On the Twelfth Day of Christmas

INHALT

Maggie Chalke, a journalist at the Gazette in her small hometown of Harrison, has always dreamed of working for a prestigious big-city newspaper. In the lead-up to Christmas, Mitch O'Grady is hired as the new morning DJ at Harrison's radio station for his podcast Mitch in the Mornings on WCNQ. Maggie and Mitch knew each other casually 10 years ago when they both worked for their college radio station during her freshman year. That Christmas, on the spur of the moment Mitch vowed to give Maggie the best Christmas ever when it looked like she wouldn't get home for the holidays. For all these years Maggie has remembered Mitch fondly for this wonderful gift--and wondered about him, as he unexpectedly didn't return to college in the new year. While Mitch was all about Christmas back then, he is now an avowed Christmas-hater, even refusing to play Christmas music on his show So Maggie decides to be his Secret Santa and restore his Christmas spirit. Much like he fashioned their Christmas together as the 12 Days of Christmas, she wants to give him 12 secret gifts, each celebrating something about Christmas and winter. Initially he wants nothing to do with these mystery gifts, but his producer Rita wants him to play up the Secret Santa gifts on his show. Meanwhile, Maggie's boss wants her to write a series of human-interest stories on Mitch's 12 Days of Christmas courtesy of his Secret Santa. Despite crossing the journalistic line in secretly being the story's subject, Maggie's job is on the line because the Gazette has been sold to the Wrightsbridge conglomerate, which will clean house at the paper in the new year, so she thinks taking the assignment is her only option. In the process, Maggie and Mitch spend much time together and Mitch slowly regains his Christmas spirit despite the reason he lost it still being a fact of his life. Mitch is starting to notice Maggie again, but other women in town, especially yoga instructor Brianna Parker, are noticing Mitch and trying to take credit for being his Secret Santa--and there's suspicion that Maggie arranged the entire scheme just to further her career.