A couple of weeks ago, when I saw that my next blog posting would fall on December 24, I decided to do something different. Rather than write some dull (and probably overlooked) piece on grammar and/or punctuation, I would list the favorite holiday stories. movies, and books of my family and friends. In the end, I accepted any composition relating to Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa, including poems, short stories, and songs. I also included pieces that had other themes besides one of those three holidays. Some fellow authors cited their own Christmas-related stories as their “favorites.” I’m fine with that. Writers should take pride in their own work. The list follows.
Betty Bleen, “A Frigid West Virgina Winter” in Bad Red Shoes (Betty Bleen)
Thomas McNally, Refrigerator Door (Thomas McNally)
Jeff Salter, The Yuletide Caper (Jeff Salter)
Becky Princehorn and John Wyant, A Christmas Carol (Charles Dickens)
Sue Whitney, The Polar Express (Chris Van Allsburg, author; Robert Zemeckis, writer, director, and producer of film adaptation)
Sarah McCarthy, A Charlie Brown Christmas (Charles Schulz, writer; Bill Melendez, director; Lee Mendelson, executive director)
Dan McCarthy, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” (Robert L. May, story; Johnny Marks, song)
Ann Ottobre, “The Gift of the Magi” (O. Henry)
Joe Ottobre, “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (Clement Clarke Moore)
Jonathan Cormany, Home Alone (20th Century Fox; John Hughes, writer and producer; Chris Columbus, director)
Lauren Cormany, The Holiday (Columbia/Universal; Nancy Meyers, writer, director, co-producer; Bruce Block, co-producer)
Christopher and Emma Cormany, Merry Little Batman (Amazon/MGM, Warner Bros. Animation; Mike Roth, director; Morgan Evans and Jase Ricci, writers; Rebecca Palatnik, producer)
Karen Mustacchio, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (Dr. Seuss)
Tony Mustacchio, A Christmas Story (MGM, Bob Clark, director; Bob Clark, Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown, writers; Rene Dupont, Bob Clark, producers)
Nikolai, Naomi, and Alek Yensel, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (Barbara Robinson) and Frosty the Snowman (Walter Rollins and Steve Nelson)
Rachel Yensel, Elf (New Line Cinema, Jon Favreau, director; David Berenbaum, writer; Jon Berg, Todd Komarnicki, Shauna Robertson, producers)
What’s my favorite Christmas story? It’s close between A Christmas Carol and A Christmas Story, but I’ll go with the latter, Everything from Bob Clark’s classic film — the characters, the clothing, Ralphie’s house, the department store Santa — could have been drawn from my own childhood. I can even relate to the tongue-stuck-to-pole incident, since I was foolish enough to do that myself when I was about Ralphie’s age.
New Christmas movies, books, and songs are being added to our cultural environment every year, so new favorites are likely to appear if I post a revised list next year. That may be something to consider when Christmas 2024 approaches.