1. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge’s ideological, ethical, and emotional transformation after the supernatural visitations of Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present, and Yet to Come.
2. A Letter From Santa Claus – Mark Twain
His elder daughter, Suzy Clemens, was born in Elmira, New York, and lived a short life, dying at the age of 23 from meningitis. In childhood, Suzy often had poor health, similar to her mother. At 13, she wrote a biography of her father, which was included as par of Twain’s Chapters From My Autobiography. Mark Twain wrote a letter to his daughter, which he sent from Santa Claus, during one of her childhood illnesses.
3. Papa Panov’s Special Christmas – Leo Tolstoy
This is a very thoughtful story, based on the Bible text ‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me water’ which Jesus used to make us understand how we should serve him by serving each other. The story of Papa Panov is an excellent way to introduce young children to the principles of kindness.
4. The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
It is the seventh story of 12 in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The plot revolves around a rare blue carbuncle (a type of semi precious stone) going missing. Watson visits Holmes at Christmas time and finds him contemplating a battered old hat, brought to him by the commissionaire Peterson after the hat and a Christmas goose had been dropped by a man in a scuffle with some street ruffians. Peterson takes the goose home to eat it, but comes back later with the carbuncle.
5. Christmas Day in the Morning – Pearl S. Buck
A heartwarming story about sacrifice and the spirit of giving. In Christmas Day in the Morning, Buck has captured the spirit of Christmas in this elegant, heartwarming story about a boy’s gift of love.
6. The Snowman – Raymond Briggs
The story is told through picture, action and music. A groundbreaking publication depicting the birth and development of a beautiful but fragile friendship between a young boy, James, and the Snowman he has built in his back garden.
7. A Kidnapped Santa Claus – L. Frank Baum
Christmas-themed short story written by L. Frank Baum. It is a continuation of the story set forth in The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, telling how Santa Claus was kidnapped by ‘Daemons’ in a plan to make children unhappy. It has been called one of Baum’s most beautiful stories and constitutes an influential contribution to the mythology of Christmas.
8. The Holy Night – Selma Lagerlof
One cold winter’s night, a cruel and hard-hearted shepherd is amazed by some strange happenings. A man comes looking for wood for a fire to warm his wife and newborn baby, and following the man back to his cold grotto, the shepherd discovers the true spirit of Christmas.
9. The Christmas Rose – Lizzie Deas
On a cold December night, everybody was coming to see their new Savior and brought Him all kinds of gifts and presents. A shepherd maiden had also come to see the Christ Child but she was very poor and had nothing to offer the child. An angel took pity on her and gently brushed aside the snow at her feet, from where a beautiful cluster of waxen white winter roses sprang up with pink tipped petals. He softly whispered to her that these Christmas roses are more valuable than any myrrh, frankincense or gold for they are pure and made of love.
10. The Nutcracker and The Mouse King – E.T.A Hoffman
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King is a story written in 1816 by E. T. A. Hoffmann in which young Marie Stahlbaum’s favourite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, comes alive and, after defeating the evil Mouse King in battle, whisks her away to a magical kingdom populated by dolls.
Source: www.osr.org
