Project Gutenberg 2004-07-11 Public domain in the USA. 59 Hughes, Rupert 1872 1956 Mrs. Budlong's Christmas Presents Reading ease score: 82.7 (6th grade). Easy to read. Produced by Al Haines "Mrs. Budlong's Christmas Presents" by Rupert Hughes is a humorous tale that depicts the social dynamics of a small town during the holiday season. Written in the early 20th century, the book offers a comical exploration of greed, competition, and the often ludicrous nature of gift-giving traditions. The story centers around the character of Mrs. Budlong, who has turned Christmas into an extravagant spectacle, using it as a means to showcase her social standing and manipulate her neighbors into providing her with a plethora of gifts. Throughout the narrative, Mrs. Budlong's insatiable appetite for presents leads her to devise elaborate strategies to ensure she remains the center of attention during the Christmas festivities. As her neighbors engage in a competitive frenzy to impress her, the story unveils the absurd lengths they go to in order to outdo each other. However, when Mrs. Budlong suddenly finds herself caught in her own web of expectations, the pressure builds to a comedic climax. In a desperate bid to avoid the embarrassment of unreciprocated gifts, she and her family scramble to procure presents at the last minute, resulting in a chaotic and uproarious Christmas that leaves the town in disbelief. The book masterfully satirizes the commercialization of holidays and the social rituals that accompany them, all while delivering a festive yet pointed critique of human nature. (This is an automatically generated summary.) en Christmas stories PS Text Christmas Browsing: Culture/Civilization/Society Browsing: Literature Browsing: Fiction 111711 111656 2024-10-06T05:08:01.207695 2023-10-06T06:58:16.879387 text/html text/html 111704 111649 2024-10-06T05:08:01.426748 2023-10-06T06:58:17.018383 text/html text/html 124148 2024-10-06T05:08:07.280660 application/epub+zip 124342 2024-10-06T05:08:04.493685 application/epub+zip 111962 2024-10-06T05:08:03.306710 application/epub+zip 218900 2024-10-06T05:08:09.326656 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 203989 2024-10-06T05:08:06.574665 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 176051 2022-09-06T22:58:48.596930 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 96438 96434 2024-10-06T05:08:00.954884 2023-10-06T06:58:16.712397 text/plain; charset=us-ascii text/plain 96228 2020-12-15T06:45:30 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 38532 2020-12-15T06:45:30 text/plain; charset=us-ascii application/zip 19313 2024-10-06T05:08:09.497629 application/rdf+xml 12010 2024-10-06T05:08:03.850661 image/jpeg 2867 2024-10-06T05:08:03.581679 image/jpeg 124846 2024-10-06T05:08:01.437683 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog en.wikipedia