Enchanting, tragic, and hilarious fairy tales for adults and children grace these pages. An initial glance might lead you to assume that these are satirical versions of classic Christmas ghost stories. However, beneath the humorous stories involving ghosts, repentant sinners, miracles, and good peasants who find well-deserved happiness, lies a psychological undercurrent that sharpens the sense of intrigue and plot movement. Often this is aided by the unrelenting social exposure of the authors who always understood how intangible the "bourgeois paradise" truly was. Even today, idyllic dreams of tolerance, equality, and the triumph of justice have failed to materialize. Perhaps that is why people continue to read these classic stories while the snow falls outside and the lights glow on the Christmas tree.Contents:Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol The ChimesG.K. Chesterton A Christmas CarolL.M. Montgomery The Red Room A Christmas Mistake A Christmas Inspiration  The Josephs' Christmas  Aunt Cyrilla's Christmas Basket The Osbornes' Christmas Bertie's New Year Ida's New Year Cake The Christmas Surprise at Enderly Road Clorinda's Gifts The Falsoms' Christmas Dinner The Unforgotten One Christmas at Red Butte  Uncle Richard's New Year's DinnerL. Frank Baum A Kidnapped Santa Claus Little Bun RabbitMark Twain A Letter from Santa ClausLouisa May Alcott A Merry ChristmasLeo Tolstoy A Russian Christmas PartyHenry Wadsworth Longfellow Christmas Bells The Three KingsNikolay Gogol Christmas EveWilliam Dean Howells Christmas Everyday The Pony Engine and the Pacific ExpressJoseph Rudyard Kipling Christmas in IndiaElizabeth Harrison Little Gretchen and the Wooden ShoeJohn Milton On the Morning of Christ's NativityHans Christian Andersen The Fir TreeSelma Lagerlof The Holy NightHans Christian Andersen The Little Match GirlClement Moore The Night Before ChristmasHenry van Dyke The Other Wise ManBeatrix Potter The Tailor of GloucesterAnton Chehov Vanka