The Santa-Land Diaries by David Sedaris. Read by the Author on NPR

Every one of us who came from small town America to New York City on the cusp of adulthood ready to start their life has a story to tell. I have mine. But this story, about David Sedaris' experience coming to NYC during the Christmas season to have a life as a writer, is one of my favorites. It's certainly one of the funniest. Although years later I had read a number of collections of his stories and attended one of Sedaris' readings in person, this was my first encounter. I heard the first broadcast of this quite by accident one morning on NPR. The following year, I was ready to record it off the air when it was rebroadcast. This story was what began his public career and for many years it was yet another tradition on NPR. Sedaris captures so much of what it was like to find oneself in New York for the first time and be in the midst of all those things you grew up reading about.