By Marjorie Preston
‘Tis the season for holiday reading, from scary ghost stories to uplifting tales of faith, hope and charity.
Some of these stories are familiar, and some obscure—but all belong on your nice list. So curl up by the fire, pour a nice cup of cocoa, and enjoy a good old holiday readathon.
“A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens. “A Christmas Carol” began as a rant on the social injustices of 19th century London. But Dickens changed course, and in six weeks created the novella that Victorians called “a new gospel.”
As the story opens, Ebenezer Scrooge is a “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner.” But our reluctant repentant is transformed by his encounter with the spirits of Christmas past, present and future. By the end, he’s a new man—loving, giving and selfless. What a feel-good lesson for the holidays!
“A Child’s Christmas in Wales” by Dylan Thomas. In this evocative tale, the great Welsh poet describes Christmas through the eyes of a boy, for whom every snowy day is filled with wonder.
The Library of Congress praises “A Child’s Christmas” as “a near tone-poem of childhood remembrances, wintry images and vintage dreams.” In 1952, Thomas recorded a version of the work in New York City. Read this one aloud, for the lilting beauty of the language.
“Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott. “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents.” So begins Chapter 1 of Alcott’s literary classic.
In the depths of the Civil War, the March sisters anticipate a dismal holiday. Their father, an Army chaplain, is far away tending the wounded. Their careworn mother has little money for gifts or a fine repast. When the girls are surprised with a bountiful breakfast, everyone gets into the spirit, and Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy donate the feast to a poor family.
While “Little Women” is not strictly a Christmas story, the first chapter stands alone as the perfect holiday parable.
“The Greatest Gift” by Philip Van Doren Stern. If you love “It’s a Wonderful Life,” you’ll love the source material.
Author Stern self-published the story for a small readership of friends and family. According to legend, it then fell into the hands of a movie executive, who turned it into the 1946 screen classic.
Surprisingly, Frank Capra’s film version, with James Stewart as frustrated family man George Bailey and Henry Travers as the befuddled angel Clarence, was not a hit when it was first released. But it gained in stature over the years, and is now a Christmas mainstay.
“A Christmas Story” by Jean Shepherd. This nostalgic yarn takes us back to the 1940s, as young Ralphie schemes for the one gift that seems just out of reach: a Red Ryder carbine-action BB gun.
Thanks to the 1983 film, the tale has become an enduring favorite, memorable for its schoolyard skirmishes, the immortal leg lamp and of course, Chinese turkey. “A Christmas Story” originated as part of the 1966 book “In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash,” by American humorist Shepherd, who also narrated the film.
“The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry. In tough economic times, a young husband and wife sell the most valuable things they own to buy Christmas gifts for each other. She sells her long hair to a wigmaker, and he pawns his gold watch. Everyone knows the sentimental twist: she buys a chain for his watch, which he no longer owns, and he buys combs for her hair, which has been shorn. But the devoted couple looks ahead to a brighter future.
This sweetheart of a story has inspired many adaptations, including tongue-in-cheek episodes of The Simpsons and Family Guy. Once, Saturday Night Live did a parody in which Donald and Ivana Trump (Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks) sold their most cherished belongings—Mar-a-Lago and the Trump Princess yacht—to buy presents for each other.
“A Christmas Memory” by Truman Capote. Fruitcake is a holiday tradition for seven-year-old Buddy, who helps his elderly cousin bake dozens of the whisky-filled confections for friends, neighbors—and the Roosevelts!
It’s the Depression, and too poor to buy gifts for each other, the two end up exchanging hand-made paper kites. This poignant story is based on Capote’s boyhood in rural Alabama, where he was raised by older relatives including his “best friend,” cousin Sook.
Originally published in Mademoiselle magazine, “A Christmas Memory” reminds us that the humblest gifts are sometimes the most precious, if they’re given with love.
