Dulce Domum, Gift of the Magi, Christmas Morning

Kenneth Grahame · O. Henry · Louisa May Alcott

Dec 2007 · Freshwater Seas · Narrated by Robert Bethune and Susie Berneis

About this audiobook

Here are three of the most wonderful Christmas stores ever written, presented for you on one disk along with two short pieces that just can't be left out of any Christmas collection worth it's salt.

"Dulce Domum," from The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame
Rat and Mole find Christmas in Mole's old home, and deepen their friendship along the way. Grahame's characters are sweet and sad, and happy in the end just in having what they have and being what they are.

"Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Claus," from The New York Sun, by Francis P. Church
Another absolute classic; it's really about what happens when a cynical old newspaperman encounters the need for Christmas in the innocent question from a young girl's heart.

Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry
It's one of the most famous Christmas stories ever, and rightly so. As O Henry himself put it, "I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest."

"The Night Before Christmas," by Clement Clarke Moore.
"The Night Before Christmas"--which really isn't that; it's real title is "A Visit From St. Nicholas"--is another classic no Christmas anthology could do without. Mom and Dad wake up when they hear the reindeer coming, and can hardly believe their eyes!

"Christmas Morning," from Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
At Christmastime, Meg, Jo, Amy and Beth learn to share their Christmas joys and fun with others, and along the way, have a wonderful time doing it.

About the author

Kenneth Grahame was born in Edinburgh on March 3, 1859. When he was five years old, his mother died of scarlet fever and he nearly died himself, of the same disease. His father became an alcoholic and sent the children to Berkshire to live with relatives. They were later reunited with their father, but after a failed year, the children never heard from him again. Sometime later, one of his brothers died at the age of fifteen. He attended St. Edward's School as a child and intended to go on to Oxford University, but his relatives wanted him to go into banking. He worked in his uncle's office, in Westminster, for two years then went to work at the Bank of England as a clerk in 1879. He spent nearly thirty years there and became the Secretary of the Bank at the age of thirty-nine. He retired from the bank right before The Wind in the Willows was published in 1908. He wrote essays on topics that included smoking, walking and idleness. Many of the essays were published as the book Pagan Papers (1893) and the five orphan characters featured in the papers were developed into the books The Golden Age (1895) and Dream Days (1898). The Wind in the Willows (1908) was based on bedtime stories and letters to his son and it is where the characters Rat, Badger, Mole and Toad were created. In 1930, Milne's stage version was brought to another audience in Toad of Toad Hall. Grahame died on July 6, 1932. O. Henry is the pen name of William Sidney Porter, who was born on September 11, 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina. Porter was a licensed pharmacist and worked on a sheep ranch in Texas. He was a draftsman for the General Land Office and a teller for the First National Bank of Texas. He was convicted of embezzlement and eventually served five years in prison. While in prison, he began writing short stories under his pseudonym and eventually wrote over 300. As O. Henry, Porter is one of America's best known writers, and his stories, such as "The Gift of the Magi" and "The Ransom of Red Chief", are still taught in schools. In 1918, the O. Henry Awards, an annual anthology of short stories, was established in his honor. Porter died on June 5, 1910. Poet and Educator Clement Moore was born on July 15, 1770 in New York City, and was later educated at Columbia College. Moore was a biblical scholar and professor at the Episcopal General Theological Seminary. Moore is best known for his poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", better known in more modern times as "Twas the Night Before Christmas". In 2013 this same title became a New York Times High Profile Title. Clement Moore died in Newport, Rhode Island on July 10, 1863.