Christmas in My Heart, Vol. 19: A Treasury of Old-Fashioned Christmas Stories

It takes a lot more work to keep a marriage together for life than any bride and groom ever conceptualize. So many stress points over so many years that it's a miracle any marriage survives. Half of this year's Christmas stories have to do with marriage, most of them tackling such related subjects as alienation, separation, misunderstandings, divorce, reconciliation, and, of course, love. But with all these roadblocks barring the way to a marriage that lasts a lifetime (half of all marriages end in divorce), there are solutions to almost every problem. Kathleen Norris puts it this way: Marriage is a job. Happiness or unhappiness has nothing to do with it. There was never a marriage that could not be made a success, nor a marriage that could not have ended in bitterness and failure.