THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS

Jeffers has created a lovely story incorporating the words of the old folk song with one important change: a clever substitution of Santa as the giver of all the gifts instead of the narrator’s “true love.”

A little girl named Emma is the star of this version, and in a dramatic opening sequence, she surreptitiously opens a package on Christmas Eve with her name on it. The gift is a box decorated with pictures of Santa’s reindeer, and inside is a musical snow globe with a little partridge and a tiny pear-tree branch. After Emma accidentally breaks the snow globe, she falls asleep, heartbroken—and the reindeer magically fly out of the gift box, pulling Santa’s sleigh behind them. Emma climbs aboard, carrying the box with the snow globe, and she is off with Santa, flying on a magical odyssey to find all the animals and characters mentioned in the song. They end up at the North Pole, where Santa repairs her snow globe while Emma is sleeping. When Emma opens her presents on Christmas morning, her intact snow globe is a satisfying surprise. Jeffers uses her signature style to great effect, with varying perspectives, detailed costumes, and light reflecting off snowy surfaces and sparkling jewels (plus Emma’s pet Westie).

A whimsical, magical interpretation of a holiday classic, improved by the additional storyline and the charming narrator.