What do you think?
Tell Me a Story at Christmas: Heartwarming Stories from Around the World
Collects sixteen Christmas stories from foreign lands, the Bible, the wild west, and the United States
221 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1996
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
February 17, 2026
You might think from the cover picture that this is a collection of Christmas stories for children. I did. As I was reading them, however, I thought them more appropriate as a selection of Christmas stories best appreciated by adults.
The opening story is about an elderly lady who is getting confused, but she still has enough awareness to realize her condition. She has recently mailed out two gifts and just realized that she has probably mixed them up. She has sent an exquisite gossamer nightgown to her elderly lady friend in Oregon and a pair of hand-knitted mittens to her granddaughter who is getting married in Florida. As it turns out they are both delighted with their gifts and think they were what they were supposed to get. The granddaughter is going skiing for her honeymoon, and the elderly friend has never had such a lovely piece of clothing and is tired of receiving things which only keep her warm.
Another story involves a little girl, Nadia, in the besieged city of Stalingrad during WWII on Christmas Eve. Impulsively Nadia tells some German soldiers she stumbles into about her Soviet father's return. Recognizing him and his importance, they give her a 'magic' candle which they tell her to put in the window where she (and her father) will sleep that night. It will be safe they assure her, because it is blessed and no harm can come from it. She believes them, but instead of putting the candle in her own poor shack, she puts it in the shack where her dead grandmother's unburied body resides. She wanted the Christ Child to find her grandmother. Needless to say, a German bomb found it, but it did not get Nadia or her father.
In another story, a sheriff has the unenviable task of evicting a father and his motherless three children from their farm the week before Christmas. The father has left a note abandoning his children to the good people of the town as he firmly believes he is no good for them. The sheriff has to take care of the three confused children before he rushes to stop the father from leaving on the train. Then what to do with the discouraged father? He makes a trade, having him play Santa for the Christmas party, a task the Sheriff hates to do every year in exchange for finding the man a job. Joyfully, the dad who can't run a farm is a natural salesman and able to talk children into even the toys they think they don't want and the local store owner is so impressed he decides he's found his salesman.
There are stories about young love, adult sacrifice and selfishness. The book concludes with a telling of the original Christmas Eve story from the perspective of the Innkeeper and his wife who it turns out are very generous and kind people trying to do their best under difficult circumstances. It is sometimes forgotten that the citizens of Bethlehem were subject people living under Roman domination and the crowds pouring into the city for the census were creating shortages, inconveniences and problems for everyone. The stable given the Holy Family was clean, dry and warm and better accommodation than what was given to the rude Romans who had shown up demanding rooms just prior to Mary and Joseph's arrival. The Innkeeper's wife helped Mary through her delivery and the Holy Family was also given water to wash, food and treated very well by the solicitous couple.
An excellent book, full of very moving and heart-warming stories.
The opening story is about an elderly lady who is getting confused, but she still has enough awareness to realize her condition. She has recently mailed out two gifts and just realized that she has probably mixed them up. She has sent an exquisite gossamer nightgown to her elderly lady friend in Oregon and a pair of hand-knitted mittens to her granddaughter who is getting married in Florida. As it turns out they are both delighted with their gifts and think they were what they were supposed to get. The granddaughter is going skiing for her honeymoon, and the elderly friend has never had such a lovely piece of clothing and is tired of receiving things which only keep her warm.
Another story involves a little girl, Nadia, in the besieged city of Stalingrad during WWII on Christmas Eve. Impulsively Nadia tells some German soldiers she stumbles into about her Soviet father's return. Recognizing him and his importance, they give her a 'magic' candle which they tell her to put in the window where she (and her father) will sleep that night. It will be safe they assure her, because it is blessed and no harm can come from it. She believes them, but instead of putting the candle in her own poor shack, she puts it in the shack where her dead grandmother's unburied body resides. She wanted the Christ Child to find her grandmother. Needless to say, a German bomb found it, but it did not get Nadia or her father.
In another story, a sheriff has the unenviable task of evicting a father and his motherless three children from their farm the week before Christmas. The father has left a note abandoning his children to the good people of the town as he firmly believes he is no good for them. The sheriff has to take care of the three confused children before he rushes to stop the father from leaving on the train. Then what to do with the discouraged father? He makes a trade, having him play Santa for the Christmas party, a task the Sheriff hates to do every year in exchange for finding the man a job. Joyfully, the dad who can't run a farm is a natural salesman and able to talk children into even the toys they think they don't want and the local store owner is so impressed he decides he's found his salesman.
There are stories about young love, adult sacrifice and selfishness. The book concludes with a telling of the original Christmas Eve story from the perspective of the Innkeeper and his wife who it turns out are very generous and kind people trying to do their best under difficult circumstances. It is sometimes forgotten that the citizens of Bethlehem were subject people living under Roman domination and the crowds pouring into the city for the census were creating shortages, inconveniences and problems for everyone. The stable given the Holy Family was clean, dry and warm and better accommodation than what was given to the rude Romans who had shown up demanding rooms just prior to Mary and Joseph's arrival. The Innkeeper's wife helped Mary through her delivery and the Holy Family was also given water to wash, food and treated very well by the solicitous couple.
An excellent book, full of very moving and heart-warming stories.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review