Three Christmas Reads That Will Warm Your Heart and May Change Your Life
By Jared Smith
The older I get, the easier it is for me to miss the Spirit of Christmas amidst the busyness of college finals, travel plans, and pulling finances together for the upcoming semester. However, a tradition that I have tried to keep throughout the years has helped me to quickly get into the Christmas Spirit. Every year, I try to keep my tradition of reading three books around the months of November and December. These three are A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, The Mansion by Henry Van Dyke, and the Book of Luke in The New Testament.
Reading these three books awakens that Christmas magic that we all remember as children. The wonderful difference however, is that as I read a book like A Christmas Carol, I not only feel the excitement I felt for Christmas gifts and memories as a child, but I also feel the perceptible desire to be a little more generous, merciful, and kind to others. Indeed, these three readings have helped me to be a better, more selfless person, and they have made my Christmases far more magical than any physical gift could.
A Christmas Carol — Charles Dickens
A long loved and celebrated novel, A Christmas Carol is a beautiful story of repentance that addresses our duty to love our fellow men and the things that are of true worth in this life. For those unfamiliar with the story, A Christmas Carol is a novel about the transformation of our protagonist, Ebenezer Scrooge, from being a greedy, tightfisted businessman, to becoming a kind, generous soul. However, Scrooge’s transformation only comes after a series of difficult and somewhat frightening visits from the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future.
A scene that has particularly affected me throughout the years happens right after Scrooge meets the miserable ghost of his former partner. A vision opens before Scrooge, and he sees many other miserable souls who lived life entirely for themselves.
“[Scrooge] had been quite familiar with one old ghost, in a white waistcoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom it saw below, upon a doorstep. The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever.”
Every year that I read this part of the book, I am moved by the thought that after this life, if we live only for ourselves, we will be miserable because we cannot do anything to help those who suffer. It is a sobering thought, and it motivates me to be better and to help the poor and the suffering today before it is inevitably too late.
The end of the book is a happy ending, and not only for Scrooge, but for the poor who he helps and serves. I love the final lines,
“Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.”
Read a free edition of A Christmas Carol from project gutenberg here: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46/46-h/46-h.htm
The Mansion — Henry Van Dyke
Another novel despising the love of lucre, The Mansion, causes me to reflect on my priorities every year I read it. Perhaps less well-known than A Christmas Carol, The Mansion is a story about John Weightman, a rich man who has done many things for his community, but in so doing has only sought the approval of the world. One evening while in his home, John is speaking with his son, who requests some to help out his college friend, John refuses the request. Later, John has a dream. He finds himself at the pearly gates, and is escorted through Heaven by an angel, who shows him the many mansions of good people who have labored throughout their short lives to do good and serve others. The angel explains to John that the mansions in heaven are a representation of the peoples works on earth, their “treasures in heaven” which they have laid up in store. Seeing all of the beautiful mansions in Heaven, John asks the angel if he can see his mansion. He imagines that it will be grand, filled with beautiful hallways and staircases.
However, the angel leads John along and they get further and further away from the large mansions until they are in an open field. In the open field, the angel shows John a dilapidated shack that looks like a strong gust of wind would easily cause its collapse. The angel explains that this is John’s mansion. A confused and distressed John pleads with the angel, asking how it can be. The angel responds that this is all the material John sent them to work with. John had given much but he had given and received his reward in his life. The angel explained the gifts that really matter.
“‘Only that which is truly given,’ answered the bell-like voice. ‘Only that good which is done for the love of doing it. Only those plans in which the welfare of others is the master thought. Only those labors in which the sacrifice is greater than the reward. Only those gifts in which the giver forgets himself.’”
Then, John awakens, sobered by his vision. He walks upstairs, and writes a signed blank check which he sets on his son’s nightstand.
Read the mansion here at americanliterature.com: https://americanliterature.com/author/henry-van-dyke/short-story/the-mansion
The Book of Luke
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” — Luke 2:11
When I was about five years old, I think, we got together at my grandparents’ home to celebrate Christmas together. We all dressed up for a nativity reenactment as we read the first chapters of the Book of Luke. I was the shepherd and Grandpa was the Donkey.
While the story is very familiar, I love to read the Book of Luke and remember the original story of Christmas. It helps me to remember the reason for the season, which is the life and mission of Jesus Christ.
If you have not seen the short film, “The Christ Child,” I cannot recommend it enough. It is a beautiful reenactment of the nativity that is true to historical context, setting, and even language. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXWoKi5x3lw
I do not know of any other reads that help me get into the Christmas Spirit as much as these. I highly recommend each of them. Merry Christmas and happy reading!
