Unwrap a Heartwarming Tale of Love, Laughter, and Furry Feline Mischief in The Nine Lives of Christmas When a guy is in trouble, he starts making deals with his Creator...and Ambrose the cat is no exception. In danger of losing his ninth and final life, Ambrose makes a desperate plea to the universe. He'll do anything—anything!—if he can just survive and enjoy a nice long, final life. His prayer is answered when a stranger comes along and saves him—and now it looks like he has to hold up his end of the bargain. The stranger turns out to be a firefighter named Zach, who's in need of some serious romantic help. If Ambrose can just bring Zach together with Merilee, the nice lady who works at Pet Palace, it's bound to earn him a healthy ninth life. Unfortunately for Ambrose, his mission is a lot harder than he ever thought. Now it's going to take all of Ambrose's feline wiles—and maybe even a good old fashioned Christmas miracle—to make them both realize that what they're looking for is right in front of their eyes.
Celebrate the twelve days of Christmas with this whimsical board book edition of a holiday classic, illustrated by acclaimed artist Don Daily. Create new Christmas memories with the whole family as you sing, dance, leap, and carol along to a timeless holiday classic. Delight in illustrator Don Daily's enchanting and playful interpretations of ladies dancing, pipers piping, lords a-leaping, drummers drumming, five gold rings, and, of course, the partridge in the pear tree. In a small, portable, easy-for-small-hands-to-hold format, this beautiful board book is sure to become a family heirloom to treasure each Christmastime.
Sam “Slam-Dunk” Cherio is wounded on his last mission for the Army, so he heads to his friend's Montana ranch to recuperate through the Christmas season. The bliss of family life is hard to swallow, but when he meets Mika Slovinika, she intrigues him, and he wants to know more about her. Mika is struggling in this strange new place in America. Her boss is mean. She has nothing to call her own, and she might be sent home. Running into Slam-Dunk at the grocery store gives her hope. Slam-Dunk might be in love, but is Mika free to reciprocate? Something is holding her back. His military training might be needed again to fight a different battle. Maybe Christmas will involve the best gift of all—freedom.
Mia Donovan isn't interested in a relationship, she's too busy opening her cat shelter and rescuing floofy balls of fur. Being a bridesmaid is just a blip on her horizon. Bryce Murphy has no plans to change his bachelor lifestyle, but is willing to stand up as the best man for a good friend. In the chaos of plans gone awry, it's up to the bridesmaid and the best man to come up with a strategy to get it all back on track. In the midst of disaster, love strikes two hearts. Can eight cats, a feline allergy, and a photo shoot gone wrong bring Mia and Bryce together forever?
CHRISTMAS ESSENTIALS is an anthology that celebrates the spirit of Christmas through a diverse and magnificent collection of literature. This volume traverses the range of emotions and stories that encapsulate the holiday season, from the joyous to the reflective, presenting readers with a myriad of styles including poetry, short stories, and novels. The literary context of the collection taps into the traditional and the fantastical, featuring standout pieces that explore themes of redemption, love, and the magic of Christmas. The diversity within this compilation not only highlights the universal appeal of the holiday season but also showcases the significant literary contributions of its authors, making it a rich tapestry of Christmas sentiments. The authors and editors behind CHRISTMAS ESSENTIALS come from varied backgrounds and periods, representing a wide spectrum of cultural and literary movements. From the pioneering narratives of Harriet Beecher Stowe and the enchanting tales of Hans Christian Andersen to the poignant poems of William Wordsworth and the transformative stories of Leo Tolstoy, this anthology brings together a remarkable group of contributors. Their collective works, each resonating with the themes of hope, family, and the human experience, contribute to a layered understanding of Christmas. This historical and cultural mosaic not only situates the anthology within significant literary traditions but also offers readers a unique insight into the ways Christmas has been celebrated, lamented, and reflected upon across different contexts and times. CHRISTMAS ESSENTIALS is a must-have anthology for anyone who cherishes the holiday season and desires a deeper exploration of its meanings and manifestations. It invites readers to delve into a world where Christmas is not just a holiday, but a profound subject of artistic and emotional expression. This volume offers an unparalleled opportunity to engage with the works of some of literature's most beloved figures, all while experiencing the multifaceted perspectives on Christmas. Whether you're seeking the comfort of familiar holiday themes or the thrill of discovering new literary landscapes, CHRISTMAS ESSENTIALS promises to enrich your holiday season with its breadth of insights and the dialogue it fosters between an impressive array of authors' works.
Experience the Magic of Christmas... It is Christmas Eve. An abandoned gray cat shivers alone in the cold, snowy forest. In a nearby farmhouse, a young boy worries that Santa Claus might not be able to come in such bad weather. But soon the bitter wind stops howling, and the sound of sleigh bells rings clearly through the woods. Neither the cat nor the boy knows it, but a small Christmas miracle is about to occur. Beloved illustrator Tasha Tudor's classic style gives this holiday tale a timeless appeal.
As the modern celebration of Christmas took shape across the nineteenth century, American writers gave it new meaning in the pages of countless books and magazines. Now, for the first time, this rich anthology brings together some of the most significant of those seasonal stories to retell a forgotten tale of Christmases past. From the authors who helped define a national literary culture, to the popular sentimentalists who negotiated Christmas’s position at the center of family life, to the realists who looked to reshape American letters in the wake of the Civil War, and beyond: all varieties of American writers turned to Christmas as an inevitable and potent subject during this deeply formative period in the history of American literature. In Christmas Past, Thomas Ruys Smith brings together a diverse range of voices to showcase the many ways in which Christmas was imagined across the nineteenth century, offering images that echo down to the present. The introduction that frames the anthology provides a new literary history of Christmas, contextualizing the selections and making clear the links both between them and to the wider trajectory of American literature.
Christmas and Easter, Advent and Lent, each focus on the central beliefs of Christian faith – that in the Incarnation, God comes among us, and that in the Resurrection, death is defeated and creation is renewed. In this collection of seasonal reflections, Samuel Wells unpacks the substance of these key Christian doctrines, and explores their practical implications for living as Christians in the world: - Laid in a Manger: Reflections on the Nativity - The Word was Made Flesh: Reflections on Christmas - The Image of the Invisible God: Reflections on the Incarnation - Early on the First Day of the Week: Reflections on Easter Morning - I have Seen the Lord: Reflections on the Risen Christ An ideal resource for leading seasonal services or preaching at key festivals, this collection will keep giving from Advent Sunday to Easter Day.
