Memorably Heartwarming

Memorable Christmas Stories, compiled by Leon R. Hartshorn

This is another Christmas book I just plucked up from a book sale to add to my sizeable Christmas book collection (I don't buy recipe or decorating books, just histories of Christmas and short stories). I didn't look at it more closely until I got home. It's a publication of Deseret Books, and basically is a collection of heartwarming original short stories and "Chicken Soup for the Soul" type entries from several publications of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (commonly known as "Mormons"): "The Deseret News," "Improvement Era," "The Instructor," and "Relief Society Magazine," as well as publications like "Reader's Digest" and "Guideposts."

This certainly gave me a lot more pleasure than this year's "Chicken Soup" book! The fiction pieces, especially, are in the style of stories that might have been published in "St. Nicholas" or in women's magazines of the early 20th century (or in the current magazine "The People's Friend"). At least two of the stories ("The Fiftieth Cake" and "The Christmas Cards") are about older people finding love, which I adored. Others are about small children having faith and their wishes coming true. One, the story of a streetcar conductor and some rich teens, I had read in one of Joe Wheeler story compilations; the grandmother character in the first fiction piece in the collection put me to mind of Gran in Kate Seredy's The Open Gate!

If you like Christmas stories in the vein of Christmas With Anne and Other Stories by L.M. Montgomery, it is well worth your while to pick up even if you aren't a Latter-Day Saint.