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 25 Christmas stories old and new, tales to delight, to entrance, to beguile, and even to sadden a whole new generation of readers. From Nina Kiriki Hoffman's poignant Lazelle Family Christmas to Jacob A. Riis's gut-wrenching portrait of the holiday in the 1890s slums of New York to Johnston McCulley's riveting tale of Christmas in the Old West, we experience every possible facet of this most precious day of the year...