A Christmas Carol is a novella by Charles Dickens that was originally published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. The narrative of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come, is told in A Christmas Carol. Scrooge is turned into a nicer, gentler guy as a result of their visits.

Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol at a time when the British were examining and re-evaluating old Christmas traditions like carols as well as emerging ones like Christmas cards and Christmas trees. He was influenced by his own childhood memories as well as the Christmas stories of other authors such as Washington Irving and Douglas Jerrold. Dickens had previously written three Christmas stories and was inspired to write the novella after visiting the Field Lane Ragged School, one of several institutions for London's street children. The story's main themes are the treatment of the poor and the ability of a selfish man to redeem himself by transforming into a more sympathetic character.

The spirit of the mid-Victorian revival of the Christmas holiday was captured in A Christmas Carol. Dickens recognized the modern Western Christmas observance's influence and later inspired several aspects of Christmas, including family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games, and a festive generosity of spirit.

Detailed information:

Author: Charles Dickens

Published: December 17, 1843

Genre: Classics, fiction, holiday

Link to read: goodreads.com/book/show/5326.A_Christmas_Carol

A Child's Christmas in Wales is a work of prose written by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas and recorded in 1952. The composition, which evolved from an earlier piece he wrote for BBC Radio, is an anecdotal memory of a Christmas from the perspective of a little child, depicting a nostalgic and simpler time. It is one of Thomas' most well-known pieces. A Child's Christmas in Wales has a lot going for it. Thomas's language is a love pat to the ear in and of itself. His description of a boy playing with friends in the streets of a small town before going home to eat Christmas dinner with predictable relatives (but unexpected events) and the terrifying end to his day never fails to satisfy.

A Child's Christmas in Wales, like his poetry, lacks a tight narrative structure and instead employs descriptive passages in a fictionalized autobiographical style, designed to create an emotive sense of the nostalgia Thomas is attempting to evoke, recalling a Christmas from the author's perspective as a young boy. Thomas looks for a sentimental belief in Christmases gone by— "It was snowing outside. It always snowed at Christmas" - expanding on his beautiful childhood recollection by characterizing the snow as nicer and more thrilling than the snow he experienced as an adult. The dissertation illustrates how childhood memories are enlarged through youthful interpretation using exaggerated characters for comedic effect.

Detailed information:
Author: Dylan Thomas
Published: 1952
Genre: Holiday, poetry, classics, fiction, children
Link to read: goodreads.com/book/show/563820

O. Henry's short story "The Gift of the Magi" was originally published in 1905. The plot revolves around a young husband and wife who face the task of buying covert Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. It has been popular for adaptation as a romantic narrative with a moral message about gift-giving, particularly for Christmas presentations. The narrative and its surprising finale are well known; the ending is often regarded as an example of humorous irony. The narrative was purportedly written in New York City at Pete's Tavern on Irving Place.

Della Young realizes on Christmas Eve that she only has $1.87 to buy a present for her husband Jim. She goes to a local hairdresser, Madame Sofronie, who purchases Della's long hair for $20. Della then spends the money on Jim's platinum pocket watch chain. Della tells Jim when he gets home from work that she sold her hair to buy him the necklace. Jim presents Della with a set of beautiful combs that she will be unable to use until her hair comes back. Della hands Jim the watch chain, and he explains that he sold the watch to get the combs. While the presents Jim and Della gave each other cannot be utilized, they understand how far they went to express one other their love and how priceless that love actually is. The storyteller concludes the narrative by connecting these sacrificial gifts of love to those of the biblical Magi.

Detailed information:
Author: O. Henry
Published: December 10, 1905
Genre: Short story
Link to read: goodreads.com/book/show/143534

Truman Capote wrote the short tale "A Christmas Memory". Originally published in Mademoiselle magazine in December 1956, it was reproduced in Truman Capote's Selected Writings in 1963. Random House released it as a standalone hardcover edition in 1966, and it has since been reprinted in other editions and anthologies.

The largely autobiographical story, set in the 1930s, depicts a period in the lives of the narrator, a seven-year-old boy, and an elderly woman who is his distant cousin and best friend. The woman was Nanny Faulk, the elder sister of Capote's errant parents, who had abandoned him as a child. Nanny, sometimes known as Sook, was assumed to be developmentally retarded. "I had an elderly relative, the woman in my tale 'A Christmas Memory', who was a genius", Capote later wrote to a friend. The evocative story focuses on country life, friendship, and the joy of giving during the Christmas season, while also touching on loneliness and loss delicately but powerfully. "A Christmas Memory", now a holiday classic, has been televised, recorded, filmed, and produced several times in award-winning productions.

