Christmas, Actually: A Holiday Collection

This was a perfect read for my rather frazzled, pre-holiday work and personal life stressed out mind to sink into. The collection contains five wonderfully contemporary - and one uniquely futuristic - story that really brings home the holiday season for me. Why did I enjoy the stories so much? It is all about the characters and experiencing their family/relationship/ "coming to terms with the hand life has dealt them" issues during one of the most stressful Christian holiday seasons of the calendar year. The stories are fresh. Even though the characters are facing - or trying to avoid facing - issues that have arrived on their doorsteps unannounced, been festering inside them for years, or are a result of OCD tendencies in the pursuit show more of the "perfect" holiday display, there is still a sparkle, a vibrancy that communicates, "all is not lost". I should mention that the stories are not focused on the Christmas holiday. That just happens to be the common link of the stories. Life continues to happen at this time or year, for good or for bad, and these stories are about finding the good in the craziness that consumes so many people. I also liked the fact that this collection of stories by different authors, didn't have that disjointed smashed together anthology feel to it. I could flow from one contemporary story to the next without experiencing that jarring "different author, drastically different writing style" effect that can occur in some anthologies. I found the futuristic story to be more experimental in form, which was good and bad. Good in that the author completely re-worked the birth of Christ as salvation story and gave it a really interesting futuristic, pending apocalyptic vibe. Bad in that the Chris Aftermaths character came across as an exaggerated emphatic individual, giving the story an extra level of drama it really didn't need.

Overall, a well put together collection of holiday stories that helped me to escape the stresses of my own crazy and unplanned pre-holiday insanity. Balm of the senses. show less

I quite liked this collection of short stories. Had a little of everything, romance, relationships, family matter and even some sci-fi with the last selection. I'm usually not one for short stories but since it was Christmas and this book came up as an early read I figured why not and I'm happy I did! Each story held my attention throughout and were fairly believable and the writing was easy going throughout.

I received this ebook through LibraryThing early review for my honest opinion.

This is an Early Reviewer book. A collection of short stories centered around Christmastime. None of the stories really moved me and I felt that the only connection to Christmas was really the setting. I feel a little blase' about the book. Good effort but I expect more of the Christmas spirit in the Christmas books I read.

I'm afraid I didn't love this book as much as some of the other reviewers did. With a couple of exceptions, the writing was just bad, and in most of the stories the Christmas element was so distant that it was largely not even relevant to the story (it was almost as if some of these authors just went back and just added a few "by the way it's Christmastime" lines to their stories so they could be included in a Christmas anthology). The first story about a woman getting her front teeth replaced (All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth! Haha I get it.) was entertaining but the book sort of declined after that. I did like “Noelle,” and “Survival of the Christmas Spirit” was well-written although come on, it’s really hard show more to buy that that many things could go wrong during a single family’s Christmas and also, cats can’t really eat that much turkey. A couple of the stories were bad enough that I had difficulty making it all the way through them—“Nice Wheels” was like being a fly on the wall observing the life of people who are really boring and not really that sympathetic (I know Barbara lost her husband tragically, but if readers are supposed to like her that can’t be her only redeeming quality). And the lone post-apocalyptic story (Chris Aftermaths) was baffling—I’ve read grade school fiction that was better than that story. Spoilers: So wait, the world is starving and everyone is dying of plague and some dude has a bunch of magic seeds and all it takes is him teleporting around and scattering the seeds and then something about a bridge and a diamond and boom—it starts to snow and plants grow and everyone lives happily ever after? Um, I don’t get it.

Ultimately, this is not what I look for in a Christmas read—I want a Christmas story to feel Christmasy from the beginning to the end, and yeah, I like compelling characters and actual conflict, which seemed to be lacking in the majority of these stories. I wish I could say nicer things, but this book just doesn’t have that much to offer.

(Note that I received a free copy as a part of the Library Thing Early Reviewer’s Program.) show less

The thing about Christmas is that it can be your most favourite and least favourite time of the year. The thing about anthologies is that you can like some of the stories, dislike some of the stories, and feel meh about the rest.
Christmas, Actually covers both my split feelings about Christmas and the reality of an anthology. Overall I enjoyed the collection of tales that showed various aspects of the holiday season from the comic to the tragic.
"Survival of the Christmas Spirit" appealed to my sense of the absurd and my firm belief in the power of Murphy's Law. As someone who often is the one providing Christmas dinner I chuckled at the serious of disasters that still could spoil the day of family togetherness.
"All I want for Christmas show more is my two front teeth" taps into our primal fears of dentists and of not looking our best in holiday photos. I was reminded of our Christmas pictures showing my sister sporting a lovely shiner courtesy of me and a snow shovel (don't get me mad when I'm holding a potential weapon).
As for the rest, they were ok, nothing that made me want to share with others as I like to to when I read something I really like. Nothing really turned me off and I'm sure that most readers will find something to get them in the holiday spirit. show less

I received a copy of this book from Librarything for an honest review

As I started the first story in this collection, I knew I was in for a treat. Each story may have different characters but the theme is all about Christmas and how simple things can change a person's life. The book is filled with a touch of romance, struggles, joy, laughter , hope and family. The Christmas season is rich with tradition and after reading this book, I hope readers will put this on their list to read every year. It is very uplifting, light and filled with funny stories as well as stories that give hope to those who struggle with the holiday season.

Each author that contributed to the book brought their own charm to the collection. They give readers a show more great book to curl up with as you are transformed back to Christmas Past, Present and Future. Sometimes the story may be a light romance or perhaps show a person who is trying to overcome grief. There is something for everyone in this delightful book that I couldn't put down. The stories glide seamlessly throughout the book and keep the reader immersed in the lives of the characters.

I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the writing and the overall feeling of a collection of stories that will encourage, make you smile and give you a great book to read each year at Christmas time . show less

A small collection of short stories set in and around christmas time. Strangely however few of them seem to be particularly christmassy and they're more themed around falling in love or the trials of living in a big city.

The big outlier is 'Chris Aftermaths' which doesn't fit in at all, being a weird SF set in the far future of england. The others are vaguely sweet, but unmemorable. There was no author in whom I'm interested reading further stories by.