Summary

In “The Night Before Christmas,” a woman named Dona Maria tells her husband she wants to buy Christmas presents for their three children. The children have asked why they never receive toys for Christmas. Their father and a man named Don Chon always bring fruit and nuts but never toys. When one of the children says Santa doesn’t bring gifts because they haven’t been good, Dona Maria becomes determined to buy presents for them. Her husband works long hours and they need to save as much as possible to prepare for their annual trip north, but he leaves her some money one morning and she plans to go downtown. She never leaves the house alone and is terrified of crowds.

She manages to make her way downtown but is almost immediately disoriented and terrified. She chooses a couple of...