CONTENTS

FOREWORD BY JOHN UPDIKE

the spirit of giving

MORE OF A SURPRISE / Sally Benson

SCHOOLBOY / Sally Benson

CHRISTMAS MORNING / Frank O’Connor

CHRISTMAS IS A SAD SEASON FOR THE POOR / John Cheever

THE MAGI HANGUP / William Cox

PARENTAL ADVISORY / Daniel Menaker

CHRISTMAS CARDS / John Updike
and Talk of the Town by Mrs. John Swinton, St. Clair McKelway, Rosann Smith, William Kinkead, Russell Maloney, H. Weiss, Geoffrey Hellman, and John Updike

the feast

A FINE TURKEY DINNER / Brendan Gill

STARE DECISIS / H. L. Mencken

THE TURKEY SEASON / Alice Munro

MY EX-HUSBAND AND THE FISH DINNER / Joan Acocella

WINTER IN MARTINIQUE / Patrick Chamoiseau
and Talk of the Town by Jean P. Helm, William B. Powell, and James Thurber

k. kringle, esq.

A VISIT FROM SAINT NICHOLAS / James Thurber

WAITING FOR SANTY: A CHRISTMAS PLAYLET / S. J. Perelman

NO SANTA CLAUS / Emily Hahn

SKID-ROW SANTA / Ken Kesey

THE TWELVE TERRORS OF CHRISTMAS / John Updike
and Talk of the Town by William Shawn, Francis Steegmuller, and Harold Ross

family matters

CHRISTMAS POEM / John O’Hara

CHRISTMAS / Vladimir Nabokov

SOLACE / Linda Grace Hoyer

A CHRISTMAS STORY / Garrison Keillor

CRÈCHE / Richard Ford
and Talk of the Town by Elizabeth Hardwick

holiday spirits

COMMENTS / E. B. White

SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS / Sally Benson

TWO PEOPLE HE NEVER SAW / John McNulty

FLESH AND THE DEVIL / Peter De Vries

THE CAROL SING / John Updike
and Talk of the Town by Carroll Newman, St. Clair McKelway, Harold Ross, James Thurber, C. E. Noyes, Russell Maloney, J. Soans, Geoffrey Hellman, Preston Shroyer, E. B. White, and S. C. Westerwelt

a tannenbaum

HOMECOMING / William Maxwell

OCCURRENCE ON THE SIX-SEVENTEEN / George Shephard

TOKIO CHRISTMAS / Max Hill

A COUPLE OF NIGHTS BEFORE CHRISTMAS / J. F. Powers
and Talk of the Town by Russell Maloney, Harold Ross, Charles Noble Constance Feeley, Robert A. Simon, and E. J. Kahn, Jr.

christmas carols

CHRISTMAS WEEK / Parke Cummings

CHRISTMAS EVE / Karl J. Shapiro

A CHRISTMAS CAROL / John Ciardi

CHRISTMAS EVE / John Ciardi

WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS / Phyllis McGinley

CHRISTMAS FAMILY REUNION /Peter De Vries

LANDSCAPE OF THE STAR / Adrienne Rich

THE PASSING OF ALPHEUS W. HALLIDAY / E. B. White

ALL’S NOËL THAT ENDS NOËL / Odgen Nash

SAINT NICHOLAS, / Marianne Moore

THE MAGUS / James Dickey

THE CHRISTMAS CACTUS /L. M. Rosenberg

ICICLES / Robert Pinsky

CHRISTMAS IN QATAR / Calvin Trillin

TREE WITH ORNAMENTS BY MY MOTHER / Elizabeth Macklin

25.XII.1993 / Joseph Brodsky

NATIVITY POEM / Joseph Brodsky

FLIGHT TO EGYPT /Joseph Brodsky

GREETINGS, FRIENDS! (1939) / Frank Sullivan

GREETINGS, FRIENDS! (1957) / Frank Sullivan

GREETINGS, FRIENDS! (1978) / Roger Angell

GREETINGS, FRIENDS! (1995) / Roger Angell

drawings

CHARLES ADDAMS

CONSTANTIN ALAJALOV

PETER ARNO

PERRY BARLOW

CHARLES BARSOTTI

RALPH BARTON

MEG CROCKER BIRMINGHAM

HARRY BLISS

HARRY BROWN

ROZ CHAST

MICHAEL CRAWFORD

WHITNEY DARROW, JR.

CHON DAY

ROBERT DAY

RICHARD DECKER

ELDON DEDINI

LEONARD DOVE

EDNA EICKE ii, iii

LISA C. ERNST

IAN FALCONER

ED FISHER

TOM FUNK iii

WILLIAM CRAWFORD GALBRAITH

ARTHUR GETZ

EDWARD GOREY

WILLIAM HAMILTON

HELEN HOKINSON

REA IRVIN

LONNI SUE JOHNSON

WILLIAM JOYCE

BRUCE ERIC KAPLAN

ILONKA KARASZ

EDWARD KOREN

ANATOL KOVARSKY

ARNIE LEVIN

LEE LORENZ

ROBERTA MACDONALD

CHARLES E. MARTIN

HENRY MARTIN

EVER MEULEN

FRANK MODELL

MORRIS NEUWIRTH

ALPHONSE NORMANDIA

GEORGE PRICE

MISCHA RICHTER

VICTORIA ROBERTS

AL ROSS

CHARLES SAXON

ANDRE DE SCHAUB

J. J. SEMPE

JUDITH SHAHN

OTTO SOGLOW

EDWARD SOREL

ART SPIEGELMAN

WILLIAM STEIG

JAMES STEVENSON

RICHARD TAYLOR

BARNEY TOBEY

MIKE TWOHY

BENOÎT VAN INNIS

GAHAN WILSON

JACK ZIEGLER