This is what to listen to while driving to the mall, wrapping gifts, entertaining friends, or relaxing in front of a crackling holiday fire. In Scott Simon’s modern version of the Christmas story, Jesus is born in an abandoned factory near Cleveland and the Three Wise Persons bring Chipotle gift cards. Claudia Sanchez gives a Latin accent to “A Visit from St. Nicholas.” Barbara Bradley Hagerty explores what Christmas means for the boy choristers of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. (Hint: Handel.) In a treasured 1974 recording, humorist, author, radio personality, and blacklisting victim John Henry Faulk tells of “the wonderfulest Christmas in the United States of America.” A son believed missing in action during WWII is found in time for his family to celebrate the holiday. And a Vietnam veteran tells Weekend Edition Sunday about a “Silent Night” that brought hope to patients in a military hospital. 2 1/2 hrs on 2 CDs.
Introduction by Lynn Neary
A Holiday Reading Tradition for the Whole Family
The Night Before Christmas, Latin Style
Finding Out What’s in Christmas Gifts
How to Make a Dream Gingerbread Home
Christmas in the Closet
Low-Glamour Christmas Party
Christmas: The Trivial and the Not-So
Late Holiday Greeting Cards
Rudolph: Man Who Wrote the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Away in a Factory: A Christmas Story
This I Believe: A “Silent Night” That Brought Healing
Memories of Joining a Christmas Club
All I Wanted for Christmas
Santa Clause, Private Eye
How Charlie Brown Came to Mean Christmas
Atlanta’s Pink Pig Brightens Spirits
Pass the Foie Grois: Christmas Menu Hard to Digest