So are you are in your jammies yet' Eating popcorn and sipping cocoa in front of the fire' No' Not yet' Too much to do, you say' Shopping, tree trimming, gift wrapping ... oh yes my dears, its a busy season!
But I have the perfect respite from all your holiday stress.
Come rest a few hours and share the madcap 'Tidings: A Fractured Christmas Fable' with Allentowns Crowded Kitchen Players. 
Let yourself disappear into a whimsical Christmas story, written by Lehigh Valley playwright Brian McDermott and directed by Ara Barlieb, that blends the more comic elements of A Christmas Carol and Its A Wonderful Life into a modern-day setting in a large department store, Tafts, a few days before Christmas.
'Tidings' opens as George, a run-down, boozed-out Santa for Tafts, has hit rock bottom with his bottle. ("It took me all day to get this drunk.") Keith Moser as George/Santa knows how to put the shtick in slapshtick as he takes enough tumbles, whirls and pratfalls for the rest of the cast combined, who are relatively free of vigorous activity, especially for a Barlieb-directed play.
Fortunately for George, his guardian angel, played with zestful charm by Sarah Thomas, arrives just in time to help improve his disposition and set him on the path to success. As he is awakened by her ("What do the two of you want'") and snapped back to sobriety, the 4th wall is very interestingly broken for one of several times in the play when George realizes he is being watched. ("Who are all those people'")
Moser effectively hits the high and low notes of his character and has a believability as he works toward his eventual redemption that makes you want to root for him.
At the same time, the Spirit of Christmas Present (or CP for short) is undertaking his mission from the other world to reform the devilishly wicked store manager (and Georges boss), Felicia Neezer.
CP is played with sprightly elfin qualities by Joe Stempo, and Patti Squire combines a marvelous blend of cool, hip business woman and diabolical bossiness (with radical makeup) into her role as Neezer, one that could have easily been overplayed but fortunately is not. Both George and Ms Neezer undergo transformations through the play, George more genuinely than his boss, and along the way he is helped by a lovely, shy woman named Virginia, interpreted with sweet sincerity by Susan Burnett, who appears in various guises, principally as a store employee in the perfume department, then in the gift wrap department, and also as a love interest for George.
He is smitten with her instantly and proposes on the spot, setting up one of the best laughs in the play when Virginia replies with a sweet and giggly but very firm "No." (But she does agree to date.) Along the way, several other interesting characters are woven throughout the story: The Angels' boss, played with an imperious flair by Pamela Wallace; Jacqueline Marley, a truly frightening Nancy Mikkelsen, as a ghostly former Taft's employee; Mrs. Rathbun, performed by Kathy Pacheco as an effective and overwhelming mother to George; and Alexandra Racines and young Isabelle Burnett in two lovely appearances as a harried mother and daughter who are close to meltdowns over the pressures of Christmas shopping. By the conclusion of the play, as you might expect even with the most fractured of Christmas fables, all is set to right: George seems on the proper path; Neezer as well (although I wouldnt bet on this); the Angel and CP are happy with their concluded work; and the kid even gets her greatest wish for a horse! McDermotts wacky script affords much laughter, and it is zestfully enhanced by the skillful direction of Mr. Barlieb, who knows just where to find the tweaks. The department store set, amazingly constructed on the day of opening night, consists of a long center ramp, flanked by large, seasonally decorated, two-dimensional Christmas trees, several big red and green wooden boxes used to various effects, red and silver garlands, other holiday set pieces, and a large sign reading Tafts Department Store.
Pre-show and intermission holiday-themed music, arranged and played by Clark Ferguson, lends an attractive tone to the atmosphere.
Magic, mischief, humor, hope, angels and long lost relatives: 'Tidings' has it all.
'Tidings' plays at the Zions Reformed UCC Church, 620 W. Hamilton Street, Allentown on Dec. 5, 6, 12, 13, 19 & 20 at 8:00 pm and Dec. 7 & 14 at 3:00 pm.
Tickets are $18, Seniors $14 and Students $8.
For information, call 610-395-7176, email