Introduction / Timothy S. Healy -- Christmas thoughts / Washington Irving -- How Santa Claus came to Simpson's Bar / Bret Harte -- Christmas with Lewis and Clark / Meriwether Lewis and William Clark -- Mrs. Parkins' Christmas eve / Sarah Orne Jewett -- Susie's letter from Santa / Mark Twain -- Thurlow's Christmas story / John Kendrick Bangs -- New relations and duties (excerpt) / Frederick Douglass -- The burglar's Christmas / Willa Cather -- Christmas every day / William Dean Howells -- Compliments of the season / O. Henry -- Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus / Francis P. Church -- The twelfth guest / Mary Wilkins Freeman --

How Claus made the first toy / L. Frank Baum -- No room at the inn / Edna Ferber -- One Christmas eve / Langston Hughes -- The worst Christmas story / Christopher Morley -- The snow too deep / Oliver La Farge -- Merry Christmas, Marge! / Alice Childress -- The three wise guys / Damon Runyan -- Strange story of a traveler to Bethlehem / John Evans -- A Christmas carillon / Hortense Calisher -- The loudest voice / Grace Paley -- Oh, Joseph, I'm so tired / Richard Yeats -- Christmas for Sassafras, Cypress and Indigo / Ntozake Shange -- Christmas is a sad season for the poor / John Cheever -- Drawing names / Bobbie Ann Mason.