Christmas Stories and Legends is a collection of tales to restore "the realspirit of Christmas" to the jaded world of . . . 1916. Even then, editorPhebe A. Curtiss worried children, especially, might get lost in the day'screeping commercialism. She aimed the book at schools and Sunday schools,and assembled twenty bits of Christmas lore to teach a proper observance.She includes, of course, the Nativity story, but other parts of yesterday'sChristmas will be much less familiar to modern readers. The song, "WhiteChristmas," hadn't been written yet, and the expression meant somethingmore than snow. People gave white gifts to symbolize purity. Children mighthave had visions of sugarplums, but the book includes the unsweetenedversions of two weepers from Hans Christian Anderson: "The Little MatchGirl" and "The Fir Tree." (The tree learns too late to appreciate Christmas-- on the bonfire afterward.) And little Tom has to learn he is lucky toreceive new skates for Christmas, even if they're the wrong brand. The bookbrings back great-grandfather's Christmas as a gift for today's worriers.Christmas always came with problems. But it always came, anyway.

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