It’s the end of the year! Can you believe it?

December in my mind means holidays and thinking about the new year. I find this time to be a great opportunity to reflect on what’s coming in the new year and all that’s happened over the past year. In the spirit of the holidays, I want to share books about family (found or otherwise), holidays, and the transition to a new year.

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Since the end of the year is often all about the holidays (at least in the western world), I knew I wanted to share some Christmas classics.

Holiday classics are older books (duh) that are either centred around or take place within the holidays.

These are books that are often read around the holidays, like the story A Christmas Carol, which is such a classic that there’s even a muppet version of the story.

Some of these you may not know the history around or may not realize how old they are, like the poem The Night Before Christmas (1823!). But likely you’ve heard of a version of it before, if you grew up celebrating Christmas.

I do have to note that these are all Christmas classics, and don’t highlight other holidays. I know this is limited, but it’s also what I’m most familiar with. I want to start with this, and as I learn more about other holiday classics, I’ll share those too.

There are so many holidays celebrated around this time of year, I’d love to know what kind of classic stories are told or read around the holiday you celebrate.

Five Christmas classics to enjoy the holidays

Here’s a list of five Christmas classics to enjoy the holidays.

1. The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore (1823)
2. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1843)
3. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (1868)
4. The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry (1905)
5. Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien (1976)

Keep reading to find out more about each one. I’ve listed them in order of when they were published.

The Night Before Christmas (1823)

Original title: A Visit from St. Nicholas
by Clement Clarke Moore

This poem first appeared in a newspaper in Troy, New York, USA, on December 23, 1823, as “A Visit From St. Nicholas”. No one claimed authorship until 13 years later. Clement Clarke Moore, a professor and poet, said that he wrote the piece for his children. Unbeknownst to him, his housekeeper had sent it to the newspaper to be published. However, the family of Henry Livingston Jr. contended that their father had been reciting “A Visit from St. Nicholas” for 15 years prior to publication. Regardless of the true author, the poem is now a Christmas classic.

When Father Mouse is awakened on Christmas Eve by a clatter outside his window, he catches a glimpse of the one and only Santa Claus! Father Mouse can hardly believe his eyes as he watches St. Nick come down the chimney with a pack full of toys. In this amusing twist on the classic poem by Clement C. Moore, Daniel Kirk reimagines the story from a fresh perspective—and readers of Kirk’s Library Mouse series may discover a familiar friend, too!

Links:

• You can find out more on:
  • Goodreads
  • Storygraph
  • Poetry Foundation
  • Wikipedia
    • On the author
    • About the poem
• You can buy the book here on Amazon.
• Access the book for free here on Project Gutenberg.

A Christmas Carol (1843)

by Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens. It was first published by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843. It tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation resulting from a supernatural visit by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Yet to Come.

The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. The book was written and published in early Victorian era Britain, a period when there was strong nostalgia for old Christmas traditions together with the introduction of new customs, such as Christmas trees and greeting cards. Dickens’ sources for the tale appear to be many and varied, but are, principally, the humiliating experiences of his childhood, his sympathy for the poor, and various Christmas stories and fairy tales.

Links:

• You can find out more on:
  • Goodreads
  • Storygraph
  • Author’s Website
  • Wikipedia
    • On the author
    • About the book
• You can buy the book here on Amazon.
• Access the book for free here on Project Gutenberg.

Little Women (1868)

by Louisa May Alcott

The lives and adventures of the four March sisters–Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy–are set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century New England while their father is off fighting in the Civil War.

Links:

• You can find out more on:
  • Goodreads
  • Storygraph
  • Author’s Website
  • Wikipedia
    • On the author
    • About the book
• You can buy the book here on Amazon.
• Access the book for free here on Project Gutenberg.

The Gift of the Magi (1905)

by O. Henry

O. Henry’s classic tale of the wisest gifts of Christmas is itself a gift to share and treasure.

One dollar and eighty-seven cents is all the money Della has in the world to buy her beloved husband a Christmas present. But all she has left to sell is her one greatest treasure–her long, beautiful brown hair. A simple tale about the rewards of unselfish love.

Links:

• You can find out more on:
  • Goodreads
  • Storygraph
  • Wikipedia
    • On the author
    • About the story
• You can buy the book here on Amazon.
• Access the book for free here on Project Gutenberg.

Letters from Father Christmas (1976)

by J.R.R. Tolkien

Can you imagine writing to Father Christmas and actually getting a reply?

For more than twenty years, the children of J.R.R. Tolkien received letters from the North Pole – from Father Christmas himself! They told wonderful stories of mischief and disaster, adventures, and battles: how the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place, how the accident-prone Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and fell through the roof of Father Christmas’s house, and many others.

Links:

• You can find out more on:
  • Goodreads
  • Storygraph
  • Author’s Website
  • Wikipedia
    • On the author
    • About the book
• You can buy the book here on Amazon.

Final thoughts

I hope you found something of interest in this list of books.

I’m always looking for more suggestions of books to read. I’d love to know which books you love or that you would recommend. Let me know in a comment below!

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of it?

I’d love to hear your thoughts in a comment below.