Once upon a time, a man punished his five-year-old daughter for using up the family’s only roll of expensive gold wrapping paper before Christmas.

Money was tight, so he became even more upset when, on Christmas Eve, he saw that the child had used the expensive gold paper to decorate a large shoebox she had put under the Christmas tree...

Susan notes: Carolyn Theriault is a Canadian expatriate who lived in Turkey when she wrote this blog post; she is now in Kurdistan. Theriault is a prolific blogger, twitterer, and self-confessed "snark." She's also the author of Stealing Fatima's Hand, "an unforgettable collection of narratives presenting an alternative view of Morocco."

Susan notes: This is one of my all time favourit Christmas stories, second only to The Little Match Girl. I believe in Santa Claus, magic, fairies, elves, angels, and dreams. How about you?

In 1897, eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to the editor of New York's Sun; the quick response was printed as an unsigned editorial Sept. 21, the same year.