We are rather feeling the Christmas spirit, and our Gentle Readers might not realize it, but Jane Austen mentions Christmas in each of her novels. In that spirit, we link to a couple of Christmas stories inspired by Jane Austen’s novels, and, in today’s case, by other classic Christmas works.

First, Alexa Adams, author of First Impressions, a Tale of Less Pride and Prejudice, wrote a P&P-flavored homage to O. Henry’s gorgeous short story, “The Gift of the Magi,” and posted it on her blog. Check it out!

We also have an effort of our own, which is probably familiar to those who have known us (in an online way) for some years. The story is inspired by Northanger Abbey and the holiday film “The Bishop’s Wife.” Hey, the bishop is named Henry and has a big dog, what did you expect us to do? We did a little gender switching and stole all the best lines, and came up with “The Rector’s Wife” (with apologies to Joanna Trollope).

We’ll post a couple of other holiday-flavored Austenesque stories over the next few days, so stay tuned!