Wanderings – The stories are one of the best parts of the season

Christmas stories are one of the best parts of the holidays. Yes, I like being with family, presents, and all the trimmings. I also like the stories that are about the holidays. Some stories are classics, while others are mildly obscure or forgotten from storybooks long since out of publication. Christmas stories are, in a way, like comfort food for your soul. Here are some of my favourites.

There are two stories that are tied as my absolute all-time favourites. It is impossible to pick one or the other. Both are stories that I read to our kids every year when they were young, and I still read these every year to get into the holiday spirit. The stories? Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, and O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi. Both are well known to readers. Even if you’ve never read the original stories, there are many modern adaptations that permeate the cultural record that goes with this time of year.

As a kid, I first learned of The Gift of the Magi from an after-school re-run of the TV show Alice (Season Four, Mel the Magi). The story features Jim and Della, a young couple starting out, neither with much money but wanting to buy the best gift for each other. Through the best intentions, each made a sacrifice for the other, which became a fitting irony for the season.

A great TV version of this is Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas. For a funny version, Google the Saturday Night Live skit featuring the late Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks — it’s a very New York adaptation.

The first time I saw A Christmas Carol was when I was watching old movies on Sunday afternoons that were broadcast on Watertown’s PBS station. Alastair Sim’s portrayal of Ebenezer Scrooge is the prototype for the character. I am also fond of the versions that featured Scrooge McDuck and Patrick Stewart in that role.

Another story that is a favourite, but less well known as a Christmas story is The Shepherd by Frederick Forsyth. Forsyth was a British author who wrote many of the best Cold War spy novels. The Shepherd is not one of his most well-known stories, unless you listen to As It Happens on CBC, where for nearly 50 years, a recorded reading of the story by Alan Maitland (Fireside Al) is played.

The Shepherd tells the story of a Royal Air Force pilot flying back to England from Europe. His radio dies, and the instruments in his plane, a De Havilland Vampire (cool plane too) go haywire. Alone in the night and fog, another plane arrives and guides him to safety. But there is a mystery as to who really guided the pilot.

Back to Alan Maitland for a minute, there is a great book called Favourite Christmas Stories from Fireside Al that was published in 1995. It features many of the stories that he narrated. It’s great for this season.

One lesser-known story I discovered was when downloading Christmas stories through my e-reader years ago. Project Gutenberg is a great repository of old books that the copyright has expired and have been digitized for people to read. One of those turn-of-the-century compendiums contained a story that always stuck with me, The Boy with the Box by Mary Griggs Van Voorhis.

That story features Tom Reynolds, who was given money to buy a new pair of skates. Originally, he was to buy the newest and best skates, which he wanted to show off. Seeing what a friend does to help make sure his sisters have a great Christmas, Tom decides to give his friend a gift instead. I had long forgotten the name of the story, as the author is not well known. Thanks to the power of a well-written prompt in an AI tool (so those can be useful sometimes), I was able to find the story’s title as the e-reader that had it has long since hit the recycling bin.

The stories—whether read, narrated, or watched on a screen—are a great way to connect with the spirit of the season. For me, it is one of the best parts of Christmas.

This column was first published in the December 24, 2025 print edition of the Morrisburg Leader. Merry Christmas everyone!