Year 1: The First Noel
2013. He and she were moving through their first holiday season as a couple, fraught with all the tensions of gifts and family and financial stress. They decided to read Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol together--a tradition that had been in his family since he was a kid. After a late night visit to Rockefeller Center and the Rockettes, they went their separate ways that year to spend Christmas with their own families, but not before he left her with a parting gift--a voicemail of him singing, which was exactly what she has asked for.
Year 2: Let It Snow
2014. Our couple had moved in together and were attempting to host a holiday party. However, the weather had other plans and a snow storm prevented anyone from showing up. They decided to put on their PJs and read the book together instead, but when a stranded pizza man showed up at their door they got to share the book with a guest anyway (and eat some pizza)!
Year 3: Faithful Friends
2015. We get introduced to Kyle, his old childhood friend. He and Kyle agree to read the book together until we come to discover that Kyle's new girlfriend, who shows up to spend the evening them, is in fact, her. After an awkward night in which the three of them try to read the book together, our couple ends up together, outside in the cold, performing the final stave of the novel from memory. Even though they aren't together anymore, they end the night with an agreement to read it again next Christmas.
Year 4: Comfort and Joy
2016. In year four, the story takes place in the literacy center where she teaches elementary school students the ins and outs of classic literature. In light of budget cuts, she calls him in to help as she prepares to perform A Christmas Carol for her students. Despite his initial reluctance, a surprise encounter from a child in an angel costume inspires him to overcome his stage fright and he commits to help her out. That's when they decide for the very first time to read the book together every year no matter what.
Year 5: Home for the Holidays
2017. They’re finally back together! We meet our couple as they move into their new apartment together over the Christmas holiday. To battle the cold, starkness of their empty apartment they decide to read the book together - after all, it’s a holiday tradition and a sort of christening of their new home. But when they can’t find the Dickens books in the piles of boxes, they attempt to tell the story … from memory. As they one-up each other and battle their way through the story they remember that it doesn’t take much to make a house a home and all they need is each other.
Year 6: All I Want For Christmas is You
2018. Because she’s spending the fall semester participating in an educational program abroad, they’re forced to the read the book to each other over the phone (which we hear in a series of podcasts). But he’s planning something special for her return: a perfect night out at their favorite restaurant with live Christmas music and a secret surprise. Once they arrive at the restaurant and realize the scheduled musician is going through a break-up, they decide to cheer him up with a performance of the final Stave of the book from memory. They recap the entire story leading up to the night’s suspenseful conclusion: a proposal from him. She says yes.
Year 7: The Weary World Rejoices
2019. After a year of great happiness and loss alike, our couple finds themselves in the quiet attic of his childhood home on a snowy night. His father has passed away a few months before and it’s fallen to them to sort through the old Christmas decorations and unpack bittersweet memories they carry. He’s at a loss for how to set up Christmas the way his family used to, but when she surprises him by continuing a familiar family tradition - a homemade snow village house - they realize it’s up to them now to make the season bright.
Year 8: Somday Soon We All Will Be Together
2020. In the midst of a raging pandemic, our couple invites their “extended families” to join them online where they not only read the novel together, but engage their listeners in helping tell the story. From special guest Tiny Tims to live looks in on Christmas dinners around the country - our couple finds comfort, joy, and most of all hope in a bleak holiday season.
Year 9 + 10: A Nutcracker Suite Duet
2022. After last year’s cancelled Christmas, our couple has decided to go all out, hosting their first ever "family dinner." But why stop there? With three years since we've all gathered in person, they'll attempt to make up for lost time in an EPIC Christmas masterpiece mashup. It's Year Ten. But it's also Year Nine. Dinner and drinks! Dickens and Drosselmeyer!
