For children's reading specialist Sarah Harrison, Christmas is mostly about wonderful stories, told in poems, pictures and books.
"Christmas is a time when families and friends get together," said Harrison, children and family literacy specialist for the Greater Victoria Public Library. "It's a time to give. It's a time to share."
Storytelling plays a big part in that, she said. "It's a way of sharing, and through these stories, we remember our values."
The best Christmas stories tap into an element of magic that can be empowering and transformational, she said - as in the time-honoured story of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. A good Christmas story moves far beyond ordinary, everyday experience.
"So we can enjoy more of the mysteries of life, regardless of how old we are," Harrison said.
"We can still tap into that spirit, and these stories remind us how to do that.
There is Scrooge; look how exhilarated he becomes when he transforms himself from the miser into the giver."
Harrison also pointed to Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas as a great story about a transformation of the spirit that leads to greater personal strength.
Even the first Christmas, the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, counts as a story to be told and cherished.
"Many families will go to mass, or church, at Christmastime," she said. "They will listen to the stories of their traditional beliefs.
Going to church is a tradition of storytelling."
Family traditions around the telling of Christmas stories can become powerful holiday hallmarks. For example, Harrison and her husband and two children, ages three and five, read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Moore every Christmas Eve.
The Harrison family is not yet big on singing carols, but together they read lots of picture books.
Special children's books for her this year include:
? Pete the Cat Saves Christmas by Eric Litwin.
"We learn that even if we are small, we can give it our all and become like a superhero and become part of the magic that is Christmas," she said. "Pete is capable and he is able to muster up the strength to do what's asked of him. He sings a little song - 'Even though I'm small at Christmas we give it our all, we give it our all.' It's a little song that carries throughout the whole book and it's fun for kids to sing with their parents."
? Stick Man, by Julia Donaldson, is the story of a stick who wanders far from home, gets picked up by kids and carried by a dog until he ends up on a fireplace. "He is just about to meet his fate when he hears 'Ho, Ho, Ho,' and all of a sudden it becomes a Christmas story," Harrison said.
? To Everything There Is a Season by Alistair MacLeod is a short story about a small boy in Cape Breton who is allowed to stay up late one Christmas Eve and learns a truth on the way to adulthood.
? The Autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn is a chapter book that combines legend and fact in telling the history of St. Nick. It's told in 24 chapters, offering a reading for every day leading up to Christmas. "It's a literary Advent calendar. It's a great story that can help preserve the magic of Christmas," Harrison said. "If somebody is just on the cusp of not believing in Santa Claus, this would be a great book to stay in that childhood realm. This book will help pull them back into that magic and mystery."
? Baseball Bats for Christmas by Michael Kusugak tells the story of how Inuit children experience Christmas in the high Arctic.
The stories of Scrooge and the Nutcracker Suite have also been retold in recent years in graphic novels.
Harrison is a huge fan of graphic novels, which are book-length comic-book-style stories.
"It's exciting, it's engaging and it's great for those visual learners, those who have trouble envisioning what they are reading about," Harrison said.
As presents, books offer hours of entertainment, she said, and unlike many toys, they won't break or disturb others with too much noise.
And books are changing, as publishers attempt to set themselves apart from electronic books with attractive cover art, thick paper stock and rich illustration colours. Many books now also feature specially cut pages and pop-up pictures.
"The books that are being published now are just gorgeous," she said. "They make great presents."
