The 13th Day of Christmas

By: Jason F. Wright / Narrated By: Dawn Harvey

Length: 5 hrs and 26 mins

Oh gosh—the happy happy kind of sob sob sobbing

I admit it! I’m a TOTAL dweeb when it comes to Christmas stories, and I do so love to wallow in all kinds of them during this grand festive Holiday Season where soooo many Holidays and traditions come together. As I write this? I also must admit that I’ve been taking time in between working on the weekly newsletter and writing reviews to go pick up packages at the post office…. there are so many people I’d like to remember kindly this Covid Christmas Season. But I’ll stop my merrymaking and start with reviews, shall I?

Pandemic Fatigue? NOT when there’s The 13th Day of Christmas to listen to! And I gotta tell ya—I loved this audiobook more than I did Christmas Jars.

Whereas that book was fairly predictable, this one isn’t. At first, tho’, I did think it was just going to be a really nice little story about a little girl experiencing the joy of friendship with an elderly lady. Uhm, yeah it is, but then it gets to be more, and kinda sorta devastatingly more.

9-year old Charlee and her family have fallen on hard times. Dad’s business has tanked, they’ve lost the house, and it’s onto a new place, a new hometown, a new home… that’s in a trailer park. There the kids don’t even know Charlee’s alive. So it’s an awesome thing that the one nice house (NOT a trailer!) is owned by an even nicer little old lady named Marva. She sees Charlee spinning, dancing, ever alone, and this young soul in an old body befriends the old soul in the little girl’s body.

Okay, so fine. They become best friends, and we see how Marva just brings out the best in the family that’s so financially strapped and so stressed out that they’re falling apart. Marva sees Charlee’s almost invisible brother and knows him for the kind heart that he is, not the backtalking punk he presents himself as. She sees her father as the grand and loving storyteller that he is… not the loser who can’t take care of his family. She sees her mother as the brave soul doing her best… not the increasingly shrewish creature she’s becoming. So, see? It’s all rather sweet… and predictable.

But then crud just keeps happening. Things don’t get better just because this little family is finding a sense of spirit again. Things get reMARKably worse, especially as Charlee becomes critically ill—shall we say the word? Cancer? Dad can’t pick up odd jobs AND visit Charlee at the hospital AND pay all those medical bills. Mom can’t be at the hospital every waking second AND work at the Walmart AND help make ends meet. Brother can’t go to school AND visit Charlee AND continue to morph into a warm and loving young man NOT if he’s pushed further into invisibility.

Then we get to my favorite part: Christmas!!! As Charlee recovers at home, little presents start turning up, from intrepid and globetrotting elves who bestow upon her a gift for each of the 12 days of Christmas. There’s always a goofy spin on the song—two turtledoves becomes two purple gloves (It’s a sweet story the elves tell her), and they do much to help the little girl who’s increasingly beset by fatigue, nausea, and infections. In the meantime, Marva’s weakening without her little buddy, and things just get grimmer and grimmer.

Ho ho ho

NATurally I was sobbing into my 1/2 Kleenex (We tear them in two to save on paper products this Pandemic), and soon I was off and grabbing the other 1/2. Author Jason F. Wright just kept writing and writing, and when I got to the end, I was blessing his big ol’ warm writing soul! Cuz he’s deep into the whole Christian message, but he doesn’t beat you over the head with it. Rather, he crafts stories so that the characters live their faith, oh sooo beautifully. With this audiobook, I LOVED the message: Don’t celebrate the Birth and then live the other 364 days as a total bunghole (I’m suuuuuure that’s exACTly what he meant! Those exACT words!).

Dawn Harvey’s narration had me cringing a little at the beginning, what with her creaky voice for Marva and her sullen punk voice for Charlee’s brother. But soon I grew to love the characters so much as written that I grew to love them just as much as narrated. By the time Marva was cracking jokes to deflect attention away from a Christmas plot? Well, like I said, I was in tears.

This ain’t a big old Listen. No, not at less than 6 hours.

But it’s an inspiring story, sweet, unabashedly sentimental.

And hey! Christmas, yes! But also? Let’s all NOT be bungholes for the 364 that follow, eh?