"A special collection of true personal stories about Christmas and the holiday season. Stories range from serious to thoughtful to heartwarming to funny."

This hardcover Chicken Soup book is 653 pages long, and is an exclusive sold at Wal-mart this holiday season. My own essay is included on page 426.

Most Chicken Soup books only have 101 stories. This one has many more, and benefits from it for a big reason: variety. It has every sort of Christmas story you can imagine, from a child's view on a memorable event, to the heartbreak of losing a loved one, to the religious and inspirational aspects of the day. When I started reading, I admit, I was not in the Christmas spirit. A few unpleasant things had just happened in my life and sucked all the holiday joy out of me. That changed as I began to read. Some of the stories made me laugh. Others made my eyes fill with tears. Some made me sad, like I wanted to reach out and give the author a hug.

It's a great collection, and one I hope my son will read in future years. ( )