Las Christmas

'The perfect gift for anyone who loves all things Christmas ... it's a festive gem' Woman & Home 'A beautiful, funny and soulful collection of personal essays' Prima ___________ The perfect gift book, featuring the writing of Meryl Streep, Bill Bailey, Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, Caitlin Moran, Richard Ayoade, Emily Watson and others, to coincide with the upcoming movie Last Christmas, starring Emma Thompson, Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding. When you think back to Christmases past, what (if anything) made it magical? Looking towards the future, what would your perfect Christmas be? What would you change? What should we all change? This is a beautiful, funny and soulful collection of personal essays about the meaning of Christmas, written by a unique plethora of voices from the boulevards of Hollywood to the soup kitchens of Covent Garden. Away from the John Lewis advert, the high street decorations and the candied orange in Heston Blumenthal's Christmas pudding, this gem of a book introduced and curated by Emma Thompson and Greg Wise celebrates the importance of kindness and generosity, acceptance and tolerance - and shows us that these values are not just for Christmas.

An unforgettably romantic novel that spans four Christmases (1914-1918), Last Christmas in Paris explores the ruins of war, the strength of love, and the enduring hope of the Christmas season. New York Times bestselling author Hazel Gaynor has joined with Heather Webb to create this unforgettably romantic novel of the Great War. August 1914. England is at war. As Evie Elliott watches her brother, Will, and his best friend, Thomas Harding, depart for the front, she believes—as everyone does—that it will be over by Christmas, when the trio plan to celebrate the holiday among the romantic cafes of Paris. But as history tells us, it all happened so differently… Evie and Thomas experience a very different war. Frustrated by life as a privileged young lady, Evie longs to play a greater part in the conflict—but how?—and as Thomas struggles with the unimaginable realities of war he also faces personal battles back home where War Office regulations on press reporting cause trouble at his father’s newspaper business. Through their letters, Evie and Thomas share their greatest hopes and fears—and grow ever fonder from afar. Can love flourish amid the horror of the First World War, or will fate intervene? Christmas 1968. With failing health, Thomas returns to Paris—a cherished packet of letters in hand—determined to lay to rest the ghosts of his past. But one final letter is waiting for him…

It all started with a party. My 19th to be exact. My twin brother, or rather his girlfriend, planned and decorated. I overheard them make a bet, concerning me and the game Seven Minutes in Heaven. My brother bet I would just sit there and talk to the guy. His girl bet I would kiss him. They both thought they were slick putting our older brother’s best friend in there with me. He’s in med-school. He’s responsible. He’s practically family. To get back at my twin, Noah agreed to kiss me. Only, it wasn’t what either of us expected. That one kiss led to a lot more. While he and I were discovering something that had been right in front of us all along, darkness was hanging over our family. Too many secrets have been kept. Some, more important than others. Last Christmas broke my heart. But I had Noah there to stitch it back together.

The events of World War II have been studied, analyzed and documented extensively. Yet, one of the greatest feats of aerial bombing warfare has been all but ignored. In Hitler’s Last Christmas, we revisit the Second World War and specifically Sunday, December 24, 1944—when the 8th Air Force launched the largest air armada in the history of warfare. It was a desperate effort by the Allies to support the troops hopelessly hunkered down in the frigid weather of the Battle of the Bulge. The eventual success of those beleaguered troops was to some great measure due to the success of that Christmas Eve air mission. The details of the 8th Air Force mission #760 were mis-filed shortly after the war and the magnitude of that day in December 1944 overlooked—until now. Hitler’s Last Christmas shares the accounts of the event both from the Air Force Archives and the memories of those brave flyers who participated in it.

The writers behind the hit series Deadpool present the sad, funny, and true story of Santa Claus after the apocalypse. After tragedy strikes the North Pole, Santa turns his back on humanity and gives up on Christmas. Even though the world has been completely overrun by naughty men, there's still one boy that believes in Santa. But could that be the biggest mistake of his life? Collects THE LAST CHRISTMAS #1-5

A funny, heartwarming and magical story chockfull of festive charm and imagination. With Santa, hard-working elves and a few ghosts thrown in for good measure, it’s a taradiddle tale for everyone who believes in the magic of Christmas. It’s Christmas Eve. Santa’s making the last delivery of the night when he suddenly realises he’s missing a present for young Valerie Ainsworth. After some quick thinking, he leaves a gift on her pillow – the only thing left on his sleigh – because, after all, every good child deserves a Christmas present, right? As he heads for the North Pole with his tired and trusty reindeers, he hopes Valerie will understand it’s the thought that counts. Now a miserly millionaire, Valerie sits at the helm of the Ainsworth dynasty, hell-bent on making Santa pay for forgetting her that Christmas. Her nephew Wolly and his grandpa Joe are about to embark on their biggest adventure yet as they join forces with Santa. How will they foil mean-spirited Valerie’s evil plan to steal the magic of Christmas forever? It's an action-packed festive read that everyone from age 8-88 will fall in love with.

The Last Christmas Tree is a story of putting Jesus's "golden rule" as presented in Matthew 7:12, "Therefore all things what so ever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them," into a real-life situation. Matthew, the owner of the Christmas tree lot, connects with a family in need and puts the rule into practice. He sees the needs of John and his family of four, having lost his wife recently, and he decides he can help them as he would like to be helped if the situation were reversed. In part told from the point of view of the last Christmas tree on the lot, the story progresses through the help given by Matthew with his generosity and the joy and assistance it brings to John and his family despite their recent loss. The story is intended to inspire us to treat others as we want to be treated and to help those in need when we can. Although the situation John and his family are in is sad and painful, Matthew's acts of Christian love hopefully alleviate some of the pain of mourning that the family is feeling and inspire them to go on in Christ's love.

This book started out to be just a culmination of the original 30 Christmas Letters and the stories surrounding them, but in the end turned into much more encompassing story of our family and unfortunately my somewhat questionable life decisions and ongoing issues. Nothing to worry about here, as I am and always have been a law abiding, people loving, hardworking, person, but sometimes my way of doing things has left many wondering just what the heck I was thinking. As for the book, I think it is something that you will enjoy reading, as it probably more attune to your own life's stories than you'll probably want to admit. (Even when I die my picture will be somewhere in the back pages but with my luck it will probably be the one taken that night at the Lewiston Boy's Club and the headline won't be "Loving Father and Husband Passes", It will read, "Keith Embarrasses Mother" So, the next day I show up to grade school with one front tooth missing and my wrist all taped up and the teacher probably wondering what kind of torture I was being put through. But in actuality, she probably had taught all three of my older brothers and just figured I was just learning to be one of them. You just gotta love my family! Another thing I have learned is that Sharon and I don't shop the same. I shop like this. Look, like, buy, use! Sharon shops like this. Look... look... like....look... look....look.... like... look... like... look... look... look... really like... buy................... return! Well, I finally went home and the first night back Sharon fell off her crutches, dislocated one finger and broke another. (Boy you'd think that with those crutches she'd been able to hop right over that deer lying on the floor.) ((Maybe there is something to "me making things worse".))