“Miracle on 34th Street” by Valentine Davies. In this case, the movie preceded the book. Both were inspired by a real-life incident, in which author Davies witnessed an encounter between a mother, a child and a man who believed he was Santa Claus.
In the fictional version, the jolly old elf puts his delusions to good use, working as Santa at Macy’s department store until skeptical grown-ups try to have him put away. All seems lost until the U.S. Postal Service becomes Kris Kringle’s unwitting ally, and the world acknowledges that yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus, as long as you believe.
“The Christmas Kid” by Pete Hamill. In this anthology, Hamill writes with aching poignancy of “that lost city of memory,” the Brooklyn of his youth. This collection of short stories begins with “The Christmas Kid”—namely Lev Augstein, a young Jewish boy orphaned by the Holocaust.
Sent to the America to live with a bachelor uncle, Lev finds a new family among the rough-and-tumble street kids of New York, who learn to accept him despite his strange accent and the numbers inscribed on his arm.
You’ll laugh and cry at “The Christmas Kid,” which is ultimately redemptive, and often warmly funny as well.
“A Visit from Saint Nicholas” by Clement Clark Moore. Moore’s famous poem created a prototype of Saint Nick that we honor to this day: a “jolly old elf” with snowy whiskers, a pack on his back, and a predilection for entering the house vertically, through the chimney.
The verse, also known as “The Night Before Christmas,” introduced those eight tiny reindeer—Dasher, Dancer, et al—and the tradition of hanging stockings for Santa to fill with goodies. First published on December 23, 1823, in the Troy, New York Sentinel, “A Visit from Saint Nicholas” has become so familiar, many of us can recite it by heart.
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” by Robert L. May. In 1939, May was a catalog copywriter for Montgomery Ward Co. when he was assigned to create a holiday coloring book.
He was stumped until a storm rolled in. Gazing out his office window at a gathering fog, he came up with the idea of Rudolph (originally Rollo, then Reginald) and his blinking beacon.
May said Rudolph was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Ugly Duckling.” Both stories remind us to look beneath the surface to see the beauty inside.
“How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by Dr. Seuss. Just thinking of this wonderful kids’ book brings to mind the 1967 animated special, narrated by the inimitable Boris Karloff, with the amazing voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft singing, “You’re a Mean One, Mister Grinch.”
Like other Dr. Suess’s stories, this one is like a spoonful of sugar: funny on the outside, with a worthy lesson tucked inside. At first the Grinch, like our old friend Scrooge, tries to steal Christmas from the less-fortunate in Whoville. But once he learns a lesson about love, he returns it to them in spades.
“Christmas Day in the Morning” by Pearl S. Buck. It’s Christmas Eve, and a farmer’s son named Rob has no gift for his father. Rob decides to show his appreciation in a practical way, by rising early to do one of the old man’s toughest chores.
This simple fable by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Good Earth” will move you with its simplicity.
“A Redbird Christmas” by Fannie Flagg. A Chicago man facing a grim diagnosis decides to spend his final days in a small Southern town called Lost River. There he finds friendship, community and hope among the quirky townspeople, and forges special bonds with a crippled girl named Patsy and an injured cardinal named Jack.
Told with Flagg’s trademark warmth and humor, this charming tale will tug at your heartstrings.
“The Christmas Tugboat” by George Matteson and Adele Ursone.This picture book is a treat for kids and grownups alike. Vividly illustrated by James E. Ransome, “The Christmas Tugboat” tells how the Rockefeller Christmas tree once traveled by tugboat to New York City.
Told from the viewpoint of the boat captain’s son, it’s ideal for sharing around your own Christmas tree.
Many years ago at Christmastime, I stopped at an historic Baltimore inn where guests took turns reading holiday stories by a blazing fire.
This season, why not start a family tradition to read aloud with loved ones? Begin with these stories, and add your own favorites. Enjoy the holidays!
Marjorie Preston is a business writer, editor, ghostwriter and compulsive reader, who gobbles up books like potato chips. For more information (and more book reviews), visit marjorieprestonwriting.com.
