THE THIRTEEN DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Anyone who has lost sleep wondering whether those twelve days of Christmas gifts -- beginning with a partridge in a pear tree -- might have really been given will be drawn to this holiday confection out of curiosity. This then is how wealthy Francis courts flighty Annaple Kitson by deluging her with twelve days worth of cumulative frivolities, and the superficially realistic fantasy is decked out with appropriate carols for each day, authentic English holiday customs, and lots of fanciful flourishes as well as some rather unnecessary extra presents (a cow barn, swan pool and bags of bird feed) added on to make the whole joke more logically plausible. There's some appeal for good-natured onlookers, though you'd have to be as silly as Annaple to find Francis' extended conceit really winning.