Beginning in 2004, my wife, Dr. Dorothy Dodge Robbins, and I co-edited four literary anthologies based on historical and contemporary writings about the special season. These volumes are Christmas Stories from Louisiana and Christmas Stories from Georgia, both from UP Mississippi, Christmas on the Great Plains, published by UP Iowa, and Christmas Stories from Ohio, put forth by the Kent State University Press. These books highlighted for me the tradition of the "Christmas Story" throughout the land and urged me toward creating my own series which I now share with you, the reader. The collection includes the soft and mellow memory story, "The Joy of Christmas," the sheer horror of a Christmas gone bad in "A Normal Christmas," the bitter cold of the upper plains in "Stringing Lights," the act of hanging Santa Claus for his crimes in "The Frio Kid," and the angst of unrealized racism during a Christmas vacation in "On Holiday." At its heart is the question: "How dare one take issue with the Christmas season?" as explored in the final story, "The Santa Lie."