Christmas : Fun Christmas Reading

From oversized socks filled with treats to firs in living rooms and strange stories and songs, Christmas makes us all scratch our heads now and then. Now You Know Christmas will help everyone make sense of the holiday season, with answers to questions like: How fast would Santa have to travel in order to deliver toys to all the children in the world in one night? Why are Christmas songs called "carols"? Why did the Wise Men bring gold, frankincense and myrrh as gifts?

It wouldn't be Christmas without the "things." How they came to mean so much, and to play such a prominent role in America's central holiday, is the tale told in this delightful and edifying book. In a style characteristically engaging and erudite, Karal Ann Marling, one of our most trenchant observers of American culture, describes the outsize spectacle that Christmas has become.

Written for everyone who loves and is simultaneously driven crazy by the holiday season, Christmas: A Candid History provides an enlightening, entertaining perspective on how the annual Yuletide celebration got to be what it is today. In a fascinating, concise tour through history, the book tells the story of Christmas--from its pre-Christian roots, through the birth of Jesus, to the holiday's spread across Europe into the Americas and beyond, and to its mind-boggling transformation through modern consumerism. Packed with intriguing stories, based on research into myriad sources, full of insights, the book explores the historical origins of traditions including Santa, the reindeer, gift giving, the Christmas tree, Christmas songs and movies, and more. The book also offers some provocative ideas for reclaiming the joy and meaning of this beloved, yet often frustrating, season amid the pressures of our fast-paced consumer culture. DID YOU KNOW For three centuries Christians did not celebrate Christmas? Puritans in England and New England made Christmas observances illegal? St. Nicholas is an elf in the famous poem "The Night Before Christmas"? President Franklin Roosevelt changed the dateof Thanksgiving in order to lengthen the Christmas shopping season? Coca-Cola helped fashion Santa Claus's look in an advertising campaign?

For millions of people the world over, the annual visit to a department store to view the festive window displays and visit Santa in his winter wonderland is a treasured holiday tradition. In America, the Thanksgiving holiday is almost inconceivable without Macy's annual parade. But how did holiday traditions like this begin? Who are the behind-the-scenes magicians that conjure up this unique blend of imagination, showmanship, and salesmanship? Holidays on Display is a comprehensive overview of the art and industry of the holiday display. Author William L. Bird, Jr., traces its evolution as holiday decorations moved from shop windows to building exteriors and out into the street in the form of parade floats. In this fascinating and colorful history we are introduced to turn-of-the-century "trimmers" hiredby merchants to maintain product displays, and we marvel as advances in lighting, animation, and miniaturization lead to the incredible feats of creative self-expression practiced by today's window artists. Packed with rarely seen photographs and ephemera,Holidays on Display makes it easy to see why we have such lasting emotional attachments to animated Christmas windows, passing parades, and the ambient glow of holiday lights.

The holidays are the icing on the cake for bakery owner Hannah Swensen. Surrounded by her loved ones, she has all the ingredients for a perfect Christmas-until murder is added to the mix . . . When it comes to holidays, Minnesotans rise to the occasion-and the little town of Lake Eden is baking up a storm with Hannah leading the way. The annual Christmas Buffet is the final test of the recipes Hannah has collected for the Lake Eden Holiday Buffet Cookbook. The recently divorced Martin Dubinski arrives at the buffet with his new Vegas showgirl wife-all wrapped up in glitter and fur. His ex-wife, however, seems as cool as chilled eggnog. And when Hannah's mother's antique Christmas cake knife disappears, its discovery in the decolletage of the new-and now late-Mrs. Dubinski puts the festivities on ice. With everyone stranded at the community center by a blizzard, Hannah puts her investigative skills to the test, using the ingredients at hand- half the town of Lake Eden-and a killer. Now, as the snowdrifts get higher, it's up to Hannah to dig out all the clues-and make sure that this white Christmas doesn't bring any more deadly tidings . . . "Wacky and delightful characters, plus tempting recipes from appetizers to desserts, make this lighthearted offering sure to please the palate of any cozy fan." -Publishers Weekly "Fluke's talent for spinning a mesmerizing tale carries on in this sixth book, and its holiday recipes are an added treat for readers." -Times News Record INCLUDES OVER 50 ORIGINAL RECIPES FOR YOU TO TRY!

