** A New York Times New and Noteworthy Book ** Library of America and Connie Willis present 150 years of diverse, ingenious, and uniquely American Christmas stories Christmas took on its modern cast in America, and over the last 150 years the most magical time of the year has inspired scores of astonishingly diverse and ingenious stories. Library of America joins with acclaimed author Connie Willis to present a unparalleled collection of American stories about Christmas, literary gems that showcase how the holiday became one of the signature aspects of our culture. Spanning from the origins of the American tradition of holiday storytelling in the wake of the Civil War to today, this is the biggest and best anthology of American Christmas stories ever assembled. From ghost stories to the genres of crime, science fiction, fantasy, westerns, humor, and horror, stories of Christmas morning, gifts, wise men, nativities, family, commercialism, and dinners from New York to Texas to outer space, this anthology reveals the evolution of Christmas in America--as well as the surprising ways in which it has remained the same.

Features the work of Calvino, Paley, Carver, Bradbury, Beattie, Dillard, Highsmith, and others

A fascinating collection of 35 Christmas stories for children. Each story is fraught with the true Christmas spirit and is written in an easy and exciting manner. These classic tales are gentle and mention feudal times, angels or spirits. Many stories contain beautiful descriptions of nature along with Christmas kindness and love. It is a perfect holiday book for readers of all ages.

Christmas Stories and Legends is a collection of tales to restore "the real spirit of Christmas" to the jaded world of . . . 1913. Even then, editor Phebe A. Curtiss worried children, especially, might get lost in the day's creeping commercialism. She aimed the book at schools and Sunday schools, and assembled twenty bits of Christmas lore to teach a proper observance. She includes, of course, the Nativity story, but other parts of yesterday's Christmas will be much less familiar to modern readers. The song, "White Christmas," hadn't been written yet, and the expression meant something more than snow. People gave white gifts to symbolize purity. Children might have had visions of sugarplums, but the book includes the unsweetened versions of two weepers from Hans Christian Anderson: "The Little Match Girl" and "The Fir Tree." (The tree learns too late to appreciate Christmas -- on the bonfire afterward.) And little Tom has to learn he is lucky to receive new skates for Christmas, even if they're the wrong brand. The book brings back great-grandfather's Christmas as a gift for today's worriers. Christmas always came with problems. But it always came, anyway.

Christmas--the very word conjures up memories of the most wondrous childhood holiday of all--filled with the glitter of colorfully-wrapped presents, family visits, carols, photographs, decorating the tree, attendance at church to celebrate the birth of the Christ child, and tummy-stuffing dinners tucked with treats seen at no other time of the year. But the yule holiday has been celebrated for at least two centuries in North America, and our writers have been producing memorable stories about this unique day for almost as long. Here are 29 Christmas stories old and new, tales to delight, to entrance, to beguile, and even to sadden a whole new generation of readers. From C. C. MacApp's view of a Christmas future to Jacob A. Riis's gut-wrenching portraits of the holiday in the 1890s slums of New York to William J. Locke's reenactment of the tale of the Three Wise Men, we experience every possible facet of this most precious day of the year. So sit back and relive your memories once again, as recreated through the eyes of some of the finest writers of their time! Included in this volume: INTRODUCTION, by Robert Reginald THE BLOSSOMING ROD, by Mary Stewart Cutting AND ALL THE EARTH A GRAVE, by C.C. MacApp A REVERSIBLE SANTA CLAUS, by Meredith Nicholson BEASLEY’S CHRISTMAS PARTY, by Booth Tarkington A CHRISTMAS MYSTERY: THE STORY OF THREE WISE MEN, by William John Locke BETTY’S BRIGHT IDEA, by Harriet Beecher Stowe THE FIRST CHRISTMAS OF NEW ENGLAND, by Harriet Beecher Stowe THE LADY ERMETTA; or, The Sleeping Secret MR. KRIS KRINGLE: A CHRISTMAS TALE, by S. Weir Mitchell ROSEMARY: A CHRISTMAS STORY, by C. N. & A. M. Williamson THE CHRISTMAS CHILD, by Hesba Stretton THE LITTLE GRAY LADY, by F. Hopkinson Smith THE ROMANCE OF A CHRISTMAS CARD, by Kate Douglas Wiggin MR. BAMBOO AND THE HONORABLE LITTLE GOD, by Fannie C. MacAulay MRS. BUDLONG’S CHRISTMAS PRESENTS, by Rupert Hughes THE OAK TREE’S CHRISTMAS GIFT, by Julian Hawthorne THE LONG HILLSIDE: A CHRISTMAS HARE-HUNT IN OLD VIRGINIA, by Thomas Nelson Page CANDLE AND CRIB, by K. F. Purdon TOLD AFTER SUPPER, by Jerome K. Jerome NIBSY’S CHRISTMAS, by Jacob A. Riis WHAT THE CHRISTMAS SUN SAW IN THE TENEMENTS, by Jacob A. Riis SKIPPY OF SCRABBLE ALLEY, by Jacob A. Riis UNCLE NOAH’S CHRISTMAS INSPIRATION, by Leona Dalrymple THE TRUCE OF GOD, by Mary Roberts Rinehart THE GIFT OF THE MAGI, by O. Henry THE LITTLE MIXER, by Lillian Nicholson Shearon THE POTATO CHILD, by Mrs. Charles J. Woodbury A STORY THAT NEVER ENDS, by Mrs. Charles J. Woodbury A NAZARETH CHRISTMAS, by Mrs. Charles J. Woodbury And don't forget to search this ebook store for "Megapack" to see other volumes in the series, from science fiction to ghost stories to mysteries...and many more!

Do you believe in Christmas? Edna Scrooge doesn't. She has made it her mission to end Christmas and make the world a better place. Fairy tales like Jesus's birth offends her, and woe be to those who wish her a Merry Christmas. She will not rest until the mayor takes down the Christmas tree in his mansion's front yard. That is, until the ghost of her best friend Marlene Jacobs appears in her apartment one cold, lonely night. When the clock strikes one, three spirits will come to take her on a wild ride. This holiday season, join Edna and the three Ghosts on their journey to discover why Christmas matters in the past, the present, the future, always and forever.-------This book is for everyone who celebrates Christmas. The characters in this story include people of faith of all Christian denominations from around the world.