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 Chimes

G.K. Chesterton

A Christmas Carol

L.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 Dinner

L. Frank Baum

A Kidnapped Santa Claus

Little Bun Rabbit

Mark Twain

A Letter from Santa Claus

Louisa May Alcott

A Merry Christmas

Leo Tolstoy

A Russian Christmas Party

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Christmas Bells

The Three Kings

Nikolay Gogol

Christmas Eve

William Dean Howells

Christmas Everyday

The Pony Engine and the Pacific Express

Joseph Rudyard Kipling

Christmas in India

Elizabeth Harrison

Little Gretchen and the Wooden Shoe

John Milton

On the Morning of Christ's Nativity

Hans Christian Andersen

The Fir Tree

Selma Lagerlof

The Holy Night

Hans Christian Andersen

The Little Match Girl

Clement Moore

The Night Before Christmas

Henry van Dyke

The Other Wise Man

Beatrix Potter

The Tailor of Gloucester

Anton Chehov

Vanka

The complete list of authors includes Charles Dickens, L.M. Montgomery, L. Frank Baum, Mark Twain, Louisa May Alcott, Leo Tolstoy, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Nikolai Gogol, William Dean Howells, Joseph Rudyard Kipling, Elizabeth Harrison, John Milton, Hans Christian Andersen, Selma Lagerlof, Clement Moore, Henry van Dyke, Beatrix Potter, Anton Chekhov, G. K. Chesterton.