5 beautiful Christmas stories to tell children

Children are particularly fascinated by the Christmas season. For them it is a magical moment full of decorations , gifts , colored lights and Christmas games together with the family .

But the most beautiful Christmas tradition in my opinion – and which deserves to be cultivated when there are children in the house – is to tell or read Christmas stories for children. In addition to being a good time to share, it is also a way to educate children to good feelings, respect and solidarity.

In fact, most of these Christmas stories (ranging from the true story of baby Jesus, to the imaginative stories of Santa Claus and good characters), contain important messages that help us explain to children the meaning of Christmas, traditions and values such as selfless love, generosity, hope, peace.

The most beautiful Christmas stories for children

Each of us has a favorite Christmas story that we carry in our hearts. Here, let’s start with our Christmas story: during the Christmas period let’s dust it off and tell it to our children! It may be that the little ones will ask us to tell it again and again and again or they will want to hear new ones and in that case you can tell these 5 beautiful Christmas stories:

The Legend of the Christmas Spider

“Once upon a time, a long time ago, in a house in Germany, a mother who, to celebrate Christmas, had started cleaning a few days earlier. She cleaned and cleaned so that not a single speck of dust or even a cobweb could be found. The little spiders, seeing all their work destroyed, fled and climbed into a corner of the attic.

After cleaning the mother started making the Christmas tree with great pride and joy and waited for her children to come down to see it. However, the spiders were desperate as they would not be able to be present at the scene on Christmas morning. The older and wiser spider suggested that he could see the scene through a small crack in the wall near the door.

In silence, they left the attic, went down the stairs and hid in the small hole. Suddenly the door opened and frightened spiders ran around the room. They hid in the Christmas tree and crawled from branch to branch, going up and down, trying to hide in the most beautiful decorations.

When Santa came down the chimney that night and walked over to the tree, he realized it was full of spiders. Santa Claus, feeling sorry for the little spiders, because they are creatures of God, thought that the owner of the house would not like their presence. So immediately, with a touch of magic, he struck the tree and turned the cobwebs into long, bright, glittering streaks.

Since then, every year in Germany, grandparents tell their grandchildren the legend of Christmas spiders and place lots of shiny threads on the Christmas tree. ”

The Story of the Poinsettia

Among all the stars that shine in the sky, there has always been one brighter and more beautiful than the others. All the planets and stars in the sky looked at her with admiration and wondered what would be the important mission that she had to accomplish.
The doubts ended when a group of angels went to look for the big star:
– Run. Your time has come and you have to face an important mission!
The star discovered that it was supposed to indicate the place where the most important event in history would take place.

Filled with pride, the star followed the angels for days, eager to find out what the place it was about to illuminate would be like. But when the angels stopped and with great joy said “Here it is”, the star could not believe it. It was just a small abandoned cave, dirty and smelly!

– Oh no! Not that! I can’t lose my shine and beauty by lighting up a place like this! Though the angels tried to calm her down, the star’s fury grew and grew that it began to burn. And so it was consumed and disappeared.

Such a problem! There were only a few days left for the big moment and they had yet to find a star. So they thought of calling the smallest, the humblest and most cheerful of all the stars that were in the sky.
So much emotion filled our little star, and she felt so much joy, but she knew in her heart that she couldn’t shine like the other. What a pity!
But she didn’t lose heart because she couldn’t turn down such an important opportunity.

So I think her star friends in the sky would have been happy to join that mission! And without hesitation, she took to the skies with a message for all her friends:
“On December 25, at midnight, I want to share with you the greatest glory that can be for a star: igniting the birth of Jesus! I’ll wait for you in the small town of Bethlehem, near a small stable.”
And indeed, none of the stars turned down such a generous invitation. And so many stars joined together and formed the most beautiful poinsettia ever seen.

As a reward for his humility and generosity, God transformed the little messenger into a beautiful shooting star and gave him the gift of granting wishes whenever someone saw his beautiful trail shining in the sky.

