Just because he’s started a family doesn’t mean Douglas McCray is ready to grow up.
Last year, Douglas McCray used three Christmas fables to win Miranda’s heart. This year, he’ll use three more to justify giving cheap love over expensive Christmas gifts to her and her young son. But is this the best way to begin a marriage?
Douglas McCray has a reputation for being the Christmas grinch, but his encounter with a “Christmas miracle” last year when he met Miranda, the woman of his dreams, changed his mind about the holiday. Of course, Christmas and the holiday spirit had to end, and life returned to its regular, forgettable routine. So, this year, when Christmas comes back around after having married Miranda and adopted her four-year-old son, the echoes of the “Christmas miracle” go silent, and Douglas once again becomes the Christmas grinch.
But neither Miranda nor her young son will have that grinch back. Now that they’re part of his family, they expect him to pretend he enjoys the holiday. It’s part of the deal. But Douglas has settled into a familiar life, and all he wants is to relax. So, when he comes home on Christmas Eve to unwind with his favorite toy, he encounters a challenge to his peace and quiet. His stepson wants a Christmas story, and he wants it now. Even though Douglas would rather be left alone, Miranda reminds him that his new role as a father includes telling stories on Christmas Eve and buying gifts that put smiles on faces.
Not wanting to incur Miranda’s wrath, Douglas tells the boy a story about how a freak snowfall in Miami leads to the creation of the first Christmas tree. But one story alone doesn’t give Douglas his easy night, and he must tell another story, this time about an over-the-top Black Friday bet, to appease his wife while justifying his personal tranquility. But not one to let a “Christmas miracle” die, Miranda counters with a story of her own about a mysterious pear tree that creates holiday chaos for a young up-and-coming reporter, a story intended to get Douglas’s priorities as a family man back in focus and hopefully restore his lost Christmas spirit.
But will these stories give Douglas a reason to risk becoming the father and husband who finds gifts for his family, even after everything closes for the night and the city becomes dangerous? Or will he resign himself to their disappointment and lose their respect and affection until next Christmas?
