Christmas Short Stories Anthology

Ten-year-old Effie lives the life most children dream of - with every day filled with delicious treats and wonderful toys. One night she experiences a dream that will forever change the meaning of Christmas for her. In it, she meets a group of under privileged children and she is inspired to create a Christmas they will never forget.

While some are nestled cozy in their traditions, others are lost in darkness. An unkindness of ravens lurk like a warning above them while they try to escape their inner demons and fight the dragons they've been trying to avoid. There's no enjoying fatal amounts of pie because their minds are slipping, slipping into a twisted delusion. They are the murderers, the disturbed, the unfortunate, and the misunderstood. These outliers are imprisoned by their circumstances until they slowly fade into the icy landscape, smothered by the forged façade of a perfect Christmas.

Judging a chocolate-making competition for the women’s shelter’s annual fundraiser should be an easy, even pleasurable, assignment for Maise, new food critic for the Bloomingfield Daily Dispatch. Too bad just the smell of chocolate makes her stomach roil. By the time she reaches the last table, she hopes her face isn’t as green as her holiday sweater. But the tall, square-jawed man behind piles of fudge makes her want to linger, even savor the moment along with his chocolate-coffee-flavored confection.

This year, Ali and Stephen are both just trying to make it through the holidays. Stephen is fresh out of a relationship and dreading the prospect of Christmas alone. Ali, on the other hand, can't celebrate with friends or family. The most important man in her life is dying - decorating cookies and hanging tinsel aren't even on her radar. When the two meet during a chance encounter, Stephen's instant attraction to Ali spurs him into action.

Linda Grant, beset by medical bills and other pressing obligations, tells her children that they will not be celebrating Christmas this year. Older Keith takes the news in stride, while younger Teddy angrily insists he will have his Christmas turkey one way or another. When the neighborhood schoolteacher drops by to extend an invitation to Christmas dinner from Cornelia Millar, Linda's estranged cousin, it begins to look as if Christmas will happen after all.

In separate vignettes, we meet Katherine, who is taking care of her ailing husband; Julianna, juggling with construction paper, scissors, and rubber cement in a room full of high-spirited four-year-olds; Adrianna, struggling with the difficulties of marriage; Cassandra, tending her toddlers; Victoria, searching for a love to call her own; Alexandra, waiting for word from her doctor about an uncertain diagnosis; and Isabella, discovering the gift of motherhood.

Revel in the in the magic of the holiday season with three classic Christmas tales. From the birth of Christ to a visit from Santa Claus, these family favorites will be enjoyed over and over again. Titles include: The Christmas Story; Twas the Night Before Christmas; and Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus.

At Christmas time department stores overflow with color and festivity, their halls bedecked with the trimmings of the season. In these 7 charming, memorable, and even magical Christmas tales retiree Tom Cavanaugh wanders the aisles of just such a store. Tom has made a tradition out of observing the marvels the Christmas spirit brings to each department and the people in them, from a jolly old maintenance man to testy last-minute shoppers to an exhausted salesclerk.

A delightful collection of Christmas tales that will get you in the Christmas spirit. So grab a cup of cocoa, curl up by the fire and enjoy a few moments alone before the Christmas rush!

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.

The Sawyer family puts up an elaborate Christmas light display every year, and people from all over the area come to admire the lights. Humans, however, aren't the only ones who come to view the display.

How far should Viviana’s family go to avoid being thirteen at the table? Should Melina and Tanino attend a New Year’s party hosted by Melina’s old flame? Why do Don Pericle’s clients want a Christmas wedding at all costs? Ten humorous and heart-warming short stories shining with the Sicilian sunshine, fragrant with red wine and ringing with Christmas bells, perfect for the festive season.

Samantha wasn't expecting what she got for Christmas this year. Her doorbell rang and there sitting on her porch was a baby in a basket. This changes her life for the good. But then something happens. The baby's father comes for his child. How can Samantha convince him that she is the best thing for the child?

Attorney Desiree Contando can think of only one word to describe her very first home: disaster. The vintage Queen Anne is beautiful - or will be, in about 1,000 years. Certainly not in time to host the family Christmas gathering. “Disaster” also describes the bad breakup that left her picket-fence vision in tatters. Even the carpenter she’s hired is a reminder of lost dreams - the high school crush who never spared her a passing glance. But she’s a grown-up now, perfectly capable of keeping things professional.

From an impoverished student riding the rails home to be with the love of his life for Christmas to a family donating their Christmas to help a struggling neighbor, this is a book of 16 stories on the power of the spirit of Christmas. We must recognize that the world is but a looking glass, reflecting back on us the kindness and charity we show one another.

In Christmas at Red Butte, Theodora, the jolliest, bravest girl of 16 in all Saskatchewan pawns a precious locket so she can afford to buy toys for the poor family that has kindly taken her in after her own parents died. A heartwarming Christmas story for all generations by Anne of Green Gables author Lucy Maud Montgomery.

A hot holiday toy that brings terror to a department store. A man caught in a blizzard as he searches for help for a dying friend. A girl who wakes up to surprise visitors on Día de los Muertos. A man who recounts a sick and twisted Thanksgiving. A boy who becomes intrigued by a mysterious house and the girl who resides there during fall break. A family man who struggles with a dilemma that may cost him his soul.

Sylvia Moore returns to the small town of Dickens during the annual Christmas in July festival, hoping to land the New England location for a new Christmas romance movie. She knows the town will award only one filming permit a year but she's confident the deal’s in Santa’s bag.

No one wants to celebrate Christmas this year. Not Ella McKendrick, who, on the cusp of success as a potter, is tasked with her husband's company party on too-short notice. She gives up her first pottery sale to pitch in, but the joy of the season is diminished. Not Gertie Wycliffe, Ella's mom, a new widow who is doing everything she can to avoid her first Christmas alone. No one understands the grief and terror she feels - maybe because the craziness of a 74-year-old woman signing up for skydiving lessons is all she lets them see....

This yuletide celebration includes: The Nativity, "A Visit from Saint Nicholas" by Clement Moore, "The Birds' Christmas Carol" by Kate Wiggin, "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry, "Christmas Everywhere" by Phillips Brooks, and excerpts from: A Christmas Carol and The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, The Peterkin Papers by Lucretia P. Hale, The Return of the Native by Thomas Hardy, Bracebridge Hall by Washington Irving, and The Wonder Clock by Howard Pyle.