"Merry Christmas" by Stephen Leacock opens with Father Time interrupting a writer's late-night struggle to craft a Christmas story worth telling in wartime. When Father Time beckons Father Christmas in from the dark street, a figure appears — tattered, frightened, flinching at the sound of passing cars as if they were guns. Once jolly and certain of his welcome, Father Christmas now carries rain-soaked gifts meant for children in Belgium and Serbia, unable to deliver them. The question hanging over the fire-lit room is whether Christmas can be saved — and who must save it.

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