Christmas at Harrington's

Written by Melody Carlson

Narrated by Caitlin Kelly

In this tender story about fresh starts and the holiday spirit, Lena Markham learns that sometimes the best Christmas gift is a second chance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dreamscape Media
• Release date: Sep 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781666537772

Melody Carlson

Melody Carlson has written more than 200 books for teens, women, and children. Before publishing, Melody traveled around the world, volunteered in teen ministry, taught preschool, raised two sons, and worked briefly in interior design and later in international adoption. "I think real-life experiences inspire the best fiction," she says. Her wide variety of books seems to prove this theory.

Reviews for Christmas at Harrington's

[Linda Bordenave · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A sweet and uplifting story full of the Christmas spirit. It left me wanting to know more about the characters in the book. I will be checking out other books by this author.

[Debbie Jayne Doolin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very cute Christmas story! Much better than most, I thought! I suppose it's quite difficult to write a Christmas tale that's not predictable, and this one is that, but manages to be so with a cast of sweet, kind, imperfect, (and a few grinchy), characters that grieved and grinned with.

The author manages to fit the true meaning of Christmas into this story about "Mrs Santa" and her escapades just beautifully, and I think it's better done than I've seen before.

While there are Santa spoilers in this book, there are also very good, (dare I say wise?), Santa tips for parents who want to be truthful with their children, while retaining the innocent joy of this tradition. Carlson makes good sense of it all.

In our home, we celebrate the birth of Jesus, and what that means for the world, above all, but do also love the fun of stockings and Santa stuffing them, cookies and milk for the jolly man, carrots set out for the hungry reindeer, and, most of all, the gleeful squeals sure to follow in the morning! The true story of St Nicholas and of traditions around the world have been taught from the beginning, and it all seems to have blended seamlessly.

As a child grew older and began to question, she was apprenticed to be a helper-elf, and was just as excited about helping to stuff the stockings, (and be quiet about it), as she once was to be on the receiving end, not that that ended. We did stockings for grandparents, too!

At any rate, a big thank you for a lovely story, to this skilled author. Listening to the audio version got me through a lot of cleaning and dishes very happily! Well done, narrator!