Gifts to Last and The Christmas Secret

Gifts to Last - Christmas Stories from the Maritimes and Newfoundland, selected by Walter Learning

From the blurb on the back - 

"Christmas a-glitter, Christmas on a shoestring, Christmas wrecked, Christmas salvaged, Christmas in city, village and country, in church and shopping mall and barn - they're all here, in stories by the best writers in the Maritimes and Newfoundland."

Some wonderful reading here, but not always the sweet stories and happy endings you find in many Christmas collections. These are glimpses of real life - a little gritty, sometimes sad, a bit of language here and there - but beautiful and touching in their humanity. I liked it even better this second time through.

The Christmas Secret - An Atlantic Canadian Christmas Reader, edited by Dan Soucoup

Again from the blurb on the back -

"...a wonderful collection featuring twenty tales of Atlantic Christmases of the past and present from some of the region's most beloved writers...Experience the celebrations and preparations of a lighthouse-keeping family on Bon Portage Island; the holiday humour of a Cape Breton coal mining community; the spirit of "old Christmas" in Island Cove, Newfoundland, and plenty more." 

These stories are a bit more light-hearted than in the one above. Entertaining, nice reading for the holiday season.