Christmas on Jane Street: A True Story

Romantics will relish, but cynics will dismiss, this unabashedly sentimental memoir from Romp, writing with Urbanska (Moving to a Small Town). Every Thanksgiving for the past 10 years, Romp, who owns a tree farm in Vermont, has come to Manhattan with his wife, Patti, and their three children to sell Christmas trees. They operate a stand on the corner of Jane Street and Eighth Avenue in Greenwich Village and live in a tiny camper parked nearby, in which Patti produces delicious home-cooked meals. Romp's friendly manner and philosophy of matching the tree to the customer endear his family, known as ""the Tree People,"" to the Village community. Not only do neighbors, who eagerly await their arrival, offer the family the use of their apartments for showers, but storekeepers provide free food and coffee. The Romps' ideal family life is threatened, however, when daughter Ellie, on the verge of adolescence, asks to attend a performance of The Nutcracker with her girlfriend as a Christmas gift. Romp considers such an activity extravagant and can't comprehend why his tomboy daughter and chief assistant would want to do such a thing. After some gentle nudging from Patti, Romp realizes that young Ellie just needs to try her wings, and all is well again just in time for Christmas. Readers needn't be ashamed to find this charming, but those who don't aren't grinches. Color illustrations throughout. Agent, Sterling Lord. First serial to Ladies' Home Journal. (Nov.)