Simple Suggestion #222... Share a Christmas story

I've been thinking about this Simple Suggestion for weeks now, and remembering and reviewing Christmas stories I heard as a kid. There are so many wonderful ones -- and some that are pretty cheesy, too, but they've all been part of me, somehow, since I heard them when I was young. So I looked a few of them up, and have listed them below:

• I had no idea who Captain Kangaroo was when I was a little kid in Saskatchewan with no cable tv, but he narrated this story and song that come to mind now and then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugx7p5UPHYs

• Red Skelton's comedy made it into Canada (without cable) during my childhood -- and we had a vinyl record with him telling the story of the Little Christmas Tree, which carries interesting 1960s perspectives (propaganda?) on materialism, communism, and life behind the Iron Curtain... My sisters and I used to giggle at how the little tree's funny little voice shouted, "Mewwy Chwistmas, Sanny Claus!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDVVO76wb2A

• Here's a link to O. Henry's classic short story, Gift of the Magi, a favourite of mine since seeing a sweet but lengthy romantic flick based on the story. The Gift of Love, a 1978 TV movie starring Marie Osmond and Timothy Bottoms, plays the gist of O. Henry's plotline right at the end, but misses the author's wonderful last lines. It has some rather obvious flaws, but the turn of the century society portrayed is quite fascinating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdS00xkIuxA

• And what would Christmas be without the story of The Littlest Angel?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRk8FJIcgnQ

• Then there's Scrooge, and the Grinch, and dozens and dozens of other literary characters who people the Christmas landscape, not forgetting, of course, those from the original Christmas story, who became part of my own Christmas story, Monica's Epiphany, which you can read (or reread) by clicking here.

I'm supposed to be baking Christmas bread for teachers today, so I'll stop here with these little "Christmas gifts" for my readers. I'd love to hear about your favourite Christmas story. Would you apply today's Simple Suggestion to me, and leave a Christmas story title for me in the comments box below? Think of it as a little present to your moodling friend, and thanks for sharing!