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Collected for the first time, these prize-winning Christmas tales-carols-of Drew Bacigalupa range in time and place from mid-20th century to the new millennium, from remote mountain villages in New Mexico to the sophisticated neighborhoods of Rome, from children in country fields or on city streets to young soldiers at combat areas, to parents and grandparents at home or abroad. Whether in the United States, Mexico, England, France or Italy, the diverse peoples of these brief but luminous stories share the joy-and sometimes apprehension-we've all known as winter solstice heralds the approach of Christmas. Uniting all is the theme of renewal, the promise of longer days and return of the sun, and our uniquely individual gifts which brighten The Child in each of us. The illustrations are from original works by Bacigalupa-his paintings, drawings, ceramics and sculptures, testament to the artist/writer's work in many media, his conviction that all the arts are essentially communication. Heavily influenced by Renaissance Man following graduate studies at &quote;L'Accademia di Belli Arti&quote; in Florence, he frequently refers to the journals and poems of sculptor/painter Michelangelo and the notebooks and dissertations of painter/sculptor/inventor Leonardo as examples of men who employed whatever medium was best suited to communicate differing concepts demanding expression. Though a resident of Santa Fe since 1954 and one who loves the American Southwest, DREW BACIGALUPA is an inveterate traveler whose works have doggedly resisted regionalism. His published books include the World War II novel And Come to Dust, set in Belgium and Germany; &quote;Since My Last Confession,&quote; a spiritual journey and love story which follows the protagonist throughout the U.S. and across Europe; &quote;Journal of an Itinerant Artist,&quote; essays which roam the globe and embrace peoples of ethnic diversity. His stories, features and articles have appeared in numerous national newspapers and periodicals in this country and-in translation-in Italy. He first gained encouragement as a writer at the age of ten by winning a prize with an adventure story submitted to a writing contest in his hometown's newspaper &quote;The Baltimore Sun.&quote;