relate to Nadine Cluff?

11. When did you first discover the "giving thing" in your own life? How was your experience similar to Nadine's? How was it different?

12. A Homemade Christmas takes place in the early 70s. How is its theme still relevant today?

13. How do you suppose an adult Nadine Cluff would feel about this Christmas twenty years down the road?

14. How might Nadine's impressions of Marge Thurman been different if Willard Thurman had still been alive?

2 ½ cups brown sugar

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup white Karo Syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cube margarine

1 bag of popped corn

Melt margarine; add brown sugar and Karo Syrup. Bring to boil; add milk and cook to soft ball stage. Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Pour caramel over popped corn and let cool.

Actually, A Homemade Christmas had its origin fifteen-plus years ago as a short children's story that I wrote and submitted to the Friend magazine. At that time, the story was entitled "A Surprise Christmas Gift." The Friend purchased the story for future publication, but after I wrote that story, I felt strongly that there was really a Christmas novel hidden in those few short pages. As a result, after receiving the Friend's acceptance letter, I began work on the novel based on "A Surprise Christmas Gift." The interesting thing is that after completing the novel, I sent it to a publisher, and it was returned with what I thought was a rejection letter, consequently, I put the manuscript on the shelf and forgot about it for a dozen years or so. Then one day, while searching through some old correspondence, I came across the "rejection" letter. However, after reading the "rejection" letter this time, I discovered that the book editors hadn't actually rejected the manuscript; they had merely indicated that it needed some additional work, and they had given some very helpful recommendations. A dozen years after putting the old manuscript on the shelf to collect dust, I took it down, revised it, sent it to Covenant, and A Homemade Christmas became a reality.

2. Where did you come up with the idea for A Homemade Christmas?

I suppose that nearly any story has a tiny slice from the author's own life hidden within its pages. A Homemade Christmas is no different. Growing up in a very large family that always teetered just above the poverty line, I found that each Christmas came with mixed emotions. Although we were poor as I was growing up, I still have wonderful memories of Christmas. The one thing that I dreaded, however, was going back to school after Christmas break and fielding all of the "What did you get for Christmas?" questions that invariably came. I always knew that I could never compete with the long gift lists of the other kids. I really didn't mind getting so much less than the other kids; I just didn't want them to know. That's the battle that Nadine Cluff has. In some ways she has resigned herself to her family's poverty. She just doesn't want everyone else to know how poor she is.

3. You mentioned that as you were growing up in your very large family you were very poor. For you, did your family's poverty diminish the excitement and joy of the Christmas season?

Without exception, Christmas was always the most wonderful season of the year for me. I have a flood of memories whenever I think back on Christmases from my youth. Interestingly enough, I don't remember all that much about the gifts, though. The gifts, although intriguing and exciting in the beginning, were never the main focus of my Christmases. That's especially true now as I look back. What I remember now are the times spent with family decorating the tree, singing carols, playing games, thumbing through the pages of the Sears catalog and looking at the Christmas gifts, being in the kitchen with my mother as she made food and Christmas goodies, listening to my father tell stories, listening to the old Christmas records from Thanksgiving to New Year's, and the list goes on. The years have taught me that the real joy of Christmas has far more to do with family and Christ than all the material gifts that we often focus on. It's that special discovery that I wanted Nadine Cluff to make.

4. A Homemade Christmas is set in the early 70s. Does it still have relevance for audiences today?

Perhaps it is even more relevant today. As a society we are so caught up in the material things, the fantastic gifts and technology that load the store shelves this time of year. There is a tendency for us to assume-incorrectly, I might add-that the only way we can truly have a wildly merry Christmas is to load up on more and more gifts, making the pile of presents under the Christmas tree higher than it's ever been before. When we do this, in some ways we are chasing after an ever-elusive holiday joy, because we won't allow ourselves to discover the true "giving thing." In reality, Christmas will always lack most of its lasting and fulfilling significance until we discover for ourselves the same thing that Nadine Cluff discovers in A Homemade Christmas.

2. Her outward appearance seems to indicate that she is very poor.

3. Nadine.

4. Denmark.

5. Gym bags for the boys, a picture frame for Daniel, a dry flower arrangement for Wendy, and a quilt for her parents.

6. He owns the grocery store and variety store.

7. The decorative tin that the fruitcake comes in.

8. When Wendy, feeling sorry for Nadine, says she wishes that Nadine could have all of the "Christmas money."

9. Mr. Cluff fell off his roof in Logan and hurt himself. Since he couldn't work, the family eventually lost their insulation business and their home, so they move to Eagar, where Mr. Cluff had a new job.

10. He is an old missionary companion of Mr. Cluff who gave Mr. Cluff a job in Eagar.