10 Christmas tales to charm, frighten and delight kids young and old
The Christmas season has a rich tradition of classic holiday literature. And while most of us are already familiar with such well-loved Christmas tales as “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” and “A Christmas Carol,” there is a whole winter wonderland of little known or overlooked stories, poems, and essays that explore other, sometime darker, aspects of Old Saint Nick’s favorite time of year.
Here are 10 additions to the Christmas canon, filled with Elves, ghosts and Santa himself, to entertain both the young and the young at heart.
“Letters From Father Christmas” by J. R. R. Tolkien
"Letters from Father Christmas" is a collection of letters written and illustrated by J. R. R. Tolkien between 1920 and 1943 for his children. The illustrated correspondence, ostensibly from Santa Claus, was written over a 22-year period as the children grew up. In the letters, Father Christmas recaps the activities of the preceding year at the North Pole. The work offers a fascinating counterpoint to the author’s more well known works, including “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.”
“A Christmas Memory” by Truman Capote
A tale of love and friendship for readers of all ages, Capote’s autobiographical story describes the adventures of the seven-year-old narrator and his elderly distant cousin as they make presents in preparation for Christmas. One of the overriding themes of “A Christmas Memory” is how friendships are forged among social outcasts, a motif that Capote would turn to again and again in his work.
“Silent Night: The Story of the WWI Christmas Truce” by Stanley Weintraub
Weintraub recounts the improbable but true story of the 1914 WWI Christmas truce, when shelling subsided and small, lit fir trees appeared along the parapets across the 440-mile Western Front. First hand accounts tell of German and British troops laying down their arms and singing to each other across enemy lines, exchanging presents of cigarettes and plum pudding, and eating together, despite orders to keep shooting.
“The Elves and the Shoemaker” by The Brothers Grimm
A classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale about a down on his luck shoemaker who receives some unexpected help, in this case from three young elves. Dating back to 1806, “The Elves and the Shoemaker” is a story about the virtues of generosity and the rewards of hard work.
“The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus” by Frank Baum
A biography of the legendary man in the red suit by none other than the author of “The Wizard of Oz,” this book from 1902 offers an inside look at the life and times of Santa Claus. From the time he’s found as a baby in the Forest of Burzee to his early love of toy making and his final role as the immortal bearer of gifts, this book offers the inside skinny on the Jolly Old Elf.
“Amazing Peace” by Maya Angelou
In this deeply moving poem, Angelou implores humanity to embrace the peace and promise of Christmas. Read by the poet at the lighting of the National Christmas Tree at the White House on December 1, 2005, “Amazing Peace” asks how we can look “beyond complexion and see community.”
“Smee” by A.M. Burrage
Part of the great tradition of Christmas ghost stories, “Smee” recounts a game of sinister hide-and-seek played by a group of friends on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately for the group, a mysterious and menacing stranger decides to join their game, placing their fun, and their very lives, in danger.
“Dark Christmas” by Jeanette Winterson
A more recent addition to the canon of spooky Christmas fables, this 2013 story is firmly in the tradition of the old-fashioned, creepy haunted house story. "Dark Christmas" has all the hallmarks of a classic creeper: an isolated narrator alone in an old house; odd footsteps in hallways and empty rooms; a phone that refuses to work; and oddest of all, a strange Nativity scene that appears in the attic.
“The Twelve Terrors of Christmas” by John Updike and Edward Gorey
Famed illustrator Edward Gorey teamed up with novelist John Updike for this off-kilter look at Christmas traditions. The pair’s decidedly non-traditional take on the holida is sure to tickle the funny bone of even the most cynical Scrooge. Among other musings, the book asks, “A man of no plausible address, with no apparent source for his considerable wealth, comes down the chimney after midnight while decent, law-abiding citizens are snug in their beds—is this not, at the least, cause for alarm?”
"What Christmas is as We Grow Older" by Charles Dickens
Originally published in 1851, Dickens wrote this short essay after the deaths of his father and daughter. While suggesting that Christmas should be a time of gratitude and forgiveness, Dickens notes how the excitement of the holiday can curdle into bitterness in later life. Dickens writes, “Therefore, as we grow older, let us be more thankful that the circle of our Christmas associations and of the lessons that they bring, expands! Let us welcome every one of them, and summon them to take their places by the Christmas hearth.”
This article originally appeared on Sun Journal: Truman Capote and J. R. R. Tolkien among authors of Christmas stories
