Table of Contents
Introduction Connie Willis xi
How Santa Claus Came to Simpsons Bar Bret Harte 3
Kate's Choice Louisa May Alcott 16
A Letter from Santa Claus Mark Twain 29
Found After Thirty-Five Years-Lucy Marshall's Letter J. B. Moore Bristor 32
From the Garden of a Friend Mary Agnes Tincker 37
Christmas Every Day William Dean Howells 48
Thurlow's Christmas Story John Kendrick Bangs 56
Klondike Christmas Jack London 69
A Little Pilgrim Stephen Crane 75
An Old-Time Christmas Paul Laurence Dunbar 79
General Washington Pauline E. Hopkins 83
The Kid Hangs Up His Stocking Jacob Riis 93
The Set of Poe George Ade 97
A Chaparral Christmas Gift O. Henry 101
According to Solomon Charlotte Perkins Gilman 106
The Picture Puzzle Edward Lucas White 114
A Christmas Party That Prevented a Split in the Church Margaret Black 127
The Christmas Magazines: And the Inevitable Story of the Snowbound Train Dorothy Parker 142
Christmas Afternoon Robert Benchley 146
The Sermon in the Cradle W.E.B. Du Bois 149
Holiday Thoughts Ben Hecht 151
Bethlehem, Dec. 25 Heywood Broun 154
The Tree That Didn't Get Trimmed Christopher Morley 156
A Criminal's Christmas Sherwood Anderson 161
A Visit from Saint Nicholas James Thurber 166
One Christmas Eve Langston Hughes 169
The Three Wise Guys Damon Runyon 174
Mr. K*A*P*L*A*N and the Magi Leo Rosten 187
Santa Claus is a White Man John Henrik Clarke 194
Back for Christmas John Collier 200
No Room at the Inn Edna Ferber 205
Two People He Never Saw John McNulty 212
The Butler's Christmas Eve Mary Roberts Rinehart 218
A Christmas Story Katherine Anne Porter 232
"Santa Clo" Comes to La Cuchilla Abelardo Díaz Alfaro 237
The Gift Ray Bradbury 241
Christmas Trombone Raymond E. Banks 244
The Wild Wood Mildred Clingerman 254
From Raising Demons Shirley Jackson 262
The Loudest Voice Grace Paley 270
The Christmas of the Phonograph Records Mari Sandoz 276
The Big Rock Candy Figgy Pudding Pitfall Joan Didion 287
The Carol Sing John Updike 290
The Night Before Christmas Tomás Rivera 294
The Santa Claus Compromise Thomas M. Disch 300
The Christmas Kid Pete Hamill 305
The War Beneath the Tree Gene Wolfe 315
Track of a Legend Cynthia Felice 320
And All Through the House Ed McBain 331
The Impossible Snowsuit of Christmas Past George V. Higgins 346
The H Street Sledding Record Ron Carlson 350
Buzz Steve Rasnic Tem 358
Fish Cheeks Amy Tan 364
Checkup Ann Petry 366
Three Wise Guys Sandra Cisneros 377
Inn Connie Willis 382
Ixchel's Tears José R. Nieto 414
Reb Kringle Nathan Englander 429
A Young Candy Daughter Nalo Hopkinson 438
List of Sources 443
Index of Authors 449
