Hilarie's Happily Ever After

Hilarie Burton talks to Us about making it official with Jeffrey Dean Morgan, working with friends and parenting “weirdos”

- Jennifer Picht

It’s the very beginning of holiday season, but Hilarie Burton (now Burton-Morgan) has been feeling the warm fuzzies for months. The good vibes kicked off in May, when the actress and producer, 37, filmed Lifetime’s latest holiday charmer, A Christmas Wish (premieres Nov. 28), costarring some of her former One Tree Hill castmates. Another joyous occasion soon followed, when she said “I do” to her partner of roughly a decade and the father of her two children (George, 1, and Augustus, 9), actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan, on Oct. 5. The star gushes to Us about “the best weekend” of her life and how wonderful it’s been to reunite with her One Tree Hill fam.

Q: What was the best part of working on A Christmas Wish?

We got to do a One Tree Hill reunion last year for The Christmas Contract, then this year, we had an even bigger cast, so we got to pull in more of our friends. Colin Fickes, who played Jimmy Edwards on OTH, is a wonderful actor. When we were trying to figure out who would play the brother of Tyler Hilton’s character [Hilton also starred on OTH], they both have the same crystal-blue eyes, so it was great to bring him in. And Barbara Alyn Woods came in and was amazing. [OTH’s Antwon Tanner and Lee Norris also costar.]