Christmas Stories from French and Spanish Writers is a book written by Antoinette Ogden. This book contains fictional short stories, fairy tales, folk tales, legends and mythology subjects. It contains Christmas stories from the 19th century.

Fifteen short stories by Antoinette Ogden from French and Spanish writers of many times. Christmas Eve that year was bleak and cold, and the village seemed benumbed. The houses were closed hermetically, and so were the stables, from which came the muffled sound of animals chewing the cud. From time to time the clacking of wooden shoes on the hardened ground resounded through the deserted streets, then a door was hastily opened and closed, and all relapsed into silence. It was evident from the thick smoke rising through the chimneys into the gray air that every family was huddled around its hearth while the housewife prepared the Christmas supper. Stooping forward, with their legs stretched out to the fire, their countenances beaming with pleasure at the prospect of the morrow's festival and the foretaste of the fat and juicy blood-sausages, the peasants laughed at the north wind that swept the roads, at the frost that powdered the trees of the forest, and the ice that seemed to vitrify the streams and the river. Following their example, my friend Tristan and I spent the livelong day in the old house of the Abbatiale at the corner of the hearth, smoking our pipes and reading poetry. At sundown we had grown tired of seclusion and determined to venture out."The forest must be a strange sight with this heavy frost," said I to Tristan. "Suppose we take a turn through the wood after supper; besides, I must see the sabotiers from Courroy about a little matter."So we pulled on our gaiters, stuffed our pipes, wrapped ourselves in our cloaks and mufflers, and penetrated into the wood.We walked along cheerfully over the rugged, hardened soil of the trenches furrowed with deep, frozen ruts. Through the copse on either side we saw mysterious white depths. After a damp night the north wind had transformed the mists and vapors that overhung the branches into a tangle of snowy lace. In the half light of the gloaming we could still distinguish the sparkling needles of the junipers, the frosted puffs of the clematis, the bluish crystallizations of the beech, and the silver filigree of the nut-trees. The silence was broken by the occasional creaking of the frozen limbs, and every now and then a breath of impalpable white dust dampened our cheeks as it melted there.

What would a child do if they found their childhood toys lying in the street? Act selfishly? Miss Terry had tossed each toy one by one to the snowy sidewalk in front of her house. But her heart is moved when she sees the Christmas Angel kicked aside. Remembering all the years it graced her family mantel, she rushes to rescue it. Back inside, the Christmas Angel comes to life, and reveals the actual destiny for each toy, and for Miss Terry, something she could have never imagined. "The Christmas Angel," part of the Focus on the Family Great Stories collection, includes an in-depth introduction and discussion questions by Joe Wheeler. It is a stirring reminder of what really matters at Christmas and throughout the year. ============== TAGS/KEYWORDS: Christmas Angel, Miss, Terry, Christmas, Angel, little, Mary, eyes, doll, Angelina, street, Tom, Miranda, Norah, child, girl, believe, fire, window, children, Eve, drew, draw, poor, spirit, ark, make, mother, candles, Flanton, package, happy, snow, Terry, to-night, toys, pretty, Beautiful, singing, Dog, heartfelt, hung, Ornaments, Sam, Fiddlestick, Joe, block, Cooper, Johnnie, library, rose, tears, told, silk, wicked, angel, Aunt, Bob, bonnet, Sammy, ashamed, baby, Santa Claus, Play Box, Jack-in-the-Box, Flanton Dog, Noah's Ark, Jack, Christmas Candle, Abbie Farwell Brown,