1112 A Leap Frog Christmas, Part II

A Leap Frog Christmas, Part II
December 14 ? 25, 1989

Parlboro, Michigan


It's 1989 and just eleven days until Christmas when Sam leaps into the life of seventeen-year-old Tessa Millikin. It seems a simple enough leap. He puts right what originally went wrong for Tessa, then leaps. But when he opens his eyes again, Sam discovers he's still with the Millikin family, this time as Rio, Tessa's brother. Again, he fixes a "wrong," this time in Rio's life then leaps into yet another Millikin family member?then another?and another?and another. With each successive leap into another Millikin family member, Sam begins to wonder exactly who it is, or what it is, or why GTFW wants him to stick around with this family as Christmas draws closer.


Written by: C. E. Krawiec


Thanks,
TVS Team

Our rating system this season consists of five raters and three back-up raters! We took the average of six raters and came up with an average for that episode. Based on ratings of 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest, the average of this episode was: 9


Please be aware that some reviews may contain spoilers! Some of the comments given were:

Valery S. Gemini said:
I had to read it again completely, but of course now that we get the final purpose of this multi-leap experience, the whole story makes much more sense. In order to make this 'group of individuals sharing the same house' a loving family again, and to make Clayton arrive soon enough to say goodbye, Sam HAD to leap in the right person at the right moment. To reach this goal, GTFW (plus the author!) has brilliantly planned this tricky sequence of leaps, dialogues and actions.

RATING: 9

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Sporty said:
This was a great conclusion to the story. I liked the way Sam had to acclimate to all the people he leaped into, and having Eulene's son finally say goodbye to his dying father, great! A great Christmas story.

RATING: 8

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Morris J. Finkle said:
Part I started off a bit confusing, but after reading the entire story, I was left with a great feeling inside. This was a very wonderful holiday story. The parallels with Sam's guilt over not being there when his own father died was conveyed in a very powerful way. This almost seemed like a "sequel" of sorts, since Sam took the lessons he learned from last year's story, "To Say Goodbye," and used them to help give Eulene and Clayton the closure they needed. Well done, Eleiece!

RATING: 9

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Xanadu said:
It was after I read this one that I thought I recognized a song here. Then I had to go back and look for the verses. It's not just the twelve leaps of Christmas... it's the twelve days! That was clever, Eleiece. Very clever indeed. I know that I missed 3 of the verses, but that was because I wasn't reading closely enough the second time.

Very well done. Two parter or not... it's a wonderful Christmas Episode that warms the heart... and it only gets better with each reading! Thank you!

RATING: 10

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Allie Cat / Weitzman (a.k.a. Head Nozzle) said:
Unable to rate.

RATING: NR

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Tom Jarret said:
This story was a perfect example at how tough it is to review a story that is only half complete. This story turned out to be absolutely wonderful, yet only reading the first half we all felt a certain foreboding that it might lead the wrong way. I am glad to say that it didn't and that this story was everything you wanted to see in a holiday story. I have read this story a couple of times and it falls into that rare category of getting better with each reading.

RATING: 9

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Now, it's your opportunity to rate this particular story. Let the author(s) know how you rate this story. If you'd like to give feedback, please go ahead and leave a reply!

Thanks!
The Virtual Seasons Team

[QL Damsel]

Originally posted by Damon Sugameli:

I got around to reading this Christmas night, after I got home. I have to say, Eleiece, this was a wonderful story that really pulled at the heartstrings. I have to admit, I nearly cried at the end.

Okay, now that I've read the whole thing, I'm not really sure if this is the song you based the story around, Eleiece, but my initial guess was "The Twelve Days of Christmas," although it actually only went up to December 24th, not the 25th. (Seeing as how Part II was about the same length as my season premiere, I'm guessing that you had to cut your story shorter than you expected to.) I mean, the way this story was set up, it probably could have easily been called "The Twelve Leaps of Christmas" or something. Anyway, wonderful story!