Detailed information:
Author: Truman Capote
Published: 1956
Genre: Holiday, short stories, classics, fiction
Link to read: goodreads.com/book/show/53246185

The Wind in the Willows is a children's novel written by Kenneth Grahame that was originally published in 1908. The stories follow the exploits of numerous animal friends and neighbors in the English countryside, most notably Mole, Rat, Toad, and Badger. Despite the fact that the animals communicate, philosophize, and behave like humans, each creature has its own particular animal behaviors. The narrative begins when Mole decides to go to the riverside instead of doing his spring cleaning one morning. There he meets Rat, a water rat, and they spend the spring and summer together. One day, they pay a visit to the irrepressible, generous, and arrogant Mr. Toad, proprietor of Toad Hall, who has a lot of money but not much intelligence.

Toad is prone to fads, and Mole and Rat accompany him on a horse-drawn caravan tour, until a rushing automobile frightens the horse and smashes the caravan. The automobile has captured Toad's attention. Later, Mole and Rat travel to the Wild Wood to see the courteous and responsible Badger, to whom they report that Toad has purchased and broken numerous autos. The three pals try an intervention to stop Toad from purchasing and damaging additional automobiles. Toad escapes despite their efforts to restrain him, and when he comes upon an unsecured automobile, he snatches it. He is eventually apprehended and imprisoned. However, the jailer's daughter feels sorry for him and assists him in escaping.

Toad is finally rescued by Rat after many more escapades. In his absence, weasels and stoats had taken over Toad Hall, but Badger discovers that Toad Hall has a hidden tunnel entrance, and the intruders are expelled in a final fight followed by a joyous supper. Between Toad's adventures, the other three main characters have quieter experiences, most notably in the lyrical chapters "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn", in which the god Pan appears unnamed to help Mole and Rat find Otter's lost child, and "Wayfarers All", in which Rat is nearly hypnotized by tales told by a sea rat.

Detailed information:
Author: Kenneth Grahame
Published: 1908
Genre: Classics, fiction, childrens, fantasy
Link to read: gutenberg.org/ebooks/289

"The Little Match Girl" is a literary fairy tale written by Hans Christian Andersen, a Danish poet and novelist. The novella, about the dreams and hopes of a dying boy, was originally published in 1845. It has been adapted for a variety of platforms, including animation, live-action, and virtual reality films, as well as television musicals.

A impoverished little girl, shivering and barefoot, attempts to sell matches in the street on a chilly New Year's Eve. She huddles in the alley between two homes, afraid to go home because her father would punish her for not selling any matches, and lights matches one by one to warm herself. However, passers-by ignore the girl since no one buys from her, leaving her to suffer alone in the freezing weather. She sees a sequence of reassuring pictures in the flames of the matches: the warm iron stove, the wonderful roast goose, and the enormous gorgeous Christmas tree. As each vision's match burns out, it fades away. A shooting star appears in the sky, which her late grandmother had informed her signals someone is on their way to Heaven. She sees her late grandma, the only person who ever treated her with love and care, in the flame of the next match. To keep her grandmother's vision alive for as long as possible, the child ignites the entire package of matches.

When the matches run out, the girl dies and her grandma takes her soul to Heaven. Passers-by find the girl's body with a grin on her face the next morning and express their sorrow. They are unaware of her amazing visions or how happy she is with her grandma in Heaven.

Detailed information:
Author: Hans Christian Andersen
Published: December 1, 1845
Genre: Classics, childrens, holiday, fiction
Link to read: goodreads.com/book/show/342994.The_Little_Match_Girl

Henry van Dyke's The Other Wise Man is a short book or lengthy short tale. It was first published in 1895 and has been republished several times since. The narrative adds to and expands on the account of the Biblical Magi, which is told in the New Testament's Gospel of Matthew. It narrates the story of a "fourth" wise man, Artaban, a priest of the Magi from Persia. He, like the other Magi, sees signs in the sky declaring the birth of a King among the Jews. He, too, sets out to see the newborn ruler, carrying treasures to give to the child as gifts - a sapphire, a ruby, and a "pearl of great price".

He does, however, stop along the journey to assist a dying man, making him late to meet the caravan of the other three wise men. Because he missed the caravan and cannot traverse the desert on horseback, he is forced to sell one of his valuables in order to purchase the camels and provisions needed for the journey. He then sets out on his quest, arriving in Bethlehem too late to meet the kid, whose parents had fled to Egypt. He saves a child's life at the expense of another of his treasures.

He then goes to Egypt and other nations for several years, looking for Jesus and conducting charitable deeds along the way. Artaban is still a pilgrim and seeker of light after 33 years. Artaban comes in Jerusalem just in time for Jesus' crucifixion. He uses his final possession, the pearl, to save a young woman from servitude. He is subsequently hit in the head by a falling roof tile and is ready to die, having failed to locate Jesus but doing great good via humanitarian actions. A voice informs him "Truly, I say to you, Inasmuch as thou hast done it to one of the least of these my brethren, thou hast done it to me", the Bible states. In a serene glow of ecstasy and awe, he passes away. The Other Wise Man found his King after having his valuables acknowledged.

Detailed information:
Author: Henry Van Dyke
Published: 1895
Genre: Holiday, fiction, classics, christian
Link to read: goodreads.com/book/show/1992710