Short Stories

Worried about her marriage, Cynthia Charles accompanies her workaholic husband and his business partner to Upstate New York, where the two men hope to land a crucial software contract in Albany. While they focus on work, Cynthia sets out on a personal quest—driving to a quaint Vermont village where generations of her family once lived. Her goal is simple: to find the headstone of her great-great-grandmother, the woman she was named after.

But when a minor accident leaves her stranded in a blizzard, Cynthia finds unexpected shelter in the village church house. There, with the help of a kindhearted caretaker and his wife—and an old letter discovered from a long-departed ancestor—she finds the strength to face her husband, and together, take the first steps toward healing their troubled marriage.

On a snowy Christmas Eve in the late 1860s, during the unrest of the Indian Wars, George Wood returns to his mother’s humble cabin in Utah’s Uintah Valley after more than a year away. He expects a quiet homecoming, but instead finds himself staring down the barrel of a shotgun—held by the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. What begins in tension soon turns to compassion when a young Ute couple arrives seeking shelter, the woman in labor and in need of help.

In the quiet of the barn, the child is born, and with that birth comes healing and forgiveness. This tender short story of love and faith beautifully captures the true spirit of Christmas and offers a touching reminder of Christ's humble beginnings.

A retelling of Kate Douglas Wiggin’s beloved 1907 novel, The Old Peabody Pew: A Christmas Romance of a Country Church, featuring the original illustrations by Alice Barber Stephens.

For over a decade, Nancy Wentworth has quietly waited. When Justin Peabody left the village of Edgewood to seek his fortune in the city, he promised to return—but the years slipped by with no word. Now, with her parents gone and only her faithful cat 'Zekiel and the kindly women of the Dorcas Society for company, Nancy devotes herself to the aging Tory Hill Meeting-house.

But this Christmas feels different. As the Dorcas Society rushes to ready the church for the holiday festival, Nancy receives an unexpected letter—one that contains only a cryptic scripture reference. Could it be the sign she’s waited for all these years? Has Justin Peabody finally come home?