American Christmas Stories

scene from "Gift of the Magi"

If you think that all the best Christmastime stories are not American, consider a few of these short stories from great American authors for some seasonal reading (with thanks to Wacky Anne):

Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
The Burglar's Christmas by Willa Cather
A Christmas Dinner Won in Battle by Stephen Crane
The Twelfth Guest by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
The Christmas Banquet by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Christmas Dinner by Washington Irving

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Clause

Francis P. Church's editorial, "Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" was an immediate sensation, and became one of the most famous editorials ever written. It first appeared in the The New York Sun in 1897, more than a hundred years ago, and was reprinted annually until 1949 when the paper went out of business. It was in response to a letter from an 8-year-old girl

Dear Editor:

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

Virginia O'Hanlon

The Editor replies: Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. -- Francis P. Church

Chain Gang

The Chain Gang stories turned out quite well -- from glorifiedl escargot to a battle of walruses to a Russian creeper who gets what's coming to him, and everything in between, it was all very interesting. For future reference, in case you want to play this writing game at home with friends or family, here's what we did for our Chain Gang stories (you can always adjust the time periods and number of writers involved):

Writer #1 (5 minutes): Exposition -- establish protagonist(s), setting, and opening situation
Writer #2 (6 minutes): Introduce a conflict
Writer #3 (7 minutes): Develop the conflict in one or two incidents
Writer #4: (8 minutes): Climax -- incident that serves as a turning point
Writer #5: (9 minutes): Falling Action to Resolution

Writer #1 re-writes the whole story for clarity and consistency and gives it a title.

If you'd like to see another version of a Chain Gang in action, BBC Radio 7 recently finished a 13-part Chain Gang radio play, but I like the one they produced in 2007. It's called "Picture This" -- and here's the opening situation from episode one:

"It's a digital camera," Gary said helpfully, as Deena stared down at her birthday present.

"So I see." Deena pointed out, rather gently she thought, that she'd been angling for a holiday in Paris, something romantic. She'd rather hoped she'd be unwrapping a Eurostar ticket, quite frankly.

Gary shrugged. You had to take photos in Paris, hadn't you? But after buying the camera he couldn't afford the holiday as well. "Look, it's got telescopic zoom!"

That evening, she gave in and installed it on her computer. "Welcome, Deena!" flashed the screen in colourful writing, and in spite of herself, she was impressed. "Click here for your photos!"

Of course she knew the gallery would be empty, but she clicked anyway. And blinked. There it was, a picture of herself and Gary, smiling and waving. Over her shoulder she could see the Eiffel Tower.

Dazedly she scrolled through the album. Notre Dame. Montmartre. Gary joking around with a baguette. Happy pictures. Impossible pictures, of a holiday they hadn't taken.

And then Deena froze. Gary filled the screen again, but no longer clowning; instead, blood trickling from his mouth, eyes staring out at her vacantly. It was a picture of his death.

Go to episode 2...

Collective Nouns for Birds

crèche of penguins

You've heard of a "flock of birds" but did you know that each species of bird has its own collective noun? The Audubon Society has compiled a comprehensive list of collective nouns for birds. Here are just a few examples:

aerie of eagles
ascension of larks
band of jays
bevy of doves
bouquet of pheasants (when flushed)
brace of ducks
brood of chickens
cast of hawks
chain of bobolinks
charm of finches
colony of vultures
company of parrots
conspiracy of ravens
crèche of penguins
murder of crows
mustering of storks
parliament of owls
plump or waterfowl
raft of ducks
rafter of turkeys
sedge of bitterns

See the whole list...