The Farewell Christmas

Jackie Shields was a hero to many. After graduating high school at age sixteen and college at twenty, he became a fighter pilot in the United States Navy. Jackie even flew with the famed Blue Angels, the navy's elite demonstration flight squadron. When Jackie returned home to Winchester, Massachusetts, for Christmas in 1956, he received a hero's welcome. But no one was more excited to see Jackie than his youngest brother, Billy. In The Farewell Christmas, William Shields shares the story of his last Christmas with his older brother Jackie. With his hero home for the holidays, ten-year-old Billy has a Christmas he will never forget. From the time Jackie surprises Billy on his evening paper route to their last good-bye, Jackie shows Billy what being a hero is all about. Billy's love for his older brother shines through in an inspiring way as he relives a time of sledding, snowball fights, and family feasts and reminds us all that the best gift is spending Christmas with family. A bittersweet story of faith, family, and innocence, The Farewell Christmas will take all readers back to their own childhood Christmases and inspire them to create memories with their families that will last a lifetime.

One of America's greatest Christmas stories and also one of its very first -- from the period between the end of the Revolutionary War and the ratification of the Constitution -- was a creation of none other than George Washington. The story isn't just about Washington coming home for Christmas for the first time since the war began, but about the character of our most important Founding Father and about the precedent he set for democratic leadership. It is the story of a loving husband, a beloved military leader, and above all, a humble and great man. In late November 1783 when Washington finally received formal notice of the signing of a peace treaty with England he had little more than a month to accept the transfer of power from British troops in New York; to bid farewell to his troops; and to resign his commission to Congress if he hoped to make it to Mount Vernon for Christmas. He could have remained in charge of the army and become a virtual king to the Americans who loved him. Control of the newly forming government was his to take -- yet he chose to resign. It was that decision, coupled with his later decision to step down from the presidency after two terms, that rendered him "the greatest character of the age" (according to none other than King George III). Washington's homeward journey is one of the most moving and inspiring stories from his great and eventful life. When he bade farewell to his troops at Fraunces Tavern in New York City there were no dry eyes. When he reached Congress and gave a retirement speech, it cemented his greatness more fully than had his victory over the British. When he made it to Mount Vernon, finally, on Christmas Eve, it could not have been a happier homecoming. General Washington's Christmas Farewell is a deeply moving Christmas story as well as a great American story.

Since its first airing, it's always a memorable night when "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is on TV. After forty years, the animated special is still a favorite. This lushly illustrated tribute to the beloved television classic has many unique features, including: Original animation art A look at the behind -- the -- scenes making of the cartoon Vince Guaraldi's original score and publication notes Interviews with the original child actors who were the voices of the Peanuts gang An introduction by the show's executive producer, Lee Mendelson And much more! A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition is a delightful and fitting salute to the holiday special that never fails to deepen your love of Christmas, touch your heart, and give you hope.

181 years delivering toys has Santa Claus ready to call it quits. He's burnt-out, saddled with hemorrhoids, and works Christmas Eve with a shotgun. Now facing a world on edge and a runaway reindeer, what's a not-so-jolly Saint Nick to do on what just might be his last Christmas? CUPID'S FAREWELL CHRISTMAS is a unique "kids book for adults" that evokes the nostalgia of Christmas mornings past. At once hilarious and timeless, it's a story of what it means to have real courage.

Two teenagers are sent to a temporary home while they learn the lesson of loss and forgiveness, for themselves and others. It is a holiday story that will fill your heart with tears and joy!

The children in Millie's family can't wait for Grandma to arrive with her special Christmas apron. According to tradition, each grandchild will write down the gift he or she wants most in the world and then slip that wish into the apron's pocket. Then, on Christmas morning,those wished-for gifts will be magically waiting under the tree. But eleven-year-old Millie overhears her parents: the family can't afford gifts for all the little ones. She pictures the disappointment on her siblings faces nothing to open on Christmas morning. Is Millie willing to sacrifice her own whole-soul wish so someone else's can come true? Full of tender emotion and delightful surprise, this story reminds us of the miracles that unfold when we think of others before ourselves.

This book addresses the narrative construction of places, the relationship between tradition communities and their environments, the supernatural dimensions of cultural landscapes and wilderness as they are manifested in European folklore and in early literary sources, such as the Old Norse sagas. The first section “Explorations in Place-Lore” discusses cursed and sacred places, churches, graveyards, haunted houses, cemeteries, grave mounds, hill forts, and other tradition dominants in the micro-geography of the Nordic and Baltic countries, both retrospectively and from synchronous perspectives. The supernaturalisation of places appears as a socially embedded set of practices that involves storytelling and ritual behaviour. Articles show, how places accumulate meanings as they are layered by stories and how this shared knowledge about environments can actualise in personal experiences. Articles in the second section “Regional Variation, Environment and Spatial Dimensions” address ecotypes, milieu-morphological adaptation in Nordic and Baltic-Finnic folklores, and the active role of tradition bearers in shaping beliefs about nature as well as attitudes towards the environment. The meaning of places and spatial distance as the marker of otherness and sacrality in Old Norse sagas is also discussed here. The third section of the book “Traditions and Histories Reconsidered” addresses major developments within the European social histories and mentalities. It scrutinizes the history of folkloristics, its geopolitical dimensions and its connection with nation building, as well as looking at constructions of the concepts Baltic, Nordic and Celtic. It also sheds light on the social base of folklore and examines vernacular views toward legendry and the supernatural.