Beautiful Christmas Stories

Christmas in our household starts well before Thanksgiving. The decorations start coming down so our house can begin its slow transition into a winter wonderland. While Thanksgiving is properly celebrated by our household, the joy of the advent calendar and the stockings hung with care are excitedly embraced by December 1^st. For those that have small children, it is most magical to get to see this holiday anew through their joyful eyes. Every lightbulb on a building is now “CHRISTMAS LIGHTS!” and every Santa is pointed out with serious whispers. This holiday is particularly celebrated by generous giving, civility towards all, and the spirit of excitedness. I often talk about a virtuous citizenry and the necessity of every one of us to maintain the American ideal. Christmas is a time when that virtuosity is seen most. We are in a time in our country’s climate that is politically fractious, and the people are easily disenfranchised. Now is as good an opportunity as any to highlight several uplifting Christmas stories to remind we as American citizens what Christmas is truly about and that a virtuous nation could be the most important thing to give and receive this holiday season and most assuredly into the new year.

We all hear of stories about employers taking advantage of their employees and the commercialization of Christmas but oftentimes the good and virtuous stories get swept under the rug. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is synonymous with Christmas but the story behind the tale is even more touching. The Montgomery Ward Company used to purchase coloring books to give away to customers at Christmas and this endeavor was so successful that it became quite expensive. They turned within to try and produce their own Christmas story which is where Robert L. May entered the picture. Using the inspiration of his life, with the help of his four-year old daughter, he recreated the story of the underdog triumphing. His boss was not completely convinced that the story was what the company wanted but May kept pushing the project forward by having the art department assist with sketches to help complete the booklet and convince his boss. Once the completed project was approved, Montgomery Ward distributed 2.4 million copies of the story, and that number kept increasing year after year with six million copies distributed by 1946. But the success of the story is not the most important takeaway here. May technically owned none of the rights to the story he created and on top of that May found himself tragically widowed and strapped with massive amounts of ensuing medical debt. Although the story of his reindeer was succeeding, he was not. It was at this low point that May went to the CEO to ask for a small penance of the profits the company was earning from Rudolph. The CEO, Sewell Avery, did the unthinkable-he gave May the rights to the story completely and free of charge, forever changing May’s life. Some Christmas connoisseurs would call this a real Christmas miracle. From there, May turned Rudolph into the cultural icon it is today. Once May sorted out the success of Rudolph and had the “business” of Rudolph running in good order, he did what few today would do: he returned to work. A little over 7 years after his life was changed, he returned to Montgomery Ward and worked there another 13 years as a true testament of loyalty to an employer that showed him a kindness that they legally did not have to.

Christmas for many is mostly about the nativity scene and one of the most beautiful songs associated with the birth of Jesus which is (in my opinion) “O Holy Night.” It was written by a part-time French Poet Placide Cappeau who used his connections to the famous composer Adolphe Adams to turn his poem into a song. While the French version of the song endured theological debate, the song still grew in popularity and in 1855 John Dwight, an American minister, decided to translate the song and bring it to America. Dwight took some very creative liberties with translating the song but there was one particular part of the third verse that Dwight kept true. Both Cappeau and Dwight were abolitionists, and it is reflected in this third verse:

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

How wonderfully beautiful is it that the virtue of Christ’s birth and life are then justly turned around to justify the freeing of the wrongly enslaved. How much better would we treat each other if we lived our lives with that guiding principle? How much kinder would we be if we saw each other as brothers and sisters and took this Christmas song and story into the other 11 months? Of course, even the most devout among us fail, but it does not take away the goal and inspiration that we should be aiming toward.

While our country might be politically divided, there is nothing more divisive than a literal No-Man’s land separating warring powers that separated British and German troops on Christmas Eve 1914. What did it take to create the Christmas Truce of 1914? The answer is so simply sweet, it borders on the unbelievable: Christmas Carols. The British and German sides, both deeply missing their families amidst the Christmas season, decided to make the best of the situation. Many accounts agree that the sounds of carols coming from the German side led to the British joining in the celebration. This momentary act of humanizing the enemy led to an agreement the next day not to shoot. While this truce did not occur along the entirety of the front lines, the fact that it even happened anywhere between two armies shows the uniting power of Christmas and the ever-present ability for humankind to be virtuous. Enemies that were shooting at each other the day before and resumed hostilities were able to put down their weapons to celebrate the Prince of Peace.

While these stories are remarkable, it is our stories that warm the soul. Christmas appears to affect us all, Grinches and Scrooges, Democrats and Republicans alike. Did you know that 30% of charitable donations happen in December alone? The people the Founders created this country for are alive and well, and it shows the most during this time of year. Virtue is at the heart of Christmas. It is this shared tradition and holiday that reminds us all that we are all equal; we are all people who love our families and want the best for our neighbor. While virtue is made to seem unimportant and unnecessary by bureaucratic propaganda, this unique holiday serves as a reminder going into the new year that virtue is actually what makes this world bright and brilliant. It is the love embodied by God sending his Son among a broken people. It is the joy of a Savior. It is the gift of eternal life. We may be distracted by clever marketing, political wokeness, or government overreach but it is not the federal agencies buying Santa’s gifts for our children, it is not President Biden baking cookies with grandma or Senator Johnson reading the grandkids A Night Before Christmas. It is the everyday citizen creating magic within their own homes, gifting to their friends and neighbors, buying the person’s coffee behind them in line. These stories and lessons are about virtuous citizens transcending time and culture that will hopefully outlive all of us. Merry Christmas to all!