Dec 4, 2006 3 min read

So you hauled in the mail today and as you were going through it, you found the usual assortment of catalogs, bills, and… hey, somebody sent you a Christmas card. But that’s not all.

You got one of those Christmas letters. Ugh. Those things have more fiction than a Nancy Drew novel. You hate getting them. Nobody reads them.

Except yours. Because, of course, your Christmas letter is better.

Does anybody love “Christmas Letters”? Pick up the new Debbie Macomber novel, and you will.

Katherine “K.O.” O’Connor is, as they say, “between jobs”. With the at-home medical transcription gig and the odd assignments she picks up, though, she manages to pay her bills and live in her apartment on a quaint street in an up-and-coming Seattle neighborhood.

Every store and window on the street is merry with holiday decorations now, but K.O. is a little blue. Normally, she loves Christmas, but this Yule is not so cool. K.O. has started a small business of her own, writing Christmas letters for people who don’t know how to put a sensational seasonal spin on their lives, and coming up with realistic fiction is a challenge.

But K.O. can handle that. What’s bothering her is that her sister, Zelda, has become completely smitten with a book by the newest thing in child psychology. Dr. Wynn Jeffries says in his book The Free Child that children should never be told what to do and that limits should never be set. Children, he claims, will set their own limits. Furthermore, he says that Santa should be buried – under his sleigh!

That means no Santa and no tree for K.O.’s nieces Zoë and Zara, and K.O. thinks that’s terrible.

When K.O. finds out that Dr. Jeffries lives in her apartment building, she confronts the evil doctor and is surprised to find a warm, caring man with devastatingly gorgeous eyes. The holidays are perfect for a tinsel-draped twosome, but can a Mistletoe Maven really find love with a Christmas Curmudgeon?

Fluffy as a snowflake and sweet as a frosted cookie, “Christmas Letters” is not anything that will change the world and it will probably be forgotten in six months, but that’s just the point with these addicting holiday romancelets – they’re easy to read, hard to put down, and just light enough to enjoy during the busy holiday time.

Author Debbie Macomber is known for her charming boy-meets-girl novels, and this one won’t disappoint fans. K.O. is cute and perky and kind to everyone. Dr. Jeffries is handsome, smart, and can admit when he’s wrong. The other wacky players in this novel are just right, including star-struck Zelda; Wynn’s ex-hippie, ex-surfer-dude father, Moon Puppy; and K.O.’s neighbor, LaVonne, who divines the future by “reading” the kitty-litter box.

If you’re looking for something that will put you in the Yuletide Spirit and you don’t want anything terribly heavy to read, put aside your holiday mail and pick up a copy of this frothy, light-as-whipped-cream novel. These “Christmas Letters” are a ho-ho-whole lot of holiday fun.