Create Traditions with Reading: Christmas Stories

I love Christmas time.  It is a month long celebration as far as I am concerned and……I am all for celebrating.  Here are some great ways to spread the Christmas fever and create memories.  At the Norton household we have a tradition of reading a book lying around the tree on Christmas eve.  It is a strange tradition that we love.  Here are some of our favorite Christmas Story books.  We sing songs, watch movies, attend parties, and we read. Here is a list of heartwarming and endearing Christmas stories create traditions and memories with your little men and princesses this year at Christmas time.

(If you are in the mood to make a bigger holiday impact read to residents of a local nursing home or children’s hospital, hospice patients or area schools and homeless shelters. Getting children involved is a great way to start a family Christmas tradition and put a smile on less fortunate faces.)

• ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore – Also known as “A Visit from St. Nicholas”, it is one of the most popular poems of the Christmas season, it tells of a man’s surprise on Christmas Eve when he encounters the red-suited icon in the flesh. It is a must read to the family on Christmas Eve.

• The Nutcracker – We have all heard of the ballet of the same name by Tchaikovsky. It is the story of a little girl and a nutcracker that turns into a prince. He has to fight the three-headed rat king in order to save the little girl. See the play if you can and definitely read the story.

• The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry – Two lovers who want to give the perfect gift to each other sacrifice their most precious belongings to make the other happy. It is a funny story of love and irony.

• The Nativity – This would be the story of the birth of Jesus.  Mary and Joseph journey to Bethlehem where she reaches her time to give birth to the Christ child. It is after all the reason for the season.

• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens – This story was originally written as a ghost story but turned out to be a better lesson of the meaning of Christmas. Ebenezer Scrooge has developed a cold heart over the years that resulted in bitter loneliness until he is given a great gift by his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley.

• The Polar Express – Remember the first time you read this Christmas Story?  I wonder if we all can hear the jingle bell ringing this year.  Do you believe?

All of these stories are available at your local library and Amazon.com including many other options.

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