The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog — Dave Barry

One of the warmest, funniest, and most delightful Christmas stories ever -- from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dave Barry.

With fond nostalgia, Dave Barry takes readers back to a simpler time: The year is 1960, and young Doug Barnes is playing a shepherd in the Christmas pageant at St. John's Episcopal Church -- which is a very big deal. But there are problems everywhere. His fellow shepherds are misbehaving, which makes their director, Mrs. Elkins, yell at all of them; the girl he likes is playing Mary opposite a Joseph who is depressingly smart, 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 after all.

But Christmas is a time of miracles. And for Doug and his family, this will be the most miraculous Christmas of all.