5 Classic Christmas Stories

by Ernst T. A. Hoffman, O. Henry, Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Clement Clarke Moore

Overview

5 CLASSIC CHRISTMAS STORIES features five popular and heartwarming holiday stories, including THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING, THE GIFT OF THE MAGI, THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER, THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL, and ‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

1. THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING by E. T. A. Hoffmann

“The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” tells the story of a girl named Marie who receives a wooden nutcracker on Christmas Eve, which comes alive to battle the evil, seven-headed Mouse King and his army of mice. A surprise ending leads Marie to a magical kingdom of dolls.

CHAPTER 1 - The Day BeforeCHAPTER 2 - The GiftsCHAPTER 3 - The SurpriseCHAPTER 4 - MagicCHAPTER 5 - The Battle of the Sugar BulletsCHAPTER 6 - The Pleasant SurpriseCHAPTER 7 - The Fairy Tale of the Hard NutCHAPTER 8 - Continuation of The Fairy Tale of the Hard NutCHAPTER 9 - Conclusion of The Fairy Tale of the Hard NutCHAPTER 10 - The VictoryCHAPTER 11 - The Kingdom Of The DollsCHAPTER 12 - The Candy CapitalCHAPTER 13 - Conclusion

2. THE GIFT OF THE MAGI by O. Henry

“The Gift of the Magi” is about a young couple, Della and Jim, who are struggling to afford Christmas gifts for each other due to their poverty. The story’s irony lies in the fact that their gifts are rendered useless by their mutual sacrifices, highlighting the depth of their love and the true meaning of giving.

3. THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

“The Elves And The Shoemaker” introduces us to a poor shoemaker and his wife who find themselves in financial ruin until a pair of perfectly made shoes appears each morning, leading to prosperity. Who has been making them?

4. THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL by Hans Christian Andersen

“The Little Match Girl” concerns a poor, barefoot girl who is selling matches out in the freezing winds on New Year’s Eve. Huddled in an alley for warmth, she lights matches to see visions of a warm stove, a festive meal, and a beautiful Christmas tree.

5. ‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS by Clement-Clarke Moore

“‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” is a classic 1823 poem that describes the excitement on Christmas Eve. As the family settles to sleep, the narrator hears a commotion and sees St. Nicholas (Santa Claus) arriving with his flying reindeer and sleigh. Santa enters the home by going down the chimney, fills the stockings with toys, and then departs, leaving the family in wonder and joy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798228696969
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	11/18/2025
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 5.70(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann wrote The Nutcracker and the Mouse King to entertain children of all ages, complete with dolls and castles, candies and candles, crimson lakes and sparkling gardens, and hundreds of fairy people.

O. Henry (1862–1910), born William Sydney Porter in Greensboro, North Carolina, was a short-story writer whose tales romanticized the commonplace, in particular, the lives of ordinary people in New York City. His stories often had surprise endings, a device that became identified with his name. He began writing sketches around 1887, and his stories of adventure in the Southwest United States and in Central America were immediately popular with magazine readers.

The Brothers Grimm were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors. They are among the most well-known storytellers of European folk tales, and their work popularized such stories as “Cinderella,” “The Frog Prince,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “Rapunzel,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” and “Snow White.” Their first collection of folk tales, Children’s and Household Tales, was published in 1812. The popularity of the Grimms’ collected folk tales has endured well beyond their lifetimes. The tales are available in hundreds of translations and have been made into popular Disney films, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Sleeping Beauty, and Cinderella.

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen’s fairy tales, consisting of one hundred and fifty-six stories across nine volumes, have been translated into more than one hundred and twenty-five languages. They have become embedded in Western collective consciousness, accessible to children as well as presenting lessons of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity for mature readers. Andersen’s stories have inspired ballets, plays, and animated and live-action films.

Clement Clarke Moore (1779–1863) was an American professor of oriental and Greek literature, as well as divinity and biblical learning, at the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in New York City. He is the author of the yuletide poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” which became famous as “The Night before Christmas.”

Noelle Dupuis is an accomplished voice actor and audiobook narrator based in Ontario, Canada. For Voices in the Wind Audio Theatre, she has read children’s classic stories, including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, The Beatrix Potter Collection, Thumbelina, The Wild Swans, The Princess Collection, and The Hans Christian Andersen Collection, to name a few. Blackstone Publishing distributes all these titles. Noelle teaches drama and music at her local Elementary School when she isn’t narrating audiobooks.

Table of Contents

THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING: Chapter 1: The Day Before Chapter 2: The Gifts Chapter 3: The Surprise Chapter 4: Magic Chapter 5: The Battle of the Sugar Bullets Chapter 6: The Pleasant Surprise Chapter 7: The Fairy Tale of the Hard Nut Chapter 8: Continuation of The Fairy Tale of the Hard Nut Chapter 9: Conclusion of The Fairy Tale of The Hard Nut Chapter 10: The Victory Chapter 11: The Kingdom of the Dolls Chapter 12: The Candy Capital Chapter 13: Conclusion THE GIFT OF THE MAGI THE ELVES AND THE SHOEMAKER THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL ‘TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS