The Christmas Town (book)

The Christmas Town is a Christian novel written by Donna VanLiere. It was published in 2016.

It is the ninth novel in her Christmas series, all but one of which features the residents of the fictional community of Grandon.

Plot

The book is set in 2010 around the Christmas season.

Lauren Gabriel (age 20) leads an unhappy and unfulfilled life as a grocery store cashier in the town of Whitall, approximately one hour away from Grandon. Lauren was abandoned by her father at age four, then after her mother went to prison for drug dealing when Lauren was eight, Lauren started living in a series of foster homes. After her mom's release from prison five years later, she has promised to come get her and restore their relationship, but in the ensuing seven years has never fulfilled her promise, and she ultimately aged out of the system (though her last foster family was a good one). The only seemingly happy moment of Lauren's life was receiving a small wooden box from her aunt (containing a Bible verse on top), thinking it to be the portal to a "charmed kingdom" (and tried to carve her name on the underside of the lid but never got past the letter "L"), but even that moment was taken from her when her dad left, as he took the box with him.

One night after work (around the Christmas season, a period of the year she dislikes), not wanting to go home again, she aimlessly drives around, ending up an hour later in the town of Grandon. She goes inside a local grocery store for food, and notices that all the customers want to be checked out by Ben, a young man with special needs who has made handwritten messages for all his customers, which he inserts into their bags including Lauren's ; initially she thinks his actions are crazy (later, it's shown that his messages have greatly improved store sales). Shortly after, she witnesses a hit-and-run accident, which would later require her to return to Grandon to identify the driver. Yet the events of that night give her a wild idea: she would advertise on social media (using the assumed name "Kelly" -- her actual middle name) for a family who would let her celebrate the upcoming Christmas with them.

Returning to Grandon to identify the driver who caused the hit-and-run accident, she returns to the grocery store and once again meets Ben, who gives her yet another note and at the police station meets the other driver (Stacy, who she later learns is Ben's mom). Stacy invites Lauren to breakfast, where they meet Gloria and Miriam. The three discuss the upcoming annual fundraiser for Glory's Place (a non-profit center which Gloria started and operates; it mainly provides after-school care for children); without thinking Lauren suggests a sing-a-thon and even agrees to help with it.

In the ensuing weeks Lauren begins to enjoy her time in Grandon, believing that there may be a world beyond the unhappy life she had led. The children grow to love Lauren, as she is much younger than the other volunteers they treat her like an older sister. Lauren takes special interest in two children: Cassondra (who features prominently in several scenes to follow; she is reluctant to sing but Lauren ultimately unlocks a beautiful voice which ends up being a featured solo of "Silent Night") and Grayson (who never wears a coat despite the frigid weather, as he missed getting one during an earlier coat drive since none of them featured Spider-Man; Lauren ends up buying him a Spider-Man coat).

But a series of mishaps almost causes the event to be a total disaster:

• First, the town gazebo isn't available for the sing-a-thon, having been previously booked by the local chamber of commerce. This requires Lauren to work with both Maria Delgado (Cassondra's mother) and Travis Mabrey (who works for the Parks and Recreation Department; he knew Lauren's dad as a former co-worker who, when he left, wasn't missed by his fellow employees) to see if the chamber will allow it to be used for the fundraiser.
• Both Gloria and Miriam see Lauren's ad and both respond, using the names from a TV show which Lauren would likely not recognize, but continual mix-ups keep them from meeting, mainly due to Holly (a waitress at Betty's Bakery) telling Lauren that she doesn't see anyone but regular customers, thinking Mary and Laura were strangers.
• A donated item ends up being accidentally placed in a pile to be sent to the city landfill. The item was the wooden box Lauren owned as a young girl; it ended up at a garage sale and was purchased by Dr. Nathan Andrews, who gave it to Cassondra (one of his patients), who chose to donate it for the fund-raiser.
• But what nearly unraveled the entire event was a call from Lauren's mom, who again wanted to reconnect; however, as before Lauren's mother never fulfilled her promise. Between that and a second misconnect with "Mary" and "Laura", it would be more than Lauren could handle; with a growing emptiness inside her she now believes her life will never be more than it has always been, and therefore she cuts off all contact with the people of Grandon and the children of Glory's Place, regretting that she ever let them into the drama of her life.

Yet a series of "Christmas miracles" allows the entire event to take place without a hitch:

• The chamber of commerce allows Glory's Place to use the gazebo.
• Miriam finds the missing box in a second-hand store (where Dr. Andrew's wife nearly bought it, she ended up buying it for Miriam and donating it; Miriam -- a prim and proper British expatriate -- would previously have never visited such a place)
• Travis travels to Lauren's work and convinces Lauren that the children greatly miss her, and most importantly her life is different from before and she does belong in Grandon because she is nothing like her parents -- she's willing to travel an hour each way to work with children she doesn't know, something Travis knows her dad would never have done and doubts her mother would have either. In addition (important in the following novels in the series), Travis convinces Lauren to go on a date with him.
• Finally, Gloria and Miriam meet up with Lauren, telling her that they were Mary and Laura, and more importantly the people of Grandon are the family she has been seeking (and tell her all she needs to do now is move to Grandon; Lauren is more than ready).

Lauren gets to ride with Ben (who was elected Grand Marshal) in the Christmas parade, on what she calls the happiest day of her life. At the fundraiser, she notices the box, which she remembers as her long-lost gift, and is given possession of it.

Themes

One of the main themes is that of having a sense of purpose. Both Ben and Lauren work in dead-end, low-paying, low-advancement jobs. However, Ben is able to find a purpose in his job by his hand-written messages, which bring new customers into the store. Lauren finds her sense of purpose by working with the children at Glory's Place.

Another theme is that of belonging. Lauren has lived half her life in foster care, and the majority of it without one or both parents being around; thus, she has never felt like she really belonged anywhere or with anyone. Only when she discovers Grandon and the people of Glory's Place does she start to believe that there is a place where she belongs, and a family who cares.

Film Adaptation

In 2017 the book was adapted into a Hallmark Christmas film titled "Christmas Town". With the exception of the names of the main characters (Lauren and Travis, along with some minor ones) and the plotline of the long-lost artifact from childhood (in the film it was a broken Christmas tree angel-topper), the film did not follow the plot of the book. Also it incorporated an adoption plotline which somewhat followed the plotline of the follow-on book The Christmas Star.