Christmas Story
The famous festival Of Christmas has motivated authors to write about the Yuletide spirit. The Christmas spirit symbolizes generosity, unselfish love, charity, and forgiveness, and this is reflected in some famous Christmas stories written by renowned authors like O.Henry, Charles Dickens, and Leo Tolstoy, etc. Take a look at some of the best Christmas stories of all time.
The story of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. During this era, Rome was a vast empire ruled by Caesar Augustus, and King Herod governed Israel
The Story of Mary and JosephIn the small village of Galilee in Nazareth, Israel, lived Mary, a young virgin who was engaged to be married to Joesph, a Jewish carpenter. An angel visited Mary in her dream, who told her she had been chosen to bear a Son of God, and his name was to be Jesus. And thus, it happened that when Mary was still engaged to Joseph, she miraculously became pregnant through the Holy Spirit. When Mary told Joesph, naturally, he felt betrayed, but an angel visited him in his dream and verified what Mary had told him to be true. He thus took Mary to be his wife despite a possible public disgrace.
Mary and Joseph leave Nazareth for Bethlehem at that time; Caesar Augustus declared that a census should be taken of every person in the entire Roman empire. And, everybody had to go to the place to which they belonged to register. As Joseph was of the line of David, he and Mary had to go to Bethlehem to register. Joseph and Mary left Nazareth for Bethlehem. Mary, who was with child, and close to the birth, rode on a donkey while Joseph walked beside her. They traveled for many days and only rested at night. When they reached Bethlehem, it was night. They looked for a place to sleep, but there were no empty rooms when they reached the inn. As they were being turned away, Joseph mentioned that his wife was with child and closed to birth. The innkeeper took pity on them and told them of some caves in the nearby hills where shepherds would stay with their cows and sheep.
Jesus is Borno Joseph, and Mary went up into the hills and found the caves. In one cave was a stable room. Joseph cleaned it and made beds of fresh hay. He found a feeding trough that he cleaned and filled with hay to use as a crib. The next night Mary gave birth to a son, and they named him Jesus, as the angel had said.
The ShepherdsWhen, the child, was born, a shining star appeared over Bethlehem that could be seen for miles around. In the fields nearby were shepherds who were tending their flocks of sheep. An angel appeared to them surrounded by bright light. The shepherds were frightened and tried to run.
"Fear Not," said the angel, "For I bring you tidings of great joy. For unto you is born this day in Bethlehem - a Saviour who is Christ the Lord."
"And this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger."
Suddenly the sky was filled with angels, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, goodwill toward men."
After the angels departed, the shepherds set out for Bethlehem. When they reached the cave, they found the stable, and inside was the child wrapped in swaddling clothes. The shepherds left, praising the Lord and soon spread the news about this miraculous child who was to be the Savior of the world.
The Three KingsAs the star shined over Bethlehem, three kings of the east saw it. They knew it was a sign, and they set off to follow the lead. There was Caspar - the young king of Tarsus, Melchior †"the king of Arabia who was a long-bearded old man, and Balthazar - the king from Ethiopia. They traveled on camels for many days over mountains, through deserts and plains always following the shining star.
When they finally arrived in Bethlehem, they found the child in the manger. The three kings bowed to the child and offered gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. They stayed the night in the cave and returned the next day to their lands to spread the news.
The Gift of the Magi: This heart-warming story of the unselfish love shared by a couple is considered to be a timeless classic and one of the best works of the author O.Henry. It is the story of a young and not a well to do a couple, Jim and Della, who had only two prized possessions, that is Jim’s golden watch and Della’s beautiful tresses. The story moves the readers by the sacrifice of the prized possessions done by the couple for each other. The story concludes with the narrator comparing the sacrificial gifts of the couple with that of Biblical Magi.
The Elves and the Shoemaker: This story is taken from the famous collection called “Grimm’s Fairy Tales.†The story revolves around a poor shoemaker and elves. Every night the shoemaker would cut out leather to make a pair of shoes the next day only to find out a beautifully crafted shoe is made to a flawless finish by someone at night. The ace quality shoes earned him a lot of money. One night to quench his curiosity, the cobbler and his wife hid behind the curtains to find out who had painstakingly made the shoes for him. Much to his surprise, he saw two naked elves toiling hard to make the shoes. He and his wife were overwhelmed, and they made clothes and shoes for the naked elves as a token of gratitude. This delighted the tiny elves, but they never came back to the workshop of the cobbler as it is believed that fairies and pixies defy clothes since they see it is as a form of bondage.
The Snowman: This short story written by Raymond Brigg is about a British boy who builds a snowman on Christmas Eve that comes alive. The story depicts the friendship between the young lad James and a Snowman and is considered to be one of the best short Christmas stories. The boy welcomes the Snowman to his house and shows him the television, running water, and a lamp. The Snowman loves James‘s pet cat but is afraid of fire. The Snowman then takes the boy to meet Santa at the North Pole.
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