Cozy classics1843
Behind the story
If one Christmas is wonderful, surely a whole year of Christmases would be better. That is the sort of wish a child can make with perfect confidence, and it is the delicious starting point of Christmas Every Day. A little girl asks her father for a story; inside his story, another little girl asks a fairy for a holiday without an end. Soon the presents, puddings, and celebrations begin piling up, and an apparently splendid idea becomes an increasingly comical problem.
William Dean Howells is best known as an American novelist, critic, and advocate of literary realism. In this children's tale, he lets himself be playful without losing his eye for everyday behaviour. The father and daughter interrupt, question, and negotiate as the telling unfolds. Their conversation gives the story a lovely sense of being invented in a family room, with the listener helping to shape what happens next.
The text presented here comes from the 1892 collection Christmas Every Day and Other Stories Told for Children; that is the publication year displayed on this site. The fairy's bargain opens the door to cheerful exaggeration. Holiday treats become exhausting, generosity turns into an endless obligation, and the ordinary routines everyone wished to escape start looking rather attractive. Howells understands that children enjoy seeing a wish followed all the way to its ridiculous consequences.
Its place in Christmas literature is a little different from a ghost story or a tale of selfless giving. Here, the lesson arrives through laughter. A special day needs the days around it, just as a feast needs an appetite and a surprise needs some waiting. Yet the story never sounds as though it dislikes Christmas. Its comedy depends on knowing how delightful the celebration can be, and how tempting it is to ask for just a little more.
This is an inviting choice for a family read-aloud, especially with someone willing to give the father and daughter distinct voices. Pause at the child's interruptions and enjoy the fairy's impatience. Older listeners may notice a gentle joke about the pressures of holiday abundance; younger ones can simply relish the chaos. When the last line arrives, Christmas once a year begins to feel like a very sensible arrangement, and the anticipation that surrounds it like part of the gift.
A story to keep you company
Read it here, or take a printable copy with you.
Reading text: Project Gutenberg ebook #22519, “Christmas Every Day.” Public domain in the United States. Historical wording is retained; illustration placeholders and unrelated front matter are omitted. Complete source text and license. Edition notes.
