Christmas Short Stories Anthology

Gnarl Saves Christmas is a satire of classic holiday tales and modern fantasy. The tale is told on a cold, snowy night, when two children snuggle in bed while Grandpa tells them a story. In a long-ago age when monsters and magic ruled the land of men, a family of beast-like gnolls is visited by jolly St. Nick. Chaos ensues, and by the time that it's done, the ruler of their clan - Gnarl - must don the red and white garb, take up the magic bag, and finish the rounds, lest the holidays be lost across all of the land.

Left to rot in the king's jail, and nearly forgotten, Captain Rob and his crew seize an offer to deliver Yuletide cargo to the Town of Dryden by Christmas Eve, in exchange for their release. But to reach their destination in time, earn the king's pardon, and ensure their freedom, they will have to chart a course straight through pirate-infested waters - a fool's errand while sailing under the king's colors.

Christmas chaos hits Josiane. All she want to do is get to her family's Christmas Eve dinner for once on time. Instead, she gets stuck in her office's elevator with a tall stranger in the dark. When she meets Carsten will Josiane find that holiday romance may come in the strangest places?

In "A Christmas Dream, and How It Came True", 10-year-old Effie lives a comfortable life and experiences Christmases filled with delicious treats and wonderful toys. One night she has a dream that forever changes the meaning of Christmas for her. Encountering a group of underprivileged children, she is inspired to give them a Christmas they will never forget.

On the surface Norman is not the perfect Christmas tree, but just because he is different to the other trees, he is no less special and no less deserving of a happy home full of love.

The boys couldn't believe their ears when they found they weren't receiving presents this Christmas. "A new adventure," Dad said. They didn't realize what surprises were in store, and neither did their mom.

A rather unattractive itinerant flute-player and music copyist is sent away on Christmas Eve - causing a family to feel uncomfortably guilty. Lagerlof was a Swedish novelist, who in 1909 became the first woman writer to win the Nobel Prize for literature. Her work is deeply rooted in Nordic legends and history.

American writer William Dean Howells delights us with his cautiously cynical yet endearing telling of the night before Christmas at the Fountain household. Published in The Daughter of the Storage and Other Things in Prose and Verse in 1916, Howells’ sense of realism and social criticism hides behind the humorous banter between Mr. and Mrs. Fountain, as well as relatives passing by. Raging consumerism, New Year’s resolutions, lovingly marital insults, reflections and memories, and a whole bunch of bathrobes!

Queens, New York, in the early 1970s. During the holidays, a small boy dishonors his mother and learns a lesson. Maybe more than one. Maybe not.

Vasilisa had not seen her daughter for four years. Her daughter, Yefimya, had gone after her wedding to Petersburg, had sent them two letters, and since then had seemed to vanish out of their lives; there had been no sight nor sound of her. And whether the old woman was milking her cow at dawn or heating her stove or dozing at night, she was always thinking of one and the same thing - what was happening to Yefimya, whether she were alive.... Read in English, unabridged.

In Aunt Cyrilla's Christmas Basket, Lucy Rose tries to talk her folksy Aunt Cyrilla out of bringing her big, bulgy, funny-looking basket to the city to deliver Christmas goodies to their relatives in the city. When their train is stranded during a snow storm, Aunt Cyrilla and her fellow passengers team up to provide a proper Christmas morning for the little ones in their care.

"A New Way to Spend Christmas" describes a Christmas visit to Randall's Island in the East River, where orphaned and sick children are looked after. A charitable woman brings gifts and spreads "sunshine in that shady place" to the unfortunate children who live there.

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

While doing some last-minute shopping on Christmas Eve, a man has a magical experience. He watches a child preparing to get on Santa's lap through a shop window and is reminded about a special Christmas memory. When the child gets down, Santa makes eye contact with the man, and they are immediately taken back to a moment they had shared (in his past). So the story unfolds as he stares through a window of time at a glimpse from Christmas past....

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.