Easton and its favorite son Colonel Peter Kichline have reason to rejoice-the Revolutionary War is finally over! Against all possible odds, General Washington's troops have prevailed against the world's mightiest military. Peter believes the time has come to win the peace, but when a former villager, married to a missing British officer, wants to come home, the townspeople don't exactly roll out the welcome mat. Meanwhile, newlywed Erin Miles Bassett is looking forward to a Hallmark-worthy Christmas while collaborating with a celebrated historian and author. She's experiencing a season most people would envy, and while life is just about perfect, getting everyone else to cooperate is like herding cats. A brash businessman blindsides her. A sudden illness threatens her holiday plans, and certain family members have very different ideas about the ideal Christmas. Join Peter and Erin as they discover the real blessing of the season isn't a stunning tree- but the Perfect Gift. Easton at Christmastide, a story of epic failure and amazing grace, is book five in the much-loved and award-winning Easton Series about two people, over two hundred years apart, joined by blood ties, parallel experiences, and a winsome town beckoning "come home." "This gentle read interweaves past and present to craft a story that makes you feel as if you've come home to Easton, even if you've never been there before. -Marlo Schalesky, award-winning author of Reaching for Wonder.

Peter Kichline and Erin Miles are trying to make sense of life after losing their spouses. As Sheriff of Northampton County, Pennsylvania, he's on the trail of an elusive thief, finding that challenge much easier to deal with than running a household. A few Easton ladies are more than a little willing to help- which poses its own challenges. Erin doesn't have her work to turn to after being denied the promotion she counted on, nor has she been close to her family since leaving Easton after college. When she stumbles upon a TV show about ancestry, Erin's inspired to search for her own mysterious roots. Discovering Peter Kichline completely changes her life, even as she starts drawing closer to the family and the town she only thought she knew. Written in the tradition of Jan Karon's beloved Mitford Series, Easton at the Forks is a heart-warming story about two people, two centuries apart, joined by loss, blood ties, and Easton, a winsome place that beckons everyone to "Come home."

The manger or Macy's? Americans might well wonder which is the real shrine of Christmas, as they take part each year in a mix of churchgoing, shopping, and family togetherness. But the history of Christmas cannot be summed up so easily as the commercialization of a sacred day. As Penne Restad reveals in this marvelous new book, it has always been an ambiguous meld of sacred thoughts and worldly actions-- as well as a fascinating reflection of our changing society. In Christmas in America, Restad brilliantly captures the rise and transformation of our most universal national holiday. In colonial times, it was celebrated either as an utterly solemn or a wildly social event--if it was celebrated at all. Virginians hunted, danced, and feasted. City dwellers flooded the streets in raucous demonstrations. Puritan New Englanders denounced the whole affair. Restad shows that as times changed, Christmas changed--and grew in popularity. In the early 1800s, New York served as an epicenter of the newly emerging holiday, drawing on its roots as a Dutch colony (St. Nicholas was particularly popular in the Netherlands, even after the Reformation), and aided by such men as Washington Irving. In 1822, another New Yorker named Clement Clarke Moore penned a poem now known as "'Twas the Night Before Christmas," virtually inventing the modern Santa Claus. Well-to-do townspeople displayed a German novelty, the decorated fir tree, in their parlors; an enterprising printer discovered the money to be made from Christmas cards; and a hodgepodge of year-end celebrations began to coalesce around December 25 and the figure of Santa. The homecoming significance of the holiday increased with the Civil War, and by the end of the nineteenth century a full- fledged national holiday had materialized, forged out of borrowed and invented custom alike, and driven by a passion for gift-giving. In the twentieth century, Christmas seeped into every niche of our conscious and unconscious lives to become a festival of epic proportions. Indeed, Restad carries the story through to our own time, unwrapping the messages hidden inside countless movies, books, and television shows, revealing the inescapable presence--and ambiguous meaning--of Christmas in contemporary culture. Filled with colorful detail and shining insight, Christmas in America reveals not only much about the emergence of the holiday, but also what our celebrations tell us about ourselves. From drunken revelry along colonial curbstones to family rituals around the tree, from Thomas Nast drawing the semiofficial portrait of St. Nick to the making of the film Home Alone, Restad's sparkling account offers much to amuse and ponder.

In the rolling fields of Victorian England, a majestic horse named Black Beauty embarks on an extraordinary journey through life. Told from Beauty's own perspective, the story chronicles his experiences from his idyllic youth on a gentle farm to the harsh realities of life in the bustling city. Along the way, he encounters kind and cruel owners alike, each shaping his understanding of human nature and the world around him. Black Beauty is more than just a tale of a horse; it is a timeless classic exploring the relationship between humans and animals. It has inspired movements for animal welfare since its publication and continues to be read by children all over the world to this day. ANNA SEWELL [1820–1878] was an English novelist. She wrote only one book in her entire career, Black Beauty [1877], which became one of the bestselling novels of all time.