Originally published at crisis magazine
Christmas was the beginning of the greatest tale ever told, and lesser tales have mingled with it for centuries to participate in its glory.
On this night, God became Man as singing angels gathered peasants and kings and beasts beneath a sky of dancing stars. Every Christmas since, ghosts have gamboled in graveyards, animals have been known to speak, elves have played puckish tricks, and wondrous miracles of mercy have come to pass. Christmas is a time for stories like no other time—a time for fantasies, memories, and mysteries.
What stories will you tell your family this Christmas? What poetry will grace your hearth and home? What will your children dream of after you read by their beds? Here are twelve tales to tell over twelve days that anyone—be they parent or priest or partridge in a pear tree—might read to themselves or (even better) to their dear ones. When it comes to the Twelve Days of Christmas, what better gift can anyone give their true love?
Orthodox. Faithful. Free.
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The 1st Day of Christmas, December 26:
“A Child’s Christmas in Wales” by Dylan Thomas (1952)
Dylan Thomas’ “A Child’s
