From the Pulitzer Prize-winning humorist comes one of the
funniest, warmest, most delightful Christmas stories ever.
My name is Doug Barnes, and this stuff happened on Christmas
Eve in my town, which is Asquont, New York.
The year is 1960, and, as it is every year, the Christmas
pageant at St. John's Episcopal Church, directed by Mrs.
Elkins-who used to be in The Theater in New York, and who is
tall and skinny, with hair the color of the orange part of a
candy corn-is a very big deal. Doug is a shepherd this year,
which is better than being a Three King, because, for one
thing, you get to carry a stick. But there are problems
everywhere: His fellow shepherds are hacking around, which
makes Mrs. Elkins yell at all of them; the girl he likes is
playing Mary opposite a Joseph who is depressingly smart and
athletic and cute; the family dog is doing very poorly, and
they have no idea what they're going to tell Doug's little
sister Becky, who's playing one of the Host of Angels and
who loves the dog more than anything; and his dad's just
gotten a flat tire, which means they might not even get to
the pageant at all.
But Christmas is a time of miracles. And for Doug and his
family, this will be the most miraculous Christmas of all.
Dave Barry has been delighting readers for decades with his
newspaper columns, nonfiction, novels for adults and novels
for children, but this book is something special: a story
for all ages that'll touch the heart and make you laugh out
loud. And you may never look at a manger scene the same way
again.
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