The days between Christmas and New Year’s are full of memories–memories that settle down on the couch like a flock of house guests waiting to be served. It is wonderful to see them again, and they are entertaining for a while, but by the end of the week, we’re ready for them to leave, and they do, the whole weight of the past year falling off our shoulders when the clock strikes twelve. This week, Selected Shorts has four great stories to help you navigate your way from the 25th to the 31st: Something to make you laugh with “The Night the Ghost Got In,” by James Thurber, performed by our own Isaiah Sheffer. A tale of bad luck turning good with “Examining the Evidence,” by Alice Hoffman, performed by Joanna Gleason. An angel who carries away aches and pains in “It Had Wings,” by Allan Gurganus, performed by Marian Seldes. And a love story full of second chances in “Secondhand Man,” by Rita Dove, performed by Audra McDonald. Listen in by podcast or on your local public radio station. Here’s to angels and second chances. I’ll see you all in 2012.