Christmas StoriesA Christmas story does not need to be true to be a great story. But all true Christmas stories are the greatest.

Not a Happy Christmas
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Not a Happy Christmas

In 1944, Christmas was celebrated for the sixth time since the Second World War had broken out on September 1, 1939. Men who often shared the same religious background fought each other to the death in sharp contrast with the old Christmas…
Charles Dickens
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The Tears of Charles Dickens

It is said the tears of Charles Dickens were shed as he wrote A Christmas Carol. During a brief period in the fall of 1843 Dickens would take late-night strolls on the streets of London as he mulled the story he was creating over and over in…
The House of Seven Santas
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The House of Seven Santas

Editor's Note: On December 1st, 2017 seven Christmas podcasters came together to share the 1912 short story The House of Seven Santas. MyMerryChristmas.com participated by providing the concluding segment of the story as can be heard via the…
Jacob Marley
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Jacob Marley and Me

(Editors Note: This guest blogger wishes to remain anonymous. Over a period of three weeks of July 2017 I met with her by phone as she told me her story and explained how she wanted it told. It has been through many revisions. This is a true…
Christmas Traditions
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My Private Christmas

The presents are all unwrapped. Santa’s stockings are emptied. Signs of yet another great Christmas celebration are everywhere. And my husband and children are asleep. The lights on the tree still shine and this is my time for my private Christmas.…
Christmas
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Lessons from a Christmas with No Money

The best Christmas we ever had was the Christmas when we had nothing. A series of events during a difficult year led to that best Christmas. In early April I was diagnosed with breast cancer. A rush of doctor visits, a surgery, and months…
Mr. Dog's Christmas

Mr. Dog’s Christmas at Hollow Tree Inn

As a boy one of my secret adventures was to scour the bookshelves at my grandmother’s house for books I could not find anywhere else. Grandma and I were a match made in heaven – I was a bookworm and she was a school teacher. I read…
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Reading Dickens

Everyone knows the story of A Christmas Carol backwards and forwards. Pick a version by decade and you're bound to find one you love. Everyone can claim to have seen a big or a small screen version of it. But have you ever read it? I…
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The Halifax Christmas Disaster of 1917

By B. Francis Morlan Editor's Note: Every December the City of Halifax, Nova Scotia sends a Christmas tree to the City of Boston, Massachusetts. This story explains how that came about. December of 1917 was a time when the world was in…

The Birds’ Christmas Carol

Contributed by LoiS-sez Note: This is actually the first chapter in the book by the title of The Birds' Christmas Carol by Kate Douglas Wiggin in 1886, but it's both an explanation of the book's title and a wonderful Christmas story...especially…

The Mistletoe Bough

Contributed by LoiS-sez This is actually a ballad with lyrics by Thomas Haynes Bayly. I've never been able to find the music by Sir Henry Bishop, but I use the refrain for my own re-telling as it's said to be based on a traditional legend.…

A Great Tree

Contributed by Merry Carey Here is a fine old Christmas story from 1914 about Calliope Marsh, a woman determined to gather her entire neighborhood under one Christmas tree. A Great Tree From Neighborhood Stories by Zona Gale (1914) I…

A Christmas Tree for Cats

Contributed by LoiS-sez Note: Helen Hunt Jackson is a 19th century author is best known for Ramona, but her other writing often included cats including this lovely tale written in 1876. When I was a little girl, I knew two old maids who…

Book Review: Good King Wenceslas

By James Keefe If you're like most people chances are you have heard the annual holiday reference to Good King Wenceslas but you have never quite understood his story or what it has to do with Christmas. Out now from Deseret Book.com…

A Forgotten Classic: The Christmas Angel

Contributed by Merry Carey This little book is a forgotten gem of Christmas literature. When it was published in 1910, Living Age magazine reviewed the book by saying, “Not since Charles Dickens laid down his pen forever has there been…