Our Dispatches contributors were kind enough to share some thoughts on what stories are likely to be important in 2022 as we cross off, in some relief, the concluding days of 2021.

In an inversion of the typical Yuletide tale, characters who have much less than the McCallisters generously provide them with assistance.

I wanted children to hear the story of the nativity through the eyes of a child, not the experience of an adult. And so the character of Leah began to take flight in my imagination; I wanted my young readers to see the first Christmas through her eyes.

Christmas is a season of blessing. So do not put away the carols (or the lights) until you have to.

A Reflection for the Thursday of the Fourth Week of Advent

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is the Gospel transposed onto celluloid. The message is the same in both.

Do the new restrictions on the celebration of the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass increase our unity? Or do they sacrifice unity for uniformity?

The Vatican has reaffirmed its support of Covid-19 vaccines with both the head of the Pontifical Academy for Life and a Holy See communique reiterating Pope Francis’ insistence that getting inoculated is “an act of love.”

“Humility is the only way that leads us to God.”

Anne Rice's lush fantasy fiction reflected the lifelong influences of religion and spirituality in her life.

I was one of thousands of disconnected people working in the background, in order to deliver packages that are supposed to make us feel somehow more connected.

Since chef Fadi Kattan was a child getting underfoot in his grandmother’s kitchen, the preparation and communal eating of the burbara pudding has been a pre-Christmas symbol of the coming of the holiday on the Palestinian West Bank.

This Christmas season brought a new trend: arresting the Grinch.

“Stories of a Generation With Pope Francis” showcases stories from people over 70 from all quarters of the globe, including the pontiff himself, as they impart their life experiences to youthful filmmakers.

A Reflection for the Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent

John Updike, long one of the nation's finest novelists and short story writers, also wrote extensively about the Christian imagination (and once on his misgivings about Santa Claus).

Recent edicts and explanations of edicts out of Rome have ignited a familiarly unpleasant conflict in the U.S. church. And yet, though this will infuriate a vocal minority of my fellow Catholics, I just don’t get the brouhaha over the traditional Latin Mass.

Some derided the art as contemptuous of God and sacrilegious. What did artist Kelly Latimore intend to convey with the image? Is the picture meant to be a deification of George Floyd?

“Silent Night” is a song that seems to inspire the imagination in so many ways.

Our return to an in-person celebration of the birth of Jesus is also an opportunity to think about how we have done Christmas in the past—and perhaps even make some adjustments.