Oh, Christmas Tree

Welcome to Greenville, Maine, where all the shop windows are festively decorated, the street lights are magically transformed into candy canes, and the air sounds and smells like the North Pole on Christmas morning.

Ellie Holden is back in her hometown of Greenville and surrounded by familiar faces and her favorite traditions. Well, most of them. She's had a few rocky years, but she's being her cheerful, helpful self, even if it means pressing pause on the dreams she once chased so passionately.

Meanwhile, a few hundred miles away, Josh Hanson is up to his eyeballs in spreadsheets and portfolio analyses, just the way he likes it. He hasn't visited his Aunt Ruth in Greenville in way too long, and he hasn't spoken to Ellie since he let their summer romance fizzle out more than ten years ago. But that is all about to change.

This is not your typical "boy meets girl in an idyllic Christmas town, they fall in love, but then lose touch only to then reunite under a sad, but surprisingly hopeful set of circumstances in order to complete a fulfilling holiday assignment that could bring the two closer together than ever, ultimately helping both find the meaning they had been searching for in life and in love." Nope, that's not what this is. (That's what we're telling Grumpy Dan, anyway.)

Fans of the Deck the Hallmark podcast should love this story, and other people might enjoy it, too.