Review: I loved these stories about love and the Christmas Holidays.  Both would lift the mood of any non-believers!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 24, 2013
This is just a really great couple of stories to read during the Holidays.  These stories are perfect for reading to children as there is a strong message in each.  The first story, "The Story of Mrs. Claus" tells us for the first time how Santa found his wife, how Mary fell in love with him and their life together.  It was just lovely to learn all these facts at long last.  She was riding her beloved horse when he became startled by something in the sky, and he threw her and ran off.  She woke up being rescued by a strange looking man with white hair and beard.  He was Saint Nick, which we know as Santa.  He took her on his sleigh, up to the North Pole, nursed the bump on her head in his cozy little cabin, and she fell in love.  She left her life behind and assumed the role of Mrs. Claus, taking care of him, the elves and keeping things on track for Christmas.  After 57 years Santa seemed to be losing his drive, his spirit and was retreating and letting her have all the responsibility.  She became aggravated, so were the elves and so were the reindeer.  Vixen spoke to her after a fire destroyed a lot of the gifts and took her to meet Santa's mother.  She came back to the cabin to help him recover his spirit and get him back on track, bringing herbs and magical powers.  Then magically Mary's horse she'd left behind long ago, Rudolph, appeared all excited to see her.  He became transformed and was able to fly and help Santa with his route on Christmas Eve.  The spirit of Christmas returned to them all with all this excitement and the miraculous appearance of Rudolph.The second story "The Christmas Gift" was another just wonderful story, not so much about Christmas, but about a mismatched teenage couple in love at Christmas Time.  Noel and Julie love each other, but won't acknowledge it because of their different stations in life.  She's rich and has everything money can buy, and he's poor and way beneath her socially as far as he's concerned.  She sees the beautiful soul inside and doesn't care about money and is determined to convince him of that so that they one day can marry.  Right now her parents can't even acknowledge him as a proper suitor for their daughter, much less a husband.  However things change suddenly when Julie's mother catches her husband, and Julie's dad, having sex with a real estate agent, on the bed in the home he had purchased for his wife as a surprise for Christmas.  This changes the power structure in the marriage, and when Julie confides to her mother how much she loves Noel and that no matter what she will marry him, her mom devises a plan to force her wayward husband to pay for Noel's college education if he still wants a wife and daughter.  If he refuses, both will leave.  So Julie convinces Noel that he should accept this gift and once educated, she feels and he feels they'll both be equals.  He'll be able to provide for her and then they can live happily ever after!!  Two great stories for the Holidays.  I highly recommend this book!!