Christmas stories: short, funny and contemplative for children and adults

Christmas stories, for children and adults, you can find us quickly, without long searches, in a clear selection. They are ideally suited for cozy hours by the fireplace or as a little bedtime story during the Christmas season. We hope you enjoy using ours short, funny and contemplative Christmas stories.

Christmas stories overview:

Contemplative Christmas story:

1. Our first Christmas tree

It was the first Christmas vacation of my student days. For weeks I had already counted the days and finally the hours until the morning of the drive home from Graz to Alpel. And when the day came, it was storming and rummaging that my train got stuck. So I got out and went on foot, fresh and funny, for six hours through the valley, where the frost cut my nose and ears so that I could no longer feel them. Through the mountain forest, where I got so warm that my ears were suddenly back and hotter than ever in summer.
So when it was already dawn I came happily up to where the old house, shimmering through flurries and fog, stood like a blurry spot, lonely in the middle of the snow desert.
When I entered the room was so small and low and dark and warm – quaint. In the townhouses, all standards for a forest farmhouse are covered up. But you can find yourself in it straight away when the mother greets the newcomer without any fuss: “Well, because you are only there! "
The fire roars on the open stone hearth, a candle is lit in the good room. “Mother, not! "I said," prefer to light the chip light, that’s nicer. "
But she didn’t. The pine span light is for the working days. Because the son came home after a long absence, it was a holiday for the mother. That’s why the festive candle.
When my eyes got used to the half light, I also saw the Nickerl, the eight-year-old brother. It was the youngest and the last. “Looking out is good for you! “The mother praised my cheeks flushed from the flurry.
Little Nickerl looked pale. “You have the city colors instead of mine! “I said and laughed. The thing was. The little boy coughed, half the winter already. And there was an old maid who said at least three times a day that for a “coughing person” nothing was worse than “the cold air”. She forbade the little boy to go outside the door. I think that’s why he was so pale, and not for coughing.
I slept little on the night after Christmas – something rare in those years. The mother had made a bed with her on the stove with the instruction not to stretch her legs so far, otherwise they would come into the fire pit, where the coals were melting. The glowing coals were cozy, that crackled so nicely in the still dark night and sometimes threw a light glow on the wall, where the colorfully painted bowls were leaning against a rack. There was a concern that I had to make conclusions about that night before the mother went to the stove to cook the morning soup. I had heard a lot of talk about how to celebrate Christmas in the cities. There they are supposed to put a little spruce tree, a real little tree from the forest, on the table, attach candle to its branches, light it, including even lay gifts for the children and say that the Christ child brought it.
Now I wanted to build a Christmas tree from my little brother, Nickerl. But everything in secret, that’s part of it. After it was daylight, I went out into the frosty fog. And it was precisely this fog that protected me from the eyes of the people working around the house when I ran from the forest with a spruce tree to the wagon hut.
Then evening came. The servants were still busy in the stables or in the chambers, where, according to the custom of Christmas Eve, they washed their heads and prepared their festive attire. The mother in the kitchen baked the Christmas donuts, and the father with the little napkin blessed the yard. The father had glowing coals in a vessel, had sprinkled on the same incense and was going through all the rooms in the courtyard to smoke them and pray in silence. Evil spirits should be driven out and good ones blessed into the house.
So while the people were busy outside, I prepared the Christmas tree in the big room. I put the little tree that was stuck in the log on the table. Then I cut ten or twelve candles from the wax stick and glued them to the branches. Below, at the foot of the tree, I put down a wake-up call.
Then I heard kicks above the room in the attic – slow and tripping. They were already there and blessed the floor space. Soon they would be in the room where we used to end the smoke. I lit the candles and hid behind the stove.
The door opened, they entered with their holy vessels and stood still. " What’s that? “Says the father in a low, drawn-out voice. The little boy stared speechless. The Christmas tree lights were reflected in his big, round eyes like little stars. –
The father slowly walked to the kitchen door and whispered: “Mother, mother! Come in a little. "And when she was there:" "Mother, did you do that? "
"Maria and Josef!" Breathed the mother, "what louder have you put there on the table?" Soon the servants and the maids came over, frightened by the strange appearance. Then someone, a boy from the valley, suspected: it could be a Christmas tree.
Should it really be true that angels bring such trees from heaven? – They looked and marveled. And from the father’s jar smoked incense and already filled the whole room, so that it was like a delicate veil that lay over the burning tree.
The mother looked around the room with her eyes. “Where’s Peter? "
Then I thought it was time to step out of the oven corner. I took little Nickerl, who was still speechless and motionless, by the cool hand and led him to the table. He almost resisted. But I said to him in a deeply solemn mood: “Don’t be afraid, brother! Look, dear Christkindl brought you a Christmas tree. He’s yours. ”And then the little boy started to neigh with joy and emotion, and his hands were clasped as in the church.
I have seen the Christmas tree more than forty times since then, with a mighty shine, with rich gifts and joyful cheers among young and old. But I have never seen greater joy in the Christmas tree, so bright a joy, than that of my little brother Nickerl, to whom it came so suddenly and miraculously before my eyes, a sign of him who came from heaven.