For People Who Love Christmas

In The Christmas Letters, three generations of women reveal their stories of love and marriage in the letters they write to family and friends during the holidays. It's a down-home Christmas story about tradition, family, and the shared experiences of women.

Here, in a letter of her own, Lee Smith explains how she was inspired to write this celebrated epistolary novel:

Dear Friends,

Like me, you probably get Christmas letters every year. I read every word and save every letter. Because every Christmas letter is the story of a life, and what story can be more interesting than the story of our lives? Often, it is the story of an entire family. But you also have to read between the lines with Christmas letters. Sometimes, what is not said is even more important than what is on the page.

In The Christmas Letters, I have used this familiar format to illumine the lives, hopes, dreams, and disappointments of three generations of American women. Much of the story of The Christmas Letters is also told through shared recipes. As Mary, my favorite character, says, "I feel as if I have written out my life story in recipes! The Cool Whip and mushroom soup years, the hibachi and fondue period, then the quiche and crOpes phase, and now it's these salsa years."

I wrote this little book for the same reason I write to my friends and relatives every holiday--Christmas letters give us a chance to remember and celebrate who we are.

With warmest greetings, Lee Smith

The enchanting NPR holiday favorite is finally on CD.

"Old Marley was as dead as a doornail"—and so, nearly, was Christmas itself when Charles Dickens published "A Christmas Carol" in 1843. Most traditions had been forgotten, and few if any employees got time off to celebrate. Dickens' story captured the imagination of a generation and transformed December 25 into a major holiday.

For many National Public Radio listeners, it just wouldn't be Christmas without hearing Jonathan Winters perform "A Christmas Carol." The master comedian brilliantly re-creates Dickens' cast of colorful characters: Ebenezer Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim, Jacob Marley's spirit, and the three Christmas ghosts, Past, Present, and Future. His distinctive and charming reading uses a special version of the story prepared by Dickens for his own performances. The liner notes are by Winters, who clearly revels in the story's language and message: "Merry Christmas, every one!"

CHRISTMASTIME is Sandra Boynton's humorous and compassionate carol to the season of warmth and giving, celebration and tradition. And tradition, to Boynton, is anything that happens every Christmas without fail: like trimming the tree, a fruitcake from the Rossiters, the crunch underfoot of your most precious ornament, and the customary search for scissors at four A.M. Christmas morning.

With guest appearances by Santa and his reindeer, Boynton's familiar menagerie reveals the many joys and satisfactions that make Chrismastime such a universally special season: the thrill of finding the right gift for someone you love, and affording it; the personal gratification of wrapping all the gifts early; and the wonder of Christmas morning, when you realize you forgot to label them.

And, in the spirit of giving, Boynton includes her own Christmas recipes: Santa's favorite chocolate chip cookies (with suggested note urging him to "please stack dishes neatly in the sink and wrap uneaten cookies in tin foil"); plum pudding (well worth someone else's time and money); and Wassail, which seems like a great treat if you happen to have 2,640 blanched almonds lying around the house.

This hardcover book makes a perfect gift for the "staunch traditionalist" and the "santaclaustrophobic" alike. 94,000 copies in print.

Ah, the delights of Christmas Holiday carolers, beautifully wrapped packages, twinkling lights, and...a feast of caterpillars fried in oil?!? Welcome to Weird Christmas, a journey off the beaten path to the bizarre side of the world's favorite holiday, where, for every Christmas sugarplum there is a plate of lutefisk (that's cod soaked in lye—a Christmas favorite in Norway).

Nothing moves the Christmas spirit like caroling. Sing on the way to Grandmother’s house. Sing going for the tree. Sing while heading to shop and back. Then bring the party in from the car, pop the CD in the stereo, and gather family, friends, and neighbors for eggnog and song—caroling has never been so joyful, activity-filled, or convenient. Announcing Christmas Sing-Along Car-i-oke, a holiday fun kit featuring a book of 17 great sing-along carols plus other musical activities, a CD of accompanying music, and three booklets of lyrics for the backseat.

The second book after All-American Car-i-oke, with 110,000 copies in print, Christmas Sing-Along Car-i-ike is a family Christmas concert and talent show between covers: Get right into the mood with the caroler’s favorite, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”; turn up the rousing factor with a hand-clapping “Go Tell It on the Mountain”; join the Messiah’s “Hallelujah Chorus”; then glide into a tender “Silent Night” with solo guitar accompaniment—just the way the song was unveiled on Christmas Eve, 1818. Plus there’s the Backseat Ballet Company’s production of The Nutcracker, a hip-hop version of “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” even a recorder lesson that will teach you how to play “Jingle Bells” and other tunes.

The CD is filled with musical variety (a bluegrass version of “Good King Wenceslas”; an original reggae carol, “Bah, Humbug!”), and just enough vocals to keep everyone together; the 64-page book contains not only all the lyrics, but also tips on singing and Christmas history, lore, and trivia; the three booklets contain just the lyrics. Play it early, play it often, for the merriest of holidays.

A host of luminaries gathers all the elements of the Christmas season—past and present, joy and sadness, disappointment and surprise, confession and concealment, humor and pathos—in a stellar holiday collection.

Here are ten standout stories that run the gamut of the emotional scale and are as classic and lasting as the holiday itself: bestselling author Donna Tartt's story of a children's Christmas pageant that goes awry; prizewinning author Richard Ford's story of a patchwork kind of family; poet laureate and acclaimed novelist Fred Chappell's barnyard of talking animals on Christmas Eve; Tim Gautreaux's comic tale of kindness to a homeless man on the holiday; Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler's story of an unlikely romance aross cultures; and more. With Barry Hannah's moving preface and celebrated artist Wyatt Waters's paintings, A Very Southern Christmas offers up the best gift of all, a collection full of heart and humor.

