Christmas is a joyous season, and has been so for millions of people over the centuries. The concept of Christmas in the Old West has inspired six creative authors to combine their talents to create a moral, uplifting series of tales from that era. Contributions include the following stories that you'll find worth reading over and over again. A CHRISTMAS STORM by Jim Kennison - A LIFE CHANGED by Dave P. Fisher - CHRISTMAS ON THE CONCHO by Dr. Herb Marlow - BIG BEAR'S CHRISTMAS by Johnny Gunn - AN ANGEL FOR CHRISTMAS by Hamilton Haley - THE CHRISTMAS TREE by Liz Compton. All six stories share one thing...the joy and excitement of the Christmas season. Gather your whole family, especially the children, in front of the fireplace and enjoy a COWBOY CHRISTMAS.

WB, not yet sixteen in 1873 when the West was young, crosses the MIssissippi leaving the far shore of civilization behind. With empty pockets, a spark for life, and a wild sense of freedom, he follows his heart in an inspiring adventure of discovery, strength, character and romance.

When Cully the cowboy, a friend and a father figure to Evan, fails to show up at the ranch on an icy Christmas Eve, Evan goes out into the night to find and rescue him.

"Giddyup, giddyup as fast as you can. You can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!" The Gingerbread Cowboy can run from the rancher, he can dash past the javelinas, and he can giddyup right by the cattle grazing on the mesa. But what happens when he meets a coyote sleeping in the sun? Janet Squires and Holly Berry retell this classic tale with a Wild Western flair, filled with rodeo-romping fun.

In these Texas-set stories of romance and adventure, the Civil War is over, Christmas is coming—and it’s time for three rugged fighters to become lovers . . . FATHER GOOSE New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Jodi Thomas Dispirited by war, when Trapper Hawkins accepts a job hauling five little rich girls to Dallas, all he cares about is the money. He doesn’t expect they’ll awaken his spirit—or that their intriguing nursemaid, Emery Adams, will awaken his heart. And when danger strikes as Christmas Eve nears, he definitely doesn’t expect Emery and the girls to risk their lives—for him . . . THE MISTLETOE PROMISE * Sharla Lovelace A catastrophic storm, an ailing herd, and a failing cattle ranch have left Texas rancher Josie Bancroft in danger of losing everything her father worked for. Still, she’d rather die than merge with her neighbor rancher Benjamin Mason, the man who broke her heart years ago, on Christmas Eve. As old sparks fly and secrets are revealed, however, Ben is determined to help Josie—and prove that this time around can be different. That the misunderstandings of Christmas past need not define their future . . . ALMOST CHRISTMAS New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Linda Broday Noelle Blessing owns The Sugar Spoon, a candy shop in Blessing Falls, Texas. But despite her festive name and delicious occupation, Christmas doesn’t promise to be sweet this year—thanks to the curvy confectioner’s resentful ex-fiancé. When he shows up at the town’s holiday dance spoiling for trouble, Noelle grabs the nearest cowboy to partner with. Cord Dalton is more than happy to play the hero—and the new boyfriend too. And by the time Christmas rolls around, what began as pretend might just be the equally unexpected gift of the real thing . . .

A timeless, utterly charming Christmas fable, beautifully illustrated and destined to become a classic When Paul Auster was asked by The New York Times to write a Christmas story for the Op-Ed page, the result, "Auggie Wren's Christmas Story," led to Auster's collaboration on a film adaptation, Smoke. Now the story has found yet another life in this enchanting illustrated edition with Argentine artist Isol. It begins with a writer's dilemma: he's been asked by The New York Times to write a story that will appear in the paper on Christmas morning. The writer agrees, but he has a problem: How to write an unsentimental Christmas story? He unburdens himself to his friend at his local cigar shop, a colorful character named Auggie Wren. "A Christmas story? Is that all?" Auggie counters. "If you buy me lunch, my friend, I'll tell you the best Christmas story you ever heard. And I guarantee every word of it is true." And an unconventional story it is, involving a lost wallet, a blind woman, and a Christmas dinner. Everything gets turned upside down. What's stealing? What's giving? What's a lie? What's the truth? It's vintage Auster, and pure pleasure: a truly unsentimental but completely affecting tale.

A beloved, bestselling classic of humorous and nostalgic Americana—the book that inspired the equally classic Yuletide film and the live musical on Fox. The holiday film A Christmas Story, first released in 1983, has become a bona fide Christmas perennial, gaining in stature and fame with each succeeding year. Its affectionate, wacky, and wryly realistic portrayal of an American family’s typical Christmas joys and travails in small-town Depression-era Indiana has entered our imagination and our hearts with a force equal to It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street. This edition of A Christmas Story gathers together in one hilarious volume the gems of autobiographical humor that Jean Shepherd drew upon to create this enduring film. Here is young Ralphie Parker’s shocking discovery that his decoder ring is really a device to promote Ovaltine; his mother and father’s pitched battle over the fate of a lascivious leg lamp; the unleashed and unnerving savagery of Ralphie’s duel in the show with the odious bullies Scut Farkas and Grover Dill; and, most crucially, Ralphie’s unstoppable campaign to get Santa—or anyone else—to give him a Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle. Who cares that the whole adult world is telling him, “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid”? The pieces that comprise A Christmas Story, previously published in the larger collections In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash and Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories, coalesce in a magical fashion to become an irresistible piece of Americana, quite the equal of the film in its ability to warm the heart and tickle the funny bone.

Celebrate 20 years of nightmares with this picturebook version of the classic film, written and drawn by Tim Burton and now featuring word-for-word narration by Christopher Lee! In this beloved picture book that could only come from the visionary mind of author and illustrator TIM BURTON, we meet Jack Skellington-- a well-intentioned inhabitant of Halloweenland. Jack is bored of ''''the scaring, the terror, the fright....tired of being something that goes bump in the night''''. And so, in an effort to bring to joy to his town, Jack kidnaps Santa and takes his place as the jolly old elf. But instead of bringing joy to the world Jack, who is a little more than a grinning skeleton, brings fear by delivering creepy toys and riding a sleigh carried by skeletal reindeer. Only through a number of things going horribly wrong does Jack learn the true meaning of Christmas.

Winner of the American Indian Library Association Youth Literature Awards, Best Picture Book. Trickster Coyote is having his friends over for a festive solstice get-together in the woods when a little girl comes by unexpectedly. She leads the party-goers through the snowy woods to a shopping mall -- a place they have never seen before. Coyote gleefully shops with abandon, only to discover that fi lling your shopping cart with goodies is not quite the same thing as actually paying for them. The trickster is tricked and goes back to his cabin in the woods -- somewhat subdued -- though nothing can keep Coyote down for long. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.