This children’s story by W. D. Howells is actually a ‘story within a story’. A demanding daughter insists that her busy father tell her a Christmas story. Perhaps with his daughter in mind, he makes up a tale about a little girl who makes a selfish Christmas wish. She wants it to be Christmas every day so she can get presents and eat Christmas treats all year long. The wish comes true but in so doing causes problems for almost everyone in the world. Although told in an amusing way, you could call this a Christmas horror fairy-tale.
Our source for the story was a book named Christmas Every Day and Other Stories Told for Children. One thing that surprised me in reading it is how “timeless” Christmas traditions are. Although the events described could have taken place in almost any year over the second half of the last century, the book was actually published way back in 1892!
Original Text / PDF (2,885 words)