i am to begin reading aloud to seniors at the local retirement community. i’m trying to put together a list of stories, poems, essays that have a christmas, new years or winter feeling to them. i can’t think of that many pieces that might work. so far i have:
a christmas carol (dickens)
the gift of the magi (o. henry)
a chrismas memory (capote)
yes, virginia, there is a santa claus (church)
the christmas story (luke)
stopping by a woods on a snowy evening (frost)
any suggestions on what to add to the list suitable to read aloud to senior citizens? longer works such as novels are fine because i can do a cutting or two from the work to keep it short enough. i know there are others but i’m at a loss.
Oooh…I just found the thing they would slurp up with a spoon.
Go to Amazon.com and put in “Chicken Soup Christmas.”
There are at least 3 or 4 Chicken Soup books with a Christmas theme. Short essays, meaningful in
a way the old people will love.
Yes, they’re sappy, but in the interest of playing to your audience…
I highly recommend The long Christmas by Ruth Sawyer–if, you can get your hands on it! It’s out of print, but an excellent read aloud book of Christmas short stories.
The Wee Christmas Cabin of Carn-Na-Ween being a personal favourite.
There’s a wonderful old children’s story that might be good - it’s called The Bird’s Christmas Carol. It was originally published by Kate Douglas Wiggin (Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm) in 1886. It’s a wonderful, charming story, and I bet some of these folks would have read it (or have it read to them) when they were children.
Try In God We Trust; All Others Pay Cash by the late Jean Shepard. A collection of short stories one of which was filmed and was titled A Christmas Story…you know..Ralphie and the BB rifle
If they’re not canadian and they are of the ww2 generation, they might like The Shepherd (or here). It’s a christmas ghost story about an RAