"As a subject appropriate to the season, I want to tell you about a New Year's breakfast which I had when I was a little girl. What do you think it was? A slice of dry bread and an apple. This is how it happened, and it is a true story, every word." Cousin Tribulation's Story is a short story by Louisa May Alcott, and one of her most memorable Christmas stories. This tender tale tells of a humble family who decides to share their modest breakfast with another, less fortunate then them. It is a story of unity, empathy and gratitude, timeless in its scope and heart-warming in its nature. Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet. She is best known as the author of the novel Little Women (1868) and its sequels, Little Men and Jo's Boys. Alcott’s books for younger readers have attained perpetual popularity, and the more recent republication of some of her more obscure works has renewed critical interest in her adult fiction, such as A Modern Mephistopheles (1877).