"Stella Payne is forty-two, divorced, a high-powered investment analyst, mother of eleven-year-old Quincy - and she does it all. In fact, if she doesn't do it, it doesn't get done, from Little League carpool duty to analyzing portfolios to folding the laundry and bringing home the bacon. She does it all well, too, if her chic house, personal trainer, BMW and her loving son are any indication. So what if there's been no one to share her bed with lately, let alone rock her world? Stella doesn't mind too much; she probably wouldn't have the energy for love - and all of love's nasty fallout - anyway." "But when Stella takes a spur-of-the-moment vacation to Jamaica, her world gets rocked to the core not just by the relaxing effects of sun and sea and an island full of attractive men, but by one man in particular. He's tall, lean, soft-spoken, Jamaican, smells of citrus and the ocean - and is half her age. The tropics have cast their spell and Stella soon realizes she has come to a cataclysmic juncture: not only must she confront her hopes and fears about love, she must question all of her expectations, passions, and ideas about life and the way she has lived it."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Love A Christmas Carol? Celebrate the holiday season with the second of Dickens' trio of Christmas classics, The Chimes. This tale of humanity's warring moral impulses and ultimate redemption highlights the true meaning of the holiday season. An uplifting read at Christmastime, or at any time of the year.

Tired of the materialistic cynicism and cheerless hustle and bustle that seem to taint the holiday season these days? Hearken back to a simpler time and celebrate the true virtues of the season with this classic tale from Charles Dickens, master of the heartwarming Christmas parable.

Over the course of his career, Charles Dickens wrote a series of Christmas-themed short stories that were serialized in popular magazines of the era. "The Holly Tree Inn," like many of these tales, reflects on the deeper meaning of the holiday, using the loneliness of the solitary traveler as a lens through which to examine society.

Carolina Christmas collects for the first time holiday stories of Archibald Rutledge (1883-1973), one of the most prolific outdoor and nature writers of the twentieth century and the first poet laureate of South Carolina. Some of Rutledge's finest writing revolves around his vivid memories of hunt, hearth, and holidays. These memories are celebrated in this keepsake collection of enduring stories and poems, further augmented with traditional recipes and food lore associated with the season.

During their lifetimes, Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray were engaged in a friendly competition of sorts to see who could gain the most stature and popularity as writers for the masses. Following in Dickens' footsteps, Thackeray began penning a series of heartwarming holiday-themed tales to be published in serial form, often under the pen name "Michael Angelo Titmarsh." Many of the most beloved tales from this series are collected in this volume.

A family seated round the fireplace Singing and making merry; A sprightly waltz played with grace Noche Buena brings us all the magic of the Christmas season as seen through the eyes of the Hispanic Americans who celebrate it. Christmas is at times a universal story, and many of the images here are recognizable across cultures. We hear and see proud, joyful singing; the adoration of the Infant Jesus; and the peaceful strains of Adeste Fidelis. But here as well are the rich traditions and legends specific to the Hispanic culture, such as the celebration of the posadas for nine nights leading up to Christmas, with candy raining down from colorful swinging pinatas, egg shells filled with confetti, and beautiful paper lanterns crafted to illuminate the town on Christmas Eve.

An anthology of more than 30 Christmas stories--short and upbeat, set in West Texas or by West Texas writers--that evoke memories of warm and humorous holiday moments. Christmas is our most cherished holiday for many reasons. It tugs at the heart and evokes memories. It's a time for laughter and joy. Christmas is about faith and family and friendship, about Jesus and also Santa Claus, about giving and receiving, about anticipating and experiencing.

This beautiful book of thirty-eight essays, illustrated by Mississippi's premier watercolorist Wyatt Waters, will ring true with treasured recollections of Christmases past. Remember the Christmas it snowed on the Mississippi Coast? Glen Allison recalls that miracle. Richard Ford and Waters tell exactly what they felt when they first laid eyes on a bicycle left under the tree by Santa Claus. These Mississippians celebrate Christmas pageants, the decorating, the family dinners--even as they recognize war and loss as part of our lives and sometimes part of our holidays. Christmas Memories from Mississippi looks at the holidays from the early twentieth century through the present and offers the celebrations from various points of view, both religious and secular. This book makes an ideal memento of shared traditions and lovingly extends the spirit of the season across the state's diversity.