Christmas with Anne and Other Holiday Stories (1995)

because it's the season. and i'm an addict. and it's the book of the month in the l m montgomery group.

....On finishing, it's a somewhat uneven collection. Some, like Aunt Cyrilla's Christmas Basket, I really liked. Others were significantly weaker...but they were all by LM Montgomery, so let's be honest, I liked it.

This collection of stories pulls together a couple of seasonally appropriate chapters from the Anne books and some stand-alone stories. The stories take place mostly at Christmas, although two of them take place at New Year’s. They deal in similar themes: the importance of family, remembering departed ones, the idea of it being better to give than to receive, and happy accidents leading to much better Christmases than would have originally been the case.

This is a collection that is better for dipping into and out of throughout the Christmas season rather than reading in one shot, given how similar the stories are. I would perhaps recommend this to people who like the Anne books or who like boarding-school stories and other children’s books of the era in which LMM was writing; some of the younger girls’ dialogue certainly reminded me of Malory Towers or St Clare’s. ( )

My in-depth review is live on my blog, but my overall rating is that this is a great Christmas collection to read once, but I personally cannot see someone wanting to read this every single Christmas. It lacks a depth, but there are great stories contained within that make it a worthwhile one-time read. ( )

12 short Christmas stories, the first two from L.M. Montgomery’s most famous series Anne Of Green Gables.

If you had only read the first book in the Green Gables series you might not want to read the second short story because it does spoil Anne’s story a little. 3 of the stories were different and refreshing compared to most of the stories.

Some of the other stories which are not in the green gables series have the feeling that is heart-warming and sweet but honestly most of them were the same story over and over. A family can’t afford gifts for their children and it looks that they will have nothing for christmas so someone gives them their gifts. Maybe it has to do with the time period they are written in but most of the stories got old real quick.

I love what I have read of the Anne Of Green Gables series but these short stories are not great. That said I would still try other short stories by L.M. Montgomery. ( )

I enjoyed these stories. The introduction makes it clear what we'll be reading (that they aren't all about Anne, and that they are reflective of the times and tastes), so if you know you don't like late 19th century/early 20th century tales for children, where the moral is made pretty plain, you won't like these. If, like me, you appreciate LM Montgomery or other such authors, you will enjoy these sweet tales. Also, the hardcover is a nice book, with an attached ribbon bookmark, that would make a good gift for fans of the author. ( )