Christmas Literature Favorites ~ Part 1

Welcome back! Today’s article is about my favorite Christmas stories and poems. Hopefully, you will be able to read some of these stories on your spare time. Next week’s article will be posted on Christmas Eve (Sunday) instead of on Christmas (Monday) because I will be busy opening presents (obviously 😊). Next week’s article will be the last article of 2017. A lot of people say that time moves fast, but when I think more about it I realize that time moves really slowly for me. I’ll be ready for 2018 once Christmas 2017 has passed. But before we get too far ahead, here’s today’s article.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

This is a very classic Christmas story, and I have begun to read it in its entirety this December. Basically, the story is about Ebenezer Scrooge, a cynical miser, who discovers the true spirit of Christmas through an interesting presentation of his life. Charles Dickens is a talented author, and I think he did such a great job with the theme of this story: the spirit of Christmas is far more important than money or business. But the reason the spirit of Christmas (love, joy, and peace) is much more important is because it is not temporal like anything we could gave on this earth. In Matthew 24:35, Jesus says, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” This novel is a good example of the writing of this era; it has more descriptions and dialogue than action. Also, don’t think that any of the movies do justice to the book. They are pretty accurate, but reading the book explains the thoughts that the author wants to share with the readers.

“Christmas Day in the Morning” by Pearl S. Buck

This is the sweetest short story I have ever read. Nobel Prize winner Pearl S. Buck is the author of this story. This story is about a man who recalls a Christmas present he gave to his father when he was younger. The Christmas present wasn’t a material gift; it was an action. He woke up early and did all of the farm work so his father could watch them see the Christmas tree for the first time. As he looks back, he realizes that the expensive gift he is going to give his estranged wife won’t mean more than an action would. He decides to write her a note as well.

This is a great story about love and sums up the fact that gifts from the heart no matter how meager could mean so much more than the most expensive gifts that have no heart in them. At this point, all I can say is: Go read the story!

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
and wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
 The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
 "There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
 "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men."

Most people know this poem as a song, but it originally was a poem written by my favorite poet, Longfellow. Longfellow wrote this poem because he had experienced much grief in his life. Some indirect causes include the death of his infant child and the accidental death of his wife. His wife’s dress caught on fire, and he was badly injured trying to save her. Then his oldest son was paralyzed in the Civil War (Stanza 4 mentions the Civil War).

Longfellow is a Fireside poet. The Fireside poets are characterized by their poems reflecting lessons and circumstances in life and a moral response towards them. Many of Longfellow’s poems have excellent themes and lessons, and many of my favorite poems are by Longfellow. Many of his poems are like the Psalms; they began with an incident and end with a confidence that things will become better or they began with an example and end with a summary of the lesson learned. But he is a very talented poet in both his narrative poems and lyric poems.

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I have many other favorite poems (including “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” by Robert Frost), but this was all that would fit in my article. Today’s quote says that what we may call the “Magic of Christmas” is just the “Miracle of Christmas.”