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WW

How wonderful this story is. 

Now the picture of Jim in yellow tights is burned in my head  - but I love that he becomes the male lead in every Hallmark Christmas movie.

And I love all the movie references throughout - that made a really fun read.

The tree surprise so romantic and so Jim - really just the best kind of fluff.

I love added characters so George was a little bonus to learn about.

And even a trip to the ER is made a moment with these two. So Sweet.

I gave you a jelly bean but I'm giving you a candy cane too for this fic.

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Stunning. The way you write is just so beautiful and this Cinderella New Year's Eve was the perfect way to get them together.

Poor Karen keeps getting ditched in NYC but as you so eloquently put, he was never hers, always Pam's and as the new year begins always will be.

Thanks for creating yet anothing pice of art that brought them back to where they belonged.

Bravo.

Author's Response: Thank you, Max, SO very much! I'm so glad you enjoyed this. :) 

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Christmas magic is the best kind of magic and you brought it alive with this story.

Knowing something was off from the very beginning and learning it was their child hit me right here. Having been in the ER with each of my children when they were very young I know the anxiety a parent feels when their child is very ill (and our longest stay was overnight). What Jim and Pam must have been going through, especially when trying to keep Christmas happy and magical for Cece. But even if I hadn't had any experience with a sick child he way you wrote I could feel the emotions they were struggling through.
The line about coal walks and parking lot epiphanys was strong in conveying the helplessness in the moment.


Having to deal with a fan who was completely insensitive just made it that much worse and Gotta give your Jim credit for not biting her head off.

I love the hippopotamus for Christmas song. Not well known but one the kiddos sang at school concert. May I suggest another fun one-- Santas Solar Sleigh. Yours may still be too young to get it but it's great fun even for us adults.


What a perfect little twist with Santa ...I applaud you ....that is a perfect Christmas miracle twist and one that I didn't see coming.

While I love the Santa twist the love Cece has for her brother was the real magic of this story. I just love how you exemplified that with this holiday fic.

Thanks for sharing the magic with us.

Wishing you a yours all the magic of this season. Merry everything.

Author's Response:

Thank you so much Maxine. I've had to bring my daughter into the ER before and know that feeling well. Also two years ago now I was in the hospital myself and got to come home Christmas morning. That's a feeling that still gets me choked up.

Thanks for picking up on a lot of the details I put into this one. Nice to see people appreciate the little things that get added in.

I'll have to check out that Solar Santa Sleigh song. Rusty Chevrolet is another fun Christmas song I thought of adding in, but went a different route.

Kids are remarkably perceptive at times. Considering how quick witted her parents are, I would think that Cece is sure to pick up on why she needs to do her part to help take care of Phil.

I'm glad you liked this one so much. It was a fun story to bring together.

I hope you and yours have a happy holiday season as well. L'Chiam! 

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A sweet vision of a Pam and Jim Christmas Eve. Drunk Jim is always fun and Pam makes a sweet nurse who thinks of everything including a trash can.

I enjoyed this little one shot.

Merry and happy.

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You may not know just where it will go but you gave it a great start and set up a whole lot of opportunities with Roy away for 2 weeks.

Even in the set up you managed to show what a jerk he is and how little he thinks of Pam while Jim can't stop thinking of her. His reminders attacking him even at the grocery store (love that Pam cooking spray reference-I could image those big bold letters screaming to him on each trip down that aisle)

A grocery store encounter - what a fun way place for them to meet. We know how much these two can turn a mundane weekend chore into something to laugh about even after they're done.

Your heart will choose it for you. That was the line that burrowed into me.

I could totally hear Jim when he called her flavor old man ice cream.

Looking forward to more. Good thing nothing is open today and have a lazy day ahead where I can catch up on some reading. HNY

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How perfectly meta this was. I mean as this is a piece of fan fiction that goes on to have Pam ranting about many of the things we fic authors write about I feel like I was caught in a loop of art imitating life imitating art.

Of course the teapots are now the hot romantic item of the season and of course they are a mass produced knock-off of the real thing and what happened to those little stores like Hippos. How come there are so few of the little knock knack shops that I loved to shop when I was younger.

But yeah i can't even imagine what it's like to have your whole life under the microscope like that.

Have to mention that those magnatiles were an absolute favorite of my kids (and very expensive back then) and though they are now 15 and 17, I still have them and won't even think of giving them away (they come in handy when we have visits from families with little people)

The way you got the hot sauce packets in here was laugh out loud funny and the mentions of memes and buzzfeed lists and Jam hashtags again perfect in the way it is so dead on accurate.

I'm sure it's what Jenna and John felt to some degree as people idolized their "character's" love story but to think about it happening to a real life couple especially as they were going through the most challenging year since they'd gotten together.

I loved the tables full of "just their own" memories and the mix of what we saw and what we didn't as the surprise but it was the segment that talked about getting her Dundie changed that tugged at my heart. But got me thinking, how the doc while broadcasted her love life and made them a walking target also allowed her to see the little things that showed just how much he loved her and made their love worth fighting for.

The receipt from the gas station and the note from the doctor. Those tickled me but all the things here were great.

This was a holiday fic worth waiting for. Thanks for giving it to us.

