By Marty Hughley
The Oregonian
November 20, 2009

At this time of year, when the regular daily madness is compounded with holiday decorating/shopping/shuttling/cooking/juggling, what's a typical suburban mother to do? Invite a sassy pagan homeless teenager into the household, of course. At least that's what the frazzled but warmhearted Julia, played by Susannah Mars, does in this remarkable seasonal comedy by Portlanders Marc Acito and C.S. Whitcomb.

Tightroping between hilarity and poignancy, never slipping into cheap sentimentality, the show premiered last year, looking like an instant classic, a welcome perennial. It returns with much the same core cast, although with Duffy Epstein as Julia's husband, and the redoubtable Vana O'Brien as the ghost of Julia's stridently feminist mother. Julia's kind impulse courts chaos, teaches essential lessons and somehow makes it all work out. Which is just the kind of thing for a mother to do.