Story for the Week
It is officially time to decorate for Christmas.
My late husband grew up in Trinidad where they didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. When we first got married, he always wanted to start decorating for Christmas right after Halloween. I told him that we would not be decorating that early because Thanksgiving deserved its time as a holiday.
He went along, in part because he liked the idea of a real Christmas tree which would be dead by Christmas if we put it up a month before. The other part was that I was pretty much the one who did all the decorating (while he “supervised” 🙄), so we waited until I was ready.
For the last several years, we have technically had Christmas decorations up year-round. I decided to splurge one year. I bought new Christmas stockings and stocking holders to hang. The stocking holders are weighted snowflakes, and I don’t want to have to take them down every year. (Call me lazy if you want to. It’s okay.) So the snowflakes stay up all year. Most people don’t even notice unless we point them out. I added the stockings this weekend.
This year, we had another decoration up right after Halloween. A couple of years ago, I bought a set of decorative blocks that read “Spooky” on one side and “Jingle” on the other. Because I’m lazy (see the parenthetical in the previous paragraph), this also stayed up after Halloween. But I couldn’t exactly leave “Spooky” visible after Halloween, so I flipped it over to “Jingle” in early November. Again, no one noticed. 😉
But now it’s time.
We haven’t purchased a live Christmas tree since Dennis passed. The first year, we barely felt like celebrating, but I felt like we needed to do something. Christmas was absolutely his favorite holiday. I picked up a very inexpensive tree from Wal-Mart that year, and we decorated it on Christmas Eve. In the five years and six Christmases since he passed, we didn’t decorate at all for a couple of those years. Some years, grief hits harder than others.
The “grief tree” turned out to be perfect. It made me laugh the first time I put it together because it looked sooooooo pathetic undecorated. But it’s just big enough to hold the family ornaments we purchase each year. And it’s not so big that we can’t put it up on the coffee table. That’s the plan this year to keep it away from our youngest dog. It’s easy to put together and doesn’t need watering, so that is a win in my book.
The decorations always come down the weekend after Epiphany, with the exception of the stocking holders that stay on the entertainment center…and anything I might forget to take down that gets stashed in the closet because I don’t want to go back out to the garage. (Lazy…see five paragraphs above.)
The book reviewed below is chock-full of holiday traditions for both Christmas and Hanukkah. There might even be a part where people sing “It’s beginning to look a lot like Hanukkah.” 😊 If you’re looking for a nice holiday read, look no further.
And just a reminder, if you haven’t started your shopping yet, it’s only 25 days until Christmas. 😉
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for Merry Little Bookshop by Ali Brady
236 pages
Publisher: Independently Published
Publication Date: November 7, 2025
Purchased on Amazon.
Publisher’s Description
When her company sends her to tiny Azalea, Texas, to open a holiday pop-up bookstore for the month of December, Shira Schwartz knows the real reason she got the assignment—they figure she won’t mind missing Christmas. What they forgot? She’s also missing Hanukkah.
From the moment she arrives on Thanksgiving Day, Shira is swept up in the town’s charm—and right into the path of Jonny McKay, a local who traded big-city dreams to come home and care for his dad. He’s cocky, flirty, and totally not Shira’s type…but he might be perfect for a no-strings holiday fling.
Together, they turn the bookshop into more than a store: it’s a gathering place, a haven for new readers, and maybe the start of something magical between them. From cookie-decorating chaos with Jonny’s family to Azalea’s sparkling Christmas tractor parade, the season wraps Shira in warmth she never expected. And when Jonny rallies the townspeople to surprise Shira with their own heartfelt take on Hanukkah, she realizes this assignment might be the best holiday gift she’s ever been given.
************
Main Characters:
- Shira Schwartz – only child of two only-child parents, lives in Chicago, works for a company that manages pop-up shops, assigned to manage one in Texas between Thanksgiving and Christmas as a favor for one of her boss Conor’s “college bros,” expecting a promotion when she returns
- Jonny McKay – left his small hometown in Texas after college, came home between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year to set up the Azalea Christmas Market while his dad recovers from an accident, went to business school with Conor who he contacted about a pop-up bookstore for the market
Who doesn’t love a small-town Christmas and Hanukkah romance? 🥰
When we meet Shira for the first time, she sits alone in a taqueria, eating dinner at the only place open on Thanksgiving in the little town of Azalea, Texas. The group text with her friends back home in Chicago keeps her phone buzzing. They try to make her feel better by criticizing her boss, who sent her to Texas because she’s Jewish and doesn’t celebrate Christmas, ignoring the fact that she will miss Hanukkah in the process. One of her friends suggests that a holiday hookup will help pass the time. While that is totally unlike Shira, the rest of her friends agree, saying that maybe she should channel a different Shira for a month.
Into the taqueria walks Jonny McKay, resident troublemaker when he lived in Azalea, dropping off a plate of food for the woman behind the counter. Shira sneaks a photo to send to her friends, and when she looks up again, Jonny smiles and flirts a bit with her before he leaves.
They meet next at the Christmas market because of course they do. There are flirtatious remarks and sparks because of course there are. It’s a romance…duh!
The chapters alternate between Shira and Jonny with first-person narration, a staple format for Ali Brady. As readers, we know what both characters are thinking the whole time. We also realize when they start feeling the same about each other but avoid saying anything out loud. Again, it’s a romance, so the enjoyment is in the journey to the happily ever after. There will be a happily ever after because, again, it’s a romance.
One of the things I love about this particular book is the countdown to Christmas in the chapter headings which describe exactly how the characters are feeling as their relationship develops. Shira’s first chapter is “28 days until I can leave,” while Jonny’s is “27 days until the best day of the year.” By the halfway point in the book, Shira’s is “7 days until I have to leave,” and Jonny’s is “6 days until Shira has to leave.” By this point, we all know what’s happening and basically feel the same way.
This is also a book about a bookstore, so the authors include great references to other books—The Idea of You by Robinne Lee, The Correspondent by Virginia Evans, East of Eden by John Steinbeck, and a couple others that I can’t tell you because…spoilers. And they always weave in references about how books can make people feel. As a reader, I love this because they’re so accurate.
- “Twenty people could read the same book, and each take away something different.”
- “…novels are just self-help books in disguise. Whether it’s literary fiction about the AIDS epidemic, a fantasy about a chosen one deciding to be brave, or a mystery where the detective’s really solving his own mess—it’s all about learning how to be human.”
- “We’re drawn to books because every one of us holds a multitude of stories.”
This book is full of references that will make you laugh (a pair of boxers that say “big dreidel energy”), some pretty steamy love scenes, and dialog that just brings a smile to your face.
- “Allow me to introduce you to a little thing called a flathead screwdriver,” he says, pulling one from his tool belt.
“See, if you’d offered me that yesterday instead of pie, we could’ve gotten somewhere.”
“Touche,” Jonny says. “I could make a joke about calling me the next time you need a good screw, but I won’t—because I’m a gentleman.” - “I’m tougher than I look.”
“You look pretty tough to me,” he says, that slight drawl sending a chill up and down my spine. “I mean pretty, comma, and tough.” Oh. My. God. Grammar has never been so hot.
Also, since this is a Christmas and Hanukkah love story, the book details customs and traditions of both holidays, and I just love that. Jonny describes all his family traditions because he comes from a huge family, and Shira tells him about her Hanukkah traditions with her friends and the significance of the candles on the Menorah. And the stories weave together seamlessly.
Alison Hammer and Bradeigh Godfrey, the best friends who make up the writing duo of Ali Brady, will always be at the top of my must-read list. This is a fantastic, feel-good story and the perfect read for the holiday season. 🎄🕎
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