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