‘’The last day before Christmas had passed. A wintry, clear night came. The stars peeped out. The crescent moon rose majestically in the sky to give light to good people and all the world, so that everyone could merrily go carolling and glorify Christ.’’

Twenty marvellous stories transport us to Christmas past and present. To customs and traditions. To the joys and sorrows that become much more powerful during the holidays. To the course of human relationships that change in mysterious ways as the festivities of Christmas unfold…

Goblins try to full a sexton and a little devil creates havoc in a Russian village. A hypochondriac husband and his saint of a wife try to spend their holidays in France and our favourite detective aka. Sherlock Holmes has a goose of a problem to solve. A cobbler sees Christ in the faces of those in need and a burglar is saved by the presence of his mother. An elderly woman organises a party that goes horribly wrong and an elevator operator warms the hearts of a poor family. A Jewish girl sings the Christmas Carols and performs in the Nativity Play, a young boy reminisces of his much older cousin and her fruitcakes while the Turkey Season provides the chance for utter opposites to find one another.

From Charles Dickens to Anthony Trollope, from Gogol to Tolstoy, Chekhov and Nabokov, from Willa Carther to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Evelyn Waugh and Elizabeth Bowen, from Truman Capote to Muriel Spark, Grace Paley and Alice Munro. What more could you possibly want?

P.S.Let the Christmas collections overload begin!

‘’This time of the year is spent in good cheer,
And neighbours together do meet,
To sit by the fire with friendly desire,
Each other in love to greet,
Old grudges forgot are put in the pot,
All sorrows aside they lay;
The old and the young doth carol this song,
To drive the cold winter away.’’

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