Christmas Short Stories Anthology

Thomas Hardy wrote this engaging seasonal story for The Father Christmas Annual in 1877, which was very early in his career. One can just imagine the family sitting by the fireside after the big Christmas lunch, and listening as one member of the family read the story (set in the Wessex countryside he knew so well). By this time, he was already making his mark as a writer. One of his greatest achievements, Far From the Madding Crowd was published three years earlier.

A Dickens Christmas story about charity, hope, and forgiveness, with a touch of remembrance and loss. This very mature story looks back throughout one's life, promises made, aspirations filled and unfilled, love gained and lost, and many other such touching moments in everyone's life. An American voice was used per listener request.

Flagged down by Inspector LaStrade of Scotland Yard as they walk through the icy winter streets, Holmes and Watson are transported to the home of the aristocratic Lady Whitebread. Once there, she tells them her traditional holiday centerpiece has vanished in the midst of the Christmas dinner - right under the very noses of her guests. The decoration? An enormous work of the jeweler's art centered upon a three inch round emerald called...the Christmas Jewel.

Each Wednesday morning they take the bus--the lonely graduate student, the marine trying to start a new life in the corporate world, the elderly woman on her way to the senior center, and the exhausted single mother and her daughter--but they never interact. Not until the day tragedy strikes and brings these five strangers together.

Ready to risk all that she has for one thing, will Emily succeed in having the beautiful life she once had, or will she lose it all? From the celebrations of the most beautiful time of the year to the most severe heartbreak, Emily has to keep herself together if she wants it all. Can she have it all? Or does she have to let go of one for the other? Emily is in a dire conflict with her own self.

She has always had one goal in her mind: for things to be the way they were. But she sees some major setbacks in her path to this goal. From seeing her loved ones torn to shreds by their circumstances to seeing the people that she holds most dear completely change, will she be able to survive it all? This is a story of resilience, fighting back, love, and betrayal.

Originally published in an 1896 edition of The Home Monthly, "The Burglar's Christmas" tells the story Crawford, a homeless man in Chicago who has not eaten recently and considers stealing food on Christmas Eve. Reminiscent of the parable of the prodigal son, this tale reflects on the nature of forgiveness. This recording of "The Burglar's Christmas" was recorded as part of Dreamscape's Classic Christmas Stories: A Collection of Timeless Holiday Tales.

The Christmas holidays arrive on Bessie's magical mountain. Little did Bessie know that today, when the 10-o'clock train rolls to a stop at the summit of the snow-covered mountain, Matthew, a handsome stranger, will climb down from the coach car and enter her world.

Inhalt: "Ansage", "Elfriede Huhn legt los!", "Ein Papphaus für den Osterhasen", "Der Ostereier-Wettbewerb", "Das Eier-Osterfrühstück", "Auf Osterhasenlauer", "Ferien für den Osterhasen", "Ein besonders netter Osterhase", "Eierzielschießen", "Ein Anzug für den Osterhasen", "Lili Naschhase", "Die Osterhasenprüfung", "Ein Kranz fürs Osterfrühstück".

Watson visits Sherlock Holmes at Christmastime and finds him contemplating a battered old hat, brought to him by the commissionaire Peterson after it and a Christmas goose had been dropped by a man in a scuffle with some street ruffians. Peterson takes the goose home to eat it, but comes back later with a precious carbuncle that his wife found in the bird's crop.

In "A Hospital Christmas" a Civil War-era hospital is the setting for a Christmas story about caring for others, thinking positively, and how sharing can make Christmas meaningful for those who have little.

It's a typical Christmas Eve. All except for the hot weather. And the head.

In 'Rumpole and the Boy', Rumpole has recently concluded a blackmail case when he finds himself babysitting a small boy. Edmund turns out to have a keen interest in criminal cases and he throws some unexpected light on the case Rumpole has just tried. Bill Wallis reads this special seasonal story starring Horace Rumpole, scourge of all QCs and friend of the criminal classes.

'Rumpole and the Old Familiar Faces' finds the claret-loving barrister spending Christmas in chilly Coldsands, staying with an old school friend of Hilda. When he is introduced to the new owner of the Old Manor House, he is surprised to realize that they've met before in more unsavoury circumstances. And Donald Compton's is by no means the only familiar face Rumpole will encounter during this particular festive period.

When Cousin Myra comes to visit for Christmas at the Osbornes' she finds her young cousins Frankie and Ida are bored with Christmas. Deciding that they have had too much of it, Cousing Myra suggests that the cousins share Christmas with some of the more unfortunate children in their community. Will Frankie and Ida give up their presents and sweets to make a merry Christmas for thir neighbors?

All bakery-owner Lindsay Leeds wants for Christmas is for her former high-school crush Sheriff Keith "Bodey" Bodewell to quit playing games. The sheriff has been dancing around asking her out for months and Lindsay is tired of it. His "fake girlfriend" ploy was cute and it was sweet that he recruited her friends to find out what she likes, but enough is enough. She's a busy woman and he needs to step up or he's going to lose his shot.

Four short, sparkling seasonal tales to warm your heart.

Runyon's short stories are almost always told in the first person by a narrator who is never named and whose role is unclear; he knows many gangsters and has no job that can be gleaned from his musings, nor does he admit to any criminal involvement; he’s a bystander, an observer, an average street-corner Joe. Runyon described himself as 'being known to one and all as a guy who is just around'. That line seems to say a lot about Runyon and his life.

When a chance meeting at a Broadway show leads to an unexpected attraction, things quickly heat up. With Aaron's hypnotic blue eyes distorting Ari's vision and judgment, the loud traffic buzzing in her ears, his masculine scent filling her nose, his body heat enveloping her and his breath ghosting across her lips, it's inevitable that she give into the temptation of a younger man. How can she deny the allure when she suddenly feels more alive than she's felt in more than a decade?

It's Christmas at Camelot and that can only mean one thing...an eerie adventure is about to begin! Grab a cup of mead, sit back and enjoy this famous Christmas short story told like never before.