title: Christmas Spirits: Snowbound New York City reveals spirits of Twas the Night Before Christmas
author: Carolyn M. Stearns
description: Carolyn Stearns resides in rural Connecticut, her childhood home was an 18 th century house. That early indoctrination to historical research and life nurtured a lifelong love of historical reading. Now as a professional performance storyteller, historical stories are sought, told and created. This tale came from her search for a historical Christmas piece.
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  B————————————————————————————B
  
  Bep
  
  s———————————————————s
  
  The catalogue was from Rosen's, Ltd. It was the department
  
  store's annual Christmas Wishbook.
  
  It was addressed to Annie.
  
  Ben Holiday stood frozen before the open cubicle of his
  
  mailbox, eyes slipping across the gaily decorated cover of
  
  the catalogue to the white address label and the name of his
  
  dead wife. The lobby of the Chicago high rise seemed oddly
  
  still in the graying dusk of the late afternoon rush hour,
  
  empty of everyone but the security guard and himself. Out-
  
  side, past the line of floor-to-ceiling windows that fronted
  
  the building entry, the autumn wind blew in chill gusts down
  
  the canyon of Michigan Avenue and whispered of winter's
  
  coming.
  
  He ran his thumb over the smooth surface of the Wish-
  
  book. Annie had loved to shop, even when the shopping had
  
  only been through the mail-order catalogues. Rosen's had
  
  been one of her favorite stores.
  
  Sudden tears filled his eyes. He hadn't got