Christmas Stories and Legends

This unique collection, originally published in 1913, gathers twenty Christmas stories and legends curated by Phebe A. Curtiss. Intended for schools and Sunday schools, it aims to counter commercialism by focusing on the deeper spirit of Christmas. Parents will find familiar tales, including the Nativity, alongside less common lore, such as the symbolism of 'white gifts.' The book also includes poignant, unsweetened versions of Hans Christian Andersen's 'The Little Match Girl' and 'The Fir Tree,' which offer valuable lessons on gratitude and appreciation. It provides a window into a 'great-grandfather's Christmas,' reminding families that holiday challenges are not new, but the spirit of Christmas always prevails.

Christmas Stories and Legends is a collection of tales to restore the real spirit of Christmas to the jaded world of . . . 1913. Even then, editor Phebe A. Curtiss worried children, especially, might get lost in the day's creeping commercialism. She aimed the book at schools and Sunday schools, and assembled twenty bits of Christmas lore to teach a proper observance. She includes, of course, the Nativity story, but other parts of yesterday's Christmas will be much less familiar to modern readers. The song, White Christmas, hadn't been written yet, and the expression meant something more than snow. People gave white gifts to symbolize purity. Children might have had visions of sugarplums, but the book includes the unsweetened versions of two weepers from Hans Christian Anderson: The Little Match Girl and The Fir Tree. (The tree learns too late to appreciate Christmas -- on the bonfire afterward.) And little Tom has to learn he is lucky to receive new skates for Christmas, even if they're the wrong brand. The book brings back great-grandfather's Christmas as a gift for today's worriers. Christmas always came with problems. But it always came, anyway.