Oh and as always the disclaimer and end notes brilliant too.

Ps I haven't read a real book in ages either but I have written 123 reviews (now 124) since September and have read even more than that.

Author's Response: Thank you for the thoughtful and detailed review here! I had kind of a similar feeling writing it about how meta it was – like, this is definitely commentary on a pop culture phenomenon that the fic itself is literally a part of, except re-imagined, it’s a little odd. (I was very tempted to make some snarky remarks about fanfic in here, but I figured people might draw the line at real-person fic even in this universe.) And it was certainly influenced by some of the interviews that Jenna gave about people being thrown that she and John aren’t together in real life and how pushy they can be about reading more into her relationship with him than there is – there are elements of this that manage to happen even with a fictional relationship. I don’t know if this is exactly how Pam would’ve responded, but I feel very confident she would have despised that and despised being so scrutinized. Yeah, the idea of this documentary coming out after THAT year feels like a really rich area, and you can justify her reacting to that a lot of ways. I feel like I barely touched the surface of what’s happening there. I’m glad the details of Jam pop culture felt right, because I definitely felt a little less immersed in that world that I needed to be for this to work. And I’m pumped the humor hit in the middle of all this, along with the details of the ending. The chain stores killed the knick-knack shops, and we’re worse off for it. Little known trivia: Hippo’s was actually approaching bankruptcy before Christmas Party premiered. Oceans rise and fall, empires retreat and advance, the world progresses and regresses, but magnatiles will always be an amazing toy. Fact. P.S. It’s a serious problem. Everyone needs to stop writing for a while. Fic, books, everything. Let us catch up.

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(Using my best Erin voice) how did you do it. How did you write a story that seems so much like an episode of The Office while also seems so much like a Hallmark movie? And create a story that is fresh and new.

I really enjoy your writing You have such a way of making it natural and so entertaining especially in the portrayal of the ensemble. But also in your painting a scene and describing emotions.

I'm sorry to hear you've been down and that's affected your creativity because I really enjoy your stories and your reviews. Reading this one you sound like the JB from other stories of gours I've read but I do hope that things get better for you in 2021 and that the turkeys stop getting you down (if there are turkeys at play here)

Meantime I'm loving this Cinderellaesque story although Michael Scott as a fairy godmother makes me a little nervous. I think of him more like Gus. Good heart, less common sense as you so point out so well.

Looking forward to where you take us with this.

Author's Response:

Thanks so much, Max. It was a rough end to the year on the work front, but I think I’ve plateaued out from the spiraling now. I appreciate your kind words!  

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I loved that it was Angela. A Christmas miracle that it was sure but it warmed my heart. She isn’t such a grinch after all. But I do love her line these idiots couldn’t pull off a thing.

Love the whole hot chocolate thing you’ve got going there...with milk of course...even Michael doesn’t drink chocolate water.

Gotta also love the recyclops reference.

Glad to get this holiday fix from you As usual I enjoyed every bit of it.

Author's Response:

Chocolate water is the very sad little brother of milk. No one likes the very sad little brother... 

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on this one!  

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Another one that really spoke to me - I'm late reading but I hope you are feeling better.

Author's Response: Thank you for reading and reviewing, I appreciate it very much! I think I recovered fully from my sickness, thank you! 

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ooh -this one.
I'm all about the symbolism of the gold.

Author's Response: Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!

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Tortured and twisted - those my insides as I read this story but in a good way like a good angsty story does to you. Buy did you take some left turns – left turns that kept me wondering how, why, and almost had me nursing their wounds for them. But you gave them the ending they deserved – thank you for that.
I enjoyed the whole thing but some of the more fun moments like recording the outgoing message and poignant moments like reminiscing of the kisses were worth an extra nod of praise.
A great read all around.

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Fabiola Amoris. Love story. Well this certainly lived up to its name.

And who knew you were a secret Swiftie.

Right from the start I was swept into your fairy tale with such rich descriptions of her dress and the scene (thinking a cinderella palace).

Nice sneaky way to bring in Larissa or L or Elle. And by the way, wow these 2 have some pretty smart sisters not just cause they go to Columbia but because they somehow figured out how and when to bring our Romeo and Juliet back together.

To see Jim "work" to earn his father-in-laws respect so he could have his blessing was probably the most romantic thing - even more than dressing like Prince Charming.

Oh and how is it you know about Bourne Mansion and I don't?

I forgive you for posting as I was walking out door this mornin as I enjoyed my evening reading.

Author's Response:

Me being the sentimental sap I am, I've always kind of liked this song. Glad you liked all the descriptions. 

I was quite pleased with myself when I thought up the Elle=L idea. After all Larissa is a Halpert and thus is probably a prankser. Add to that an Ivy Leage education and eh voila! A sneaky plan to get them together.

They both got a bit of a kick in the pants. Pam to really get over her apathy, Jim to get over his laziness.

At first this was going to be set at the Plaza Hotel. The Grand Ballroom there is stunning. But there's no balcony that I saw easily leading to looking over Central Park, so I had to look elsewhere. I think I did a google search for New York area wedding venues balcony and after some digging found the Bourne Mansion and it fit perfectly.

Glad you had something nice to come home to.