An illustrated children's Christmas story about a grouchy author, a surprise
visit from Santa Claus, and a lost family found.
P.T. Grumbles is a writer and critic who's finishing up a large round of
interviews with "the most famous people in the world" for publication as a
book. When he's nearly finished with the work, a young child of one of the
interviewees asks him if he's going to include an interview with Santa.
Grumbles is attracted to this idea and decides that it would be a fitting
conclusion for his book. Although he despises the Christmas holiday-his
adoptive parents always made it a miserable experience-he decorates his
house to lure Santa in on Christmas Eve and request an exclusive. The plan
works: Santa agrees to talk to Grumbles but says that the writer must travel
with him on his gift-giving rounds. Along the way, Grumbles asks Santa
questions about how he can possibly deliver presents to all the children in
the world, how his reindeer can fly, and how Santa gets into homes that lack
chimneys; however, the jolly old elf's answers are vague and mysterious.
Soon, Santa asks Grumbles about his past and then enlists his help for a
delivery-an event that changes the course of the writer's life forever!
