Make your Christmas merrier with these Christmas stories

During our childhood, having our mother or teachers in school tell short stories on Christmas Eve has to be one of our favourite traditions. To realise the importance of festivals and several stories associated with them, such traditions need to be kept alive. The following eight tales were some of the most popular Christmas stories. If you also want to read Christmas tales to your kids, consider these stories a little gift from us-

Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
had a very shiny nose
and if you ever saw him
you would even say it glows.
All of the other reindeer
used to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Rudolph
join in any reindeer games." -Johnny Marks, songwriter

Montgomery Ward, a chain of department stores, asked Robert L. May to write Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Over 2 million kids who visited  the stores around Christmastime in 1939 received the story for free. When Johnny Marks, Robert's brother-in-law, saw the tale's fame, he  created the well-known song. The narrative took off from there, and  now we can't picture Christmas without our best friend, Rudolph.

Hans Christian Andersen wrote a fairy tale titled The Fir Tree. It relates to the story of a young tree interested in growing. The tree loses sight of how to fully enjoy the moment because it is so preoccupied with the future. This serves as a fantastic reminder for both kids and adults to enjoy the present.

The Greatest Gift
"Change me back," George pleaded. "Change me back — please. Not just for my sake but for others too. You don't know what a mess this town is in. You don't understand. I've got to get back. They need me here."
"I understand right enough," the stranger said slowly. "I just wanted to make sure you did. You had the greatest gift of all conferred upon  you — the gift of life, of being a part of this world and taking a part in it. Yet you denied that gift."
-Philip Van Doren Stern

Philip Van Doren Stern published a short story titled 'The Greatest Gift' in 1943. On Christmas Eve, George Pratt, a suicidal man, is poised to jump off a bridge. An unusual man approaches him and starts a chat with him before he can. George confesses to the man that he regrets his birth. When George returns to his hometown after being informed that his wish has been granted, he discovers that no one knows who he is. After the initial shock wears off, he understands how much he loves his life and that wasting it would be foolish.
Fun fact: This tale inspired the beloved motion picture It's a Wonderful Life.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

"Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!" ―Dr. Seuss

Even as adults, we like to read the children's book How The Grinch Stole Christmas! each year. In this story, which reveals that Christmas is a spiritual experience rather than a material one, Dr Seuss shows how adept he is at slipping profound life lessons into his stories.

The Gift of the Magi
"The magi, as you know, were wise men — wonderfully wise men — who  brought gifts to the newborn Christ-child. They were the first to give  Christmas gifts. Being wise, their gifts were doubtless wise ones. And here I have told you the story of two children who were not wise. Each  sold the most valuable thing he owned in order to buy a gift for the other. But let me speak a last word to the wise of these days: Of all  who give gifts, these two were the most wise. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are the most wise. Everywhere they are the  wise ones. They are the magi." -O. Henry

The touching short story "A Gift of the Magi" explores the personal sacrifices we are prepared to make for the people we love.

The Elves and the Shoemaker
"As soon as it was midnight, there came in two little naked dwarfs; and they sat themselves upon the shoemaker's bench, took up all the  work that was cut out, and began to ply with their little fingers,  stitching and rapping and tapping away at such a rate, that the shoemaker was all wonder, and could not take his eyes off them. And on  they went, till the job was quite done, and the shoes stood ready for use upon the table."

The Grimm brothers' timeless fairy tale, The Elves and the Shoemaker, is very well known. A lovely pair of shoes have been prepared for a  shoemaker to sell when he enters his shop one morning. He is shocked and decides to identify the person he needs to thank for assistance.

Polar Express
"Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world  are the things we can't see." -Chris Van Allsburg

A little youngster is awakened in the middle of the night by the sound of a train approaching his home. He travels to the North Pole on a  train packed with kids, where he meets Santa Claus. We also suggest watching a great movie based on this book.

Twas the night before Christmas
"Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there"

This children's Christmas rhyme is called A visit from St. Nicholas, even though it is more well known by the title "Twas The Night Before  Christmas." Reading this on Christmas Eve is a family ritual for me, as it is for many of you, I'm sure. Why not make it one if it isn't  already?