Damon

[QL Damsel]

Originally posted by Mike Bloxam:

Well, Eleiece, what an excellent conclusion to the story. This was a wonderful story for the Christmas season and you certainly orchestrated everything quite well. Very nicely done, pal o' mine!

... Mike.

[QL Damsel]

Originally posted by Eleiece Krawiec:

You're absolutely right, Damon. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" is the song the story is based on. However, according to the rules of the challenge (I kept a copy of the challenge) the writer could not use the title of the song nor any of the lyrics (directly) in the story. It really was a challenge to come up with subtle ways to incorporate all 12 verses into the story, as was the necessity of a title that was a wink at the number of leaps. Ultimately, it would be for the reader to guess the song used as a basis. BTW, did you happen to find all the "verses" throughout the story?

As for the story not going into Christmas Day, you know the phrase, "The best laid plans...." Well, in a way that's what happened with this story. As I neared the end of it, the story pretty much took over and wrote itself. I've been writing long enough that when I recognize that the story is "in the driver's seat" to just let it 'drive'; the ride is always worth it. So it was that this story ended Christmas Eve instead of 24 hours later.

And I'm glad that you enjoyed it.

Eleiece

[LadyKayoss]

This was a great couple of episodes, even if the multi-leaps did make me a little dizzy (I can only imagine how poor Sam and Al must feel!) It's very well written, and heart-warming, too. I'm interested to know what this 'challenge' mentioned was.

And, being the geek I am, I cheered whenever something familiar was mentioned. I live in this area, and am quite familiar with Kalamazoo - I attend the school where the father teaches. I spent the other night trying to find Parlboro on a map (no luck), and wondering if some of the places listed, like the ballet company, were made up, or if they actually existed back in '89.

[Sherdran]

Originally Posted by LadyKayoss

This was a great couple of episodes, even if the multi-leaps did make me a little dizzy (I can only imagine how poor Sam and Al must feel!) It's very well written, and heart-warming, too.

LOL, you can count the author among the "dizzy", too! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Originally Posted by LadyKayoss

I'm interested to know what this 'challenge' mentioned was.

I've got it on my computer at home. If you like, I'll email you a copy of it, or I can post it here on the Virtual Seasons Messageboard.

Originally Posted by LadyKayoss

.....being the geek I am, I cheered whenever something familiar was mentioned. I live in this area, and am quite familiar with Kalamazoo - I attend the school where the father teaches. I spent the other night trying to find Parlboro on a map (no luck), and wondering if some of the places listed, like the ballet company, were made up, or if they actually existed back in '89.

*G* I'm kinda/sorta familar with Kalamazoo, too. I grew up in Sturgis, Michigan, which is about an hour or so drive from K'zoo. As for the town of Parlboro, it is strictly a made up place. I, too, studied the Michigan map for small towns in the Kalamazoo area and tried to place it "somewhere within easy driving distance" of the city. The ballet school --The Eugenie Hyatt-Hines Ballet School-- is completely made up. However, the teacher was based loosely upon the one ballet teacher I took classes from as an adult. The small art gallery where Mr. Milliken bought his picture is also entirely made up.

Again, I'm so glad you enjoyed the story.

Eleiece

[LadyKayoss]

Yes, I am curious to see what this challenge was. You could post it here, or I could PM you my e-mail (I'm not going to post it here.)

And I guess there's always a danger when using a real city; you never know who is going to know the place! I do like seeing familiar names pop up, though... and at least you aren't making fun of it, like Melanie Rawn did in Knights of the Morningstar!

[Sherdran]

Originally Posted by LadyKayoss

Yes, I am curious to see what this challenge was. You could post it here....

I'll post it here, in the General Discussion forum.

Originally Posted by LadyKayoss

And I guess there's always a danger when using a real city; you never know who is going to know the place! I do like seeing familiar names pop up, though... and at least you aren't making fun of it, like Melanie Rawn did in Knights of the Morningstar!

Your point is the primary reason I usually come up with fictitious cities or towns. *G*

Eleiece