The True Story of Santa Claus

Santa’s story began many, many years ago. In a small town in Asia Minor there lived a boy named Nicolás who was orphaned when he was very young. When his parents died he moved to Myra where all the locals knew him to be a very special young man, he didn’t mind the wealth and fortune his parents left him and he never lost the ability to be kind to others. He secretly helped the poor and needy to whom he distributed the many goods he had.

One day he learned of a very unfortunate and very poor man who had three daughters whom he could not marry because he had no money to pay for the dowry, nor could he support. Nicolás immediately wanted to help that family and, one night, he wrapped himself in a cloak and left the house to go to the poorest part of the city, where his father lived with his three daughters. And, on a half-open window, he put his present: a bag of gold. In silence and without anyone seeing him, he went home.

That poor fellow, crazy with joy in the morning: he could marry his eldest daughter thanks to some benefactor! Days later, Nicolás returned to the poor man’s house and again left another offering of gold. The next morning, the man thanked his luck again and was able to marry his second daughter. But ever since that night, he decided to stay by the window to meet that charitable soul who had been so good to his family. Days later, Nicolás returned to the poor part of the city wrapped up in his cloak and left his gift at the window. The father who saw him and thus found out who that good man was. He managed to marry his third daughter and never tired of talking about Nicolas’ benefits.

From then on Nicolás started helping many families and protecting the most disadvantaged with courage and determination. He did it all his life, until he became an old man with a long white beard. It is said that after his death in Myra, he continued to do good to people in the form of miracles. The children, on the other hand, are waiting for his gifts.

The flower of Christmas Eve

A long time ago, in a small town in Mexico, all the inhabitants gathered in the church every year during the birth of Jesus to leave him a gift.
An orphan named Pablo loved that tradition. Every year he saw many people coming from far away with beautiful gifts: baskets of fruit, clothes, some toys. But he had nothing to offer, he was very poor and this made him feel bad.

So every Christmas Eve Pablo went to church but hid so as not to show that he had nothing to offer to Jesus. One Christmas Eve he went and hid in a corner of the church and began to cry, but soon his tears fell to the ground, a beautiful flower with red petals began to appear.

Pablo understood that this flower was a gift from God, that in this way he could have something to give to the child Jesus. So he went to deposit that flower along with the other gifts, but he kept that secret born of his tears.

The rest of the people, seeing that beautiful plant, decided to bring an identical one every year. That gesture gradually became a tradition, and today in every home, a beautiful poinsettia fascinates everyone with its intense red leaves.

The Story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Rudolph is one of Santa’s eight reindeer , responsible for driving his sleigh through the sky on Christmas Eve so that every child receives their gifts.
However, this nice reindeer had a peculiarity that made it special and different from all the other reindeer : a bright red nose thus transformed by a fairy.
Because of this red nose, however, the reindeer felt different and everyone laughed at her. That’s why he was always alone. But one day I meet Santa Claus and his life changed.

It was a particularly stormy Christmas night with a blizzard. Santa’s sleigh reindeer had a hard time breaking through the wind and clouds, as they didn’t have enough visibility. For this reason all the reindeer were worried about not being able to bring the Christmas gifts in time.

By chance, however, Santa Claus saw Rudolph and realized that his nose was shining like a lantern. She approached him and offered him the lead position among the reindeer so he could pull the sleigh and guide everyone through the storm.

Rudolph agreed, took the lead, and managed to light the way so that the sleigh could travel through the sky. Although the other reindeer were a little envious at first, they soon realized Rudolph’s big heart and courage. That’s how he ended up being the leader of the group and from then on every Christmas night he’s on top of the sleigh around the world.

Books with Christmas stories

If after telling these beautiful Christmas stories for children, your children ask you to read more, you can also find the magic of Christmas in books such as:

• Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol
• the  story of the birth of the baby Jesus
• The  Planet of Christmas Trees by Gianni Rodari
• Polar Express di Chris Van Allsburg (versione Kindle)
• the Christmas tales of Beatrix Potter
• Balanchine’s Nutcracker

And if you find your tablet or smartphone in your hand, you can use it to search the net for sites with fairy tales and Christmas stories for children to read or listen to. Or go to Google Play and search for apps with Christmas stories.

Enjoy the reading!