Seventeen-year-old Harry prefers writing an extravagantly romantic story in the New Zealand seaside vacation house to mingling with her family, assorted friends and three mysterious ghostly guests all come to celebrate the holidays. Her private reflections find larger mirrors in the real-life advent already in motion. Multiple opposites abound and attract. Harry's visions of life and acceptance are extended through complex supernatural elements as well as life observations. Strong characters, brilliant uses of imagery and humor, and subtle foreshadowing distinguish a stimulating multi-leveled Christmas story written with good readers of young adult age in mind. (Age 14 and older)