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Traditions of Christmas: Stories & Movies
Dec. 21st, 2004 02:02 amThe Chistmas season has its share of regular stories that appear during this time, in books or in films. Here are my favorite 5 Christmas stories.
At #5 is Clement Clark Moore's "'Twas The Night Before Christmas". This story, written in the early 19th century, has been the basis of many of our holiday imagery of Santa and his reindeer. It's also been parodied many times. Although there's been some controversy as to the actual authorship of the poem, it hasn't been conclusively proven that Moore did not write the poem.
At #4 is O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi". This story, written in the late 19th century, has the usual O. Henry twist. A young man sells his gold watch to get a hair bow for his sweetheart, who has cut her hair short and sold her locks for a watch fob. The ultimate in gift-giving stories, as they both gave away something near and dear to them.
At #3 is Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. A miserly business owner learns the true meaning of the Christmas season through apparitions and the psychodrama they create -- Christmas Past shows Scrooge the happiness of his childhood, Christmas Present shows him the plight of his employees, and Christmas Future shows him that he will die alone, unmourned and unloved by anyone. The result is a man transformed.
( #2 and #1 are behind the cut-tag. )
At #5 is Clement Clark Moore's "'Twas The Night Before Christmas". This story, written in the early 19th century, has been the basis of many of our holiday imagery of Santa and his reindeer. It's also been parodied many times. Although there's been some controversy as to the actual authorship of the poem, it hasn't been conclusively proven that Moore did not write the poem.
At #4 is O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi". This story, written in the late 19th century, has the usual O. Henry twist. A young man sells his gold watch to get a hair bow for his sweetheart, who has cut her hair short and sold her locks for a watch fob. The ultimate in gift-giving stories, as they both gave away something near and dear to them.
At #3 is Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. A miserly business owner learns the true meaning of the Christmas season through apparitions and the psychodrama they create -- Christmas Past shows Scrooge the happiness of his childhood, Christmas Present shows him the plight of his employees, and Christmas Future shows him that he will die alone, unmourned and unloved by anyone. The result is a man transformed.
( #2 and #1 are behind the cut-tag. )
