The Plight Before Christmas

What if Murphy’s Law took over the holidays?

James Kelly is a toy store owner, longing for the days when imagination didn’t come in the form of a computer chip in the latest incarnations of video game consoles. His store is suffering a pre-Christmas disaster, in part because the shoppers have all headed out to the malls near the edge of town, and partially because it is almost Christmas and there hasn’t been a hint of snow. When snow starts falling outside his store, James daydreams his way back to a much earlier holiday season, when the snow was late in arriving.

When snow came on that late December day in the early 1960’s, it brought with it a series of calamities and disasters to the Kelly household. If something could go wrong, it would, and if several things could go wrong, they all would in a cascade of comedic misadventures. No one was immune, especially James and his father Charles.

The Plight Before Christmas is written with the same sense of wit and whimsy that Kirkland brought to his earlier award-winning and bestselling books, and in his syndicated humor column that ran in American and Canadian newspapers from 1994 to 2007. This story is written for adults, but is also suitable for older YA readers.

W. Bruce Cameron, the author of Eight Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter, A Dog's Purpose, Emory's Gift and more says, "A wonderful, nostalgic look at a simpler time and place, The Plight Before Christmas will appeal to fans of A Christmas Story. You don't just read about this family--you live with them as they fumble and stumble to a hilarious holiday."

Syndicated humor columnist, blogger (Lost In Suburbia), and author (Rebel Without A Minivan) Tracy Beckerman says, “The Plight Before Christmas' is misnamed. It should be called 'The Gift Before Christmas' because this magical story is the best gift you can give or receive for the holidays!”