It's Christmas Eve in Maine, and Miss Moody and her boarders Millie and Emery--as well as Miss Moody's pup Smittens--are all tucked into bed when out in the barnyard there arises such a clatter.

It turns out that Santa has been grounded by sick reindeer, and Christmas hangs in the balance for girls and boys all over the world. But it also turns out that Santa couldn't have picked a better yard for an emergency landing, because who's more adept than a Maine farmer at getting a broken-down machine (or sleigh) back into service.

This verbal and visual lark turns "The Night Before Christmas" into a tall tale of good old Yankee ingenuity.

In the 1980s, Douglas Coffin produced the syndicated cartoon strip "Fletcher's Landing," and for twenty years published editorial cartoons in a weekly newspaper. He has also worked as a commercial illustrator, typographer, and art director. He is a stone letter-cutter and hand carves memorials, donor walls, and building dedications. He lives in Stockton Springs, Maine.