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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the denomination of the church where Jim Timothy is speaking?

2. Where does the mother perform surgery on her own son, according to Jim Timothy?

3. What was Jim Timothy's show about rednecks called?

4. How much does the narrator of "Christmas Means Giving" spend on a pair of sandals that don't fit him?

5. How much time does Jim Timothy give the congregation to take him up on his offer?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Thaddeus Bristol see as the flaws in "A Reindeer's Gift" at Scottsfield Elementary?

2. What is Thaddeus Bristol's complaint about the performance at Sacred Heart Elementary?

3. Whose performance receives the only compliment from Thaddeus Bristol?

4. Who is Jim Timothy?

5. What has been the trajectory of Jim Timothy's career?

6. How does Thaddeus Bristol rate Becky Michaels as a director?

7. How does the narrator describe his feelings on the last Christmas described in "Christmas Means Giving"?

8. What do the Cottingham's and then narrator give to the beggar starting on the next Thanksgiving?

9. What does Thaddeus Bristol see as the irony in the Christmas pageants he critiques?

10. Why can't Jim Timothy contact the women in the church who performed the miraculous surgery?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the impact of the setting has in each story for creating the mood and context of the narrative.

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the theme of the of the individual versus society and how it resonates throughout the stories in "Holidays on Ice."

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the characters of The Walrus and the Santa who never goes out of character in the story "SantaLand Diaries." How do these characters represent the paradox of the commercial Christmas?

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