The Absolute Best Little Book of Christmas Stories for Everyone

Hello! Don’t you just love Christmas? I do, too!

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But while there are many Christmas story compilations in circulation, I could not  find one that pays homage to the Savior more than Santa Claus.  

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Too much attention to Santa, mere hype, or even “feel good” atmosphere (all of which piggybacks on the birth of the Savior, for none of it would exist if he had not come as a man) just rankles me.

Christmas is first and foremost the celebration of Emmanuel, “God With Us” and therefore too important to trivialize it so.

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The truth is, the world does its level best to ignore the reality of who Christ is, fully man and fully God, yet it nevertheless seeks to own Christmas joy and cheer that is only possible—truly, only plausible—because of Him.

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I don’t mean to detract from the fun of Christmas. Winter wonderland, stockings by the fireplace, candy canes and mistletoe--I love all that stuff, too. And my collection includes plenty of it. 

But all too often in Christmas story books, there is a stark absence of the real reason we celebrate. And this feels ingenuous, even wrong. That's why, nestled among the stories, you'll find poems and hymns that celebrate the Savior. 

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So, though some of the stories in my collection do not give a great deal of homage, directly, to God the Son, they share the belief that Christmas is a time of goodwill when the very best that is in a man (or woman) should and must conquer what is not good and best in him.

Without the power of “God-With-Us” on earth, Jesus, this belief would be largely in vain, even foolish. Yet it persists. At its root, this is evidence of God’s presence and influence--even if He is largely ignored!  

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Thus,  you’ll find stories here where the human spirit rises to the occasion of becoming better than it was, better than it is used to being, solely because it is the time when Christ came, our ultimate example of peace and goodwill.  

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No other time of year brings about such expectations, make what you will of the Nativity—no other time of year is memorialized in literature as Christmas. And this is because no other time of year reminds us so well of the coming of Christ, the mediator between God and man, the Prince of Peace.

And because His coming truly does mean “Joy to the World,” there are not only reverent entries but light-hearted ones (yes, fun!)  in these pages. 

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May each selection help memorialize in your heart the reality of what the Savior brought to earth when God sent his Son to Bethlehem. Not a season for presents and feasting only—but one which savors the power of God revealed in Christ, the power of regeneration for men’s hearts.

His birth enables our rebirth.

Warmest Christmas blessings!

Linore Rose Burkard

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