Miracle on 34th Street by Valentine Davies

🎄 Kris Kringle, a kindhearted old man who lives at a senior house, believes himself to be the real Santa Claus. On the other hand, Doris, who works at Macy, is a hardworking sceptical widow who doesn't believe in miracles, let alone Santa Clause. Her only daughter, Susan, also shares her skepticism.

🎄 Several days before Christmas, Macy needs a 'Santa Claus', and Doris offered the job to Kris, who took it. He instantly becomes a star, Macy's customers loves his genuine kindness and cheerful nature. Kris even brings the Christmas spirit far beyond Macy.

🎄 However, he also realized that his main mission is to turn Doris and Susan into believers. And it's not an easy thing to do; when a selfish and greedy man turned a nasty obstacle into real impossibility. If he's really Santa Claus, can he do it?

🎄 As a Christmas story, this novella seems to be an ordinary modern tale about Santa Claus. What makes it special is because this novella is, in fact, an adaptation of a film Davies wrote in 1947, which earned him an Academy Award for Best Story.

🎄 If the story isn't that special, perhaps the hidden message it conveys is significant. No, it's not just about whether Santa Claus exists or not, it's about letting your heart takes control, together with your brain, in steering your own life. Let it embraces new hopes, and trust it.

🎄 What about the miracle? Well, miracle happens when you have faith. Because when you do, good things will happen through other people. How it works, nobody knows. But it's not a hocus-pocus thing, it's just believing that things could happen even when you don't have control over it.

Rating: 4 / 5

The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon

🎄 Sir John Penlyon is a wealthy landowner. He became a cantankerous, hard hearted old man after the death of, first, his wife, then his first daughter. His youngest daughter's elopement was only the last straw.

🎄 His best friend, Mr. Danby, and his niece, Adella, have persuaded him to hire poor but respectable little children to liven up the Christmas at the mansion. An agreement was binding between the parties. Mr. Danby agreed to bring the hirelings, but Sir John should never ask about their background; while Sir John agreed to pay for everything on condition that the children leave the house immediately after Christmas - no strings attached!

🎄 Three little cute hirelings (a little boy and two little girls) arrive on Christmas Eve. The youngest girl, Moppet, instantly steals Sir John's heart with her sweet precocious nature.

🎄 Christmas celebration in the mansion is as joyful as one hopes; even Sir John's heart is warming up. But when he becomes quite attached to Moppet, something happens that threatens to take her away from him.

🎄 This story is the epitome of what true Christmas is about; joyful, heartwarming, love, forgiveness, and the chance to let go of the past, to right the wrongs, to start all over again with open heart.

🎄 A perfect Christmas read, that I might re-read again and again in the future - maybe as much as A Christmas Carol?...

Rating: 5 / 5

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffmann

🎄 The Nutcracker is famously known as a Christmas classic, both as children tale, and ballet. I have been ignorant of it, though, till several years before, since Christmas here isn't celebrated as festive as in the western part of the world. Christmas for our family is more about going to church on Christmas Eve and having more cakes to eat, while listening to Christmas music; with a little gift exchanges among friends or Christmas decorations in the background. Christmas tales are definitely not our tradition. With that deficiency, I plunged into this tale for the first time in my life.

🎄 It follows a seven year old girl, Marie Stahlbaum and her brother Fritz, who get as their Christmas presents, a clockwork castle with mechanical people - handmade by their godfather Drosselmeier, a clock maker.

🎄 They soon get bored by it, though, so Marie shifts her attention to another present: an ugly nutcracker, and she is fond of it.

🎄 When the clock strikes midnight, a bunch of mice came to the house, led by a huge seven-headed mouse - the Mouse King, and suddenly all the toys/dolls inside the glass cabinet became alive. Led by the nutcracker, they all involved in a battle against the mice.

🎄 The next morning Drosselmeier told the children a story about Princess Pirlipat and Mouse Queen. Long story short, the princess was cursed by Mouse Queen, and the only cure is Krakatuk - the hardest nut on earth - cracked and handed on a certain ritual by a man who would become her husband. A young man called Drosselmeier was good at cracking nuts, but unfortunately he mis-executed the ritual, so the curse moved on him instead. That's how he became the ugly nutcracker toy which is now inhabited the Stahlbaums' glass cabinet.

🎄 Thanks to little Marie's selfless and unconditional love towards the nutcracker, the curse is finally lifted, and the ugly toy turns into a handsome real person of Herr Drosselmeier, the godfather's nephew.

🎄 It's not really a bad tale, really, as it inspires children to accept people, despite of their appearance. Yet, I found part of the tale rather disturbing. How can Marie - the 7 year old little girl - becomes a fiancée of a young man, to be married in one year, to become the queen of the doll kingdom? I mean, seven y.o...!

🎄 In the end, despite of the above unsettling part and (maybe) the mediocre translation of the edition I read, I think I can see why this tale becomes classic. I will perhaps love it more if I've had read it as a child. Still, I doubt how I would have reacted on the marrying part; my parents would have never read it for me, for sure!

My Christmas 2021 Reading Plan

Why wait until December? I think the most perfect time to start Christmas reading is Mid November. It is when the weather starts getting cooler (here in Indonesia monsoon season is just beginning), and one is beginning to get impatient for Christmas to come.

Actually I've been waiting for A Literary Christmas 2021 for happening, but until this post is written, I haven't seen any sign from Tarissa's blog. Do you happen to know whether it's going to happen at all? It would be more fun to participate in an event and read with a group, but nevertheless, event or no event, here is 🎄 My Christmas 2021 Reading Plan 🎄:

The Nutcracker by E.T.A. Hoffman

It would be my last classic this year, which would be counted for both Back to the Classics 2021 and The Classics Club. This would be my first read of this children classic, and I'll start soon after finishing the last Agatha Christie on my 2021 list (all is coming to the end, eh?)

The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder

If you think this one is a usual mystery book with murder and all, you're wrong! With Jostein Gaarder, it will always be a complex story (this one is a story inside of a story). It's about a boy who found written stories hidden inside an Advent calendar - one story for each day until Christmas! It would be fun to read them along the Advent calendar, so I'd start in November 28th.

Mistletoe and Murder by Robin Steven's

Between Nutcracker and the Advent reading, I'd need a real murder mystery to get along. For once I'd leave Agatha Christie behind, and pick something lighter. This one looks fun!

The Story of A Nutcracker by Alexandre Dumas

And what could have been nicer than reading Alexander Dumas' take on The Nutcracker to wrap Christmas up, eh?


Do you plan your Christmas reading ahead? Or you just go with the flow and grab any book you feel like reading? Do you start early or wait until December?