Just in time for the holidays: a collection of beloved Christmas stories and writings that every family will cherish.

One of the many joys of Christmas comes from the traditions associated with it. Bestselling author Caroline Kennedy drew on her own family's traditions to create this charming collection of favorite stories, poems, and writings that celebrate the holiday spirit.

In addition to excerpts and full texts of contemporary and classic writings, A Family Christmas features a letter Caroline Kennedy herself wrote to Santa Claus as well as a letter written to President Kennedy from a little girl concerned about Santa Claus. The introduction, written and read by Caroline, relates the importance of the holiday to her family, and shares how the literature in this collection is an essential part of her own tradition.

This warm and personal collection will delight all who make it a part of their own family Christmas.

Simeon Lee has demanded that all four of his sons—one faithful, one prodigal, one impecunious, one sensitive—and their wives visit the family home for Christmas. But the cantankerous patriarch has anything but a heartwarming family holiday in mind. He bedevils each of his sons with barbed insults, while at the same time lavishing attention on his very attractive, long-lost granddaughter. Finally he announces that he is cutting off his sons' allowances and changing his will to boot.

So when the old man is found lying a pool of blood on Christmas Eve, there is no lack of suspects. Did Lee's taunts push one of the boys or their wives to a desperate act of murder? Or was the killer really after the fortune in uncut diamonds Lee kept locked away in his safe? And how did the murderer escape from the locked room?

Intrepid Belgian detective Hercule Poirot suspends his holiday sorting through the myriad suspects and motives to find the truth behind the old man's death.

Michael was eight years old on the Christmas Day he lost his brother David. The day had started out well-Michael and David opened their presents and, much to their delight, they both received ice skates from Santa. With great excitement they set out to the pond behind their grandparents' house in New Mexico to try them out. But the pond wasn't safe, and David never made it out from its icy cold depths. For Michael, the meaning of Christmas changed forever that day.

Thirty years later Michael is the neighborhood Grinch. "To me the only wonder of Christmas is not why that tragedy marked me so," Michael says, "but how the rest of my family can seem so completely unscathed." He scowls at his neighbors' fervent holiday traditions and at his own children, who want nothing more than to string Christmas lights through their front yard. But when another holiday disaster

strikes and his own cherished young son loses his spirit to live, Michael searches deep within himself to root out the anger, the fear, and the pain of the past. Can he bear to remember exactly what happened that Christmas day? And will he make peace with this past for the sake of his own children?

This is a tale of rekindled spirit, mended hearts, and found voices.

The first new Prairie Home Christmas collection in ten years is a warm and wonderful celebration of storytelling, music, and the holiday spirit. 

It’s Christmas in Lake Wobegon, Christmas at the old radio show, Christmas at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, Christmas wherever friends and families gather to rejoice, reminisce, and share the holiday spirit. This all-new collection includes songs, sketches, sound effects, laughter, sweet nostalgia, and a monologue or two, all with a Christmas theme and all heard originally on live broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion. Garrison Keillor, the show’s cast, and special guests are joined by hundreds of friends and acquaintances in a holiday gala that’s sure to become a family favorite and an annual tradition. 

Contents:
 

1. Wise Men Blues – Pat Donohue with the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band (Richard Dworsky, Andy Stein, Gary Raynor, Arnie Kinsella.) 12/22/01
2. Rhubarb – Tim Russell and others 12/12/98
3. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies – Sonos Handbell Ensemble 12/21/96
4. A Child Is Born (In Bethlehem) – Garrison Keillor and Musica Sacra 12/21/02
5. Count Your Blessings – John McDonough
6. Away in a Manger – Renée Fleming and Emanuel Ax (Fred Hersch) 12/20/03
7. The Twelve Days of Christmas – Garrison Keillor and Tom Keith 12/18/04
8. Christmas Eve Blues – Pat Donohue with the Guy’s All-Star Shoe Band (Richard Dworsky, Andy Stein, Gary Raynor, Arnie Kinsella) 12/20/03
9. Guy Noir – Garrison Keillor and cast 12/11/04
10. Christmastime (Just In Time) – Inga Swearingen 12/18/04
11. The Christmas Fire – Garrison Keillor 12/09/00
12. Silent Night – Butch Thompson 12/13/03
13. Christmas Time’s A-Comin’ – Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder (Mark Fain, bass; Jim Mills, banjo; Paul Brewster, guitar; Darrin Vincent, guitar; Clay Hess, guitar; and Bobby Hicks, fiddle.) 12/16/00
14. ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas – Garrison Keillor and Richard Dworsky 12/23/00
15. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas – Diana Krall 12/13/97
16. Santa, CEO 12/28/02
17. The Christmas Song – Sarah Jessica Parker 12/19/98
18. The Carolers at My Door - The Orianas Choir (or the Buffalo Chamber singers) 12/21/91
19. Green – 12/20/03
20. December Waltz – Pat Donohue National Steel (?) with The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band (Richard Dworsky, John Niemann, Gary Raynor, Arnie Kinsella) 12/4/04
21. In the Bleak Midwinter – Musica Sacra 12/21/02
22. Ave Maria – Renée Fleming and Emanuel Ax (Fred Hersch) 12/20/03
23. Four Christmases – Garrison Keillor; Let It Snow – April Verch, fiddle 12/22/01
24. The Christ Child’s Lullaby – The Boys of the Lough (Aly Bain (fiddle), Dave Richardson (mandolin, cittern, English concertina, and button accordion), Christy O'Leary (tin whistle, pipes, vocals), Cathal McConnell (flute, whistle, vocals), and Chris Newman (guitar)). 12/21/96
25. Silent Night - 12/21/02