"Of what use is one ugly little tree?" Atop a windswept hill, a crooked little tree stands alone . . . until one Christmas Eve, when an old woman labors up the hill with a box of ornaments, and tells the tree that he is special. He is to be the official Christmas tree for all of the homeless people in the city below! Year after year, colored balls and garland adorn the tree at Christmastime, but one year, the woman does not come. Will there be a Christmas for homeless? This story is based on actual events about a funny-looking mimosa tree that sits above a busy freeway in Fort Worth, Texas. A formerly homeless woman decorated the tree, year after year, so that the homeless would have a Christmas tree. When she died, neighbors took over the custom and now decorate it for Easter, Halloween, and other holidays as well. It can be seen on the north side of Interstate 30 near the Oakland exit.

A homeless boy's rescue of a scrawny Christmas tree sparks a glimmer of hope that has far-reaching effects.

A great addition to your tree-trimming party, the Lit Like a Christmas Tree Ornament Book from Galison includes 10 pop-out colorful ornaments and 10 festive cocktail recipes. * Size: 5 x 5 x 1.25" * 10 Illustrated Cocktail Ornaments * 10 Festive Cocktail Recipes * Foiled cover * 20 pages

The little tree was a very lonely tree. In fact, he was the loneliest Christmas tree in the forest. He watched as all of the other trees around him were taken away to become beautiful Christmas trees in happy people s homes. Slowly, a large city grew up around him. Life as a tree in the big city wasn t too bad. Until, one day, a developer decided that the tree had to go in order to put in a parking lot. He would get his way, too, if not for the efforts of an unlikely savior and her equally unlikely friends! In her first book, award winning and Grammy nominated singer, Deborah Allen, tells a charming story of hope and inspiration. This book is beautifully illustrated by Molly Brooks."

"Christmas Eve at the homeless shelter looks the same as any other night: Kids running around. Volunteers serving coffee and Kool-Aid. People looking for a warm place to spend the night. Then something magical happens"--

In Painting the Christmas Trees, Joe Weil explores the meaning of neighborhood, both its rootedness and its transience in terms of the port city of Elizabeth, New Jersey, in which he was formed as a poet. His work mixes different registers of language, from the Rust Belt working class speech of his family and friends to the poetic influences of his first reading: Roethke, Williams, Stevens, and Yeats. His Irish Catholic working class upbringing instills his poetry with a sense of communion. The poems in this book are anchored to the loss and the brio of people he has known and worked among both as a toolmaker and as a poet. He is essentially a spiritual comic in so far as his interest lies as much with the vitally ugly and broken as it does with the smoothly eloquent. Unlike many volumes of poetry, Painting the Christmas Trees is full of characters, not unlike a novel. Weil believes a poet should reclaim the name of storyteller. He is not ashamed to be one.

Welcome to Joses Christmas tree farm where Eva, Jack, and Harry are finally grown enough to be selected. Eva glitters in garland and tinsel. Jack is strong with thick branches. The two are quickly selected by passing customers while Harry a homely tree with holes in his shrubs remains alone, shifting his branches to be more attractive. As Christmas Eve approaches, Harry stands alone on the lot. Will he be picked for Christmas or wither and die in the whipping cold? Find out in this holiday tale that defines the Christmas spirit and teaches children compassion for the nations homeless.