Writing of Christmas

Through the years, there's been many books set during the Christmas season. Perhaps one of the most famous ones is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. In it, Ebeneezer Scrooge learns what having the Christmas spirit is all about, a lesson for us all. "I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable time, the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers...." "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year" (Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol).

Christmas must have been special to Dickens, because he also wrote about it in other works. Here is a quote from The Pickwick Papers: "Happy, happy Christmas, that recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!"

Plenty of other writer have addressed Christmas too. Here are just a few: 

• "Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling" (Edna Ferber).
• "Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, and genial flame of charity in the heart" (Washington Irving).
• "Somehow, not only for Christmas But all the long year through, The joy that you give to others Is the joy that comes back to you (John Greenleaf Whittier).
• "Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection" (Winston Churchill).
• "Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas" (Dale Evans).
• "Love came down at Christmas; Love all lovely, love divine; Love was born at Christmas, Stars and angels gave the sign" (Christina Rossetti).
• A good conscience is a continual Christmas" (Benjamin Franklin).
• Don't let the past steal your present. This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone" (Taylor Caldwell).
• "I heard the bells on Christmas Day. Their old, familiar carols play, And wild and sweet The words repeat Of peace on earth, good-will to men!" (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow).
• "Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?" (Dr. Seuss).

Have a very merry Christmas and happy reading and writing!

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