Is It A Christmas Movie? "While Yule Were Sleeping"

The following is an essay I wrote for my Christmas Lit class at North Pole High in the North Pole. My teacher, Mrs. Polar Bear, gave me an A+.

From 1995, While You Were Sleeping stars Sandra Bullock as Lucy, a lonely woman who falls in love with a man in a coma. This charming romantic comedy is set in Chicago, a great place to spend Christmas because they have lots of snow and they make their cocoa with Frango mints!

Before Lucy meets Coma Boy, she's struggling to get the Christmas tree she just bought into her apartment. It's so big, she has to hoist it up through her window on a rope. But it's so heavy, she drops it and it breaks the window of the apartment below her. Won't Coma Boy be lucky to get a girl who puts that much effort into Christmas!

Lucy's other problem is that besides her hunk being in a coma, she's never actually met him. But while he's asleep, she does meet his family. And since it's Christmastime, she gets to experience the warmth and joy of spending the holidays with a loving family, something she's missed since her parents died.

So now, instead of just having a crush on a hot dude in a coma, she's in love with the idea of becoming a part of his family. All because of Christmas. I don't want to spoil anything for you, but I think the message is that Christmas makes everything bright and wonderful. And for that, I hang five shining stars upon While You Were Sleeping!

Click here to watch While You Were Sleeping online.

Click here to buy While You Were Sleeping on DVD.

Click here to buy While You Were Sleeping on Blu-ray.

Christmas in July: Battle of the Christmas Musicals

I have some FANTASTIC news: North Pole High: The Musical was selected as a semi-finalist in the Battle of the Christmas Musicals at the Brookfield Theatre for the Arts in Brookfield, Connecticut!

I am so proud of the writers -- Rafi Nemes, Kristen Rea, and Danny Hercules -- for this early recognition they have received for their work-in-progress musical based on my memoir, North Pole High: A Rebel Without a Claus. Congratulations! And keep up the great work!

Now for some more news that's also fantastic, but in a different way:

North Pole High didn't advance to the finalist round, but everyone here at the Top of the World is happy anyway because who knew there were so many new Christmas musicals being written? You can never have enough Christmas musicals!

Congratulations to the writers of The Christmas Bride, Christmas Letters, and Come Find Me.

I want to urge all my New England fans to head to Brookfield, Connecticut to celebrate Christmas in July! Yule get to see 45-minute excerpts from each of the three finalists and yule get to meet the writers. AND yule get to vote for your favorite. The winning show will get a full-length staged reading in December.

And it's FREE!

But the best reason to attend this event on Saturday, July 1, from 7:00 PM to 10:15 PM is because yule get to celebrate Christmas six months early!!!!!! Because when you think about it, December is just too far away to hold onto your Christmas cheer.

For tickets, go to brownpapertickets.com/event/2964680

Good luck to all three finalists, and have a Merry July!

No One Beats the Yuletide Pride at North Pole High

Swans-a-swimming! The musical based on my memoir had its first staged reading this month! I couldn't be there in person (way too much to do here in the Pole this time of year), but I know the cast was fabulous because, well, I've learned a few things from my dad and let's just say I see them when they're acting, I hear them when they sing.

Many thanks to the cast, from left to right:

Andrea Fantauzzi played my classmate Vixen far more sympathetically than she came off in my book.

Judy Nazemetz (member of Actors' Equity Association)  played my dear mother, Mrs. Claus, so dearly.

John Eddings embodied the enormous body of my father, Santa Claus, so believable he could probably get away with subbing for my dad at some of the malls this Season. #HoHoHo

Lauren Byrd really nailed me in the lead role, except that she carols even more beautifully than I do.

James Giusti found his inner Scrooge to accurately portray Rudy Tutti, the new boy at North Pole High.

Monica Allan was so much fun as my best friend Snowflake it's almost like I have another best friend!

Frankie Rodriguez was hilarious as my shy classmate Silentnight.

Samuel Thacker truly rose to the occasion to portray the handsome half-elf Tinsel.

And last, but not least, David Buckland was so much like my real teacher, Mr. Polar Bear, that parts of the show were eerily like being in class at the real North Pole High.

My thanks also to the writers. Danny couldn't fit everything from my book into his but managed to keep its Christmas Spirit front and center. Kristen and Rafi penned so many wonderful new tunes, from "Yuletide Pride" to "North Pole Prance," that we'll be singing them here at North Pole High for many Christmases to come. Like the song says, I'm on Top of the World!

Thanks also to New Musicals, Inc., for hosting this world premiere event!

Local Authors' Showcase

Great news! My critically acclaimed memoir, North Pole High: A Rebel Without a Claus, will be featured THIS SATURDAY, October 15th, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the 2016 Local Authors' Showcase in sunny Burbank, California!

I know what you're thinking. Local author? When was the last time it snowed in Los Angeles?

Okay, you caught me. Yes, I was born and have always lived in the most wondrous land imaginable, hidden from view all the way at the northernmost part of the world, where it snows year-round and the sun only comes out for six months at a time. Where candy canes grow on red vines (which is how the licorice brand got its name) and friendly snowmen direct the Snow Pod traffic. Where reindeer fly and Santa Claus leads an army of elves in the creation of millions of toys a year. You get the picture.

While I did write every word of my manuscript here in my room at 16 Gingerbread Lane in the beautiful Village of the North Pole, I also had my own secret "little helper" down south to translate some of the more arcane Arctic idioms into language more easily digestible below the Circle. This assistant did much of his work at the Buena Vista branch of the Burbank Public Library, the very location where this event is being held.

I'm going to try my darnedest to make it down there to meet the 50 amazing authors who will be signing their books at the event, if I don't have too much homework and my dad lets me borrow his sleigh. If I don't make it, I've given my assistant power of attorney to sign my books for me in all territories outside the Arctic Circle. Since I'm a minor, I'm technically not allowed to sign my books in your world anyway.

For more information, hop on over to:

burbanklibrary.com/events/local-authors-showcase.

Hope you can make it.

North Pole High Talent Search

What's new at North Pole High? We're putting on a show!

My good friends at the Academy for New Musical Theatre in North Hollywood are putting together a staged reading of the first draft of their musical based on my critically-acclaimed memoir! I can't wait.

They're looking for talented singers and actors right now! Go to the Auditions Page now for character breakdowns and other information about how you can be among the first performers in the WORLD to play my friends in this very special edition of North Pole High: The Musical.

Please spread the word to all your friends in the Los Angeles acting community and let's make this the Best Christmas Musical Ever!

#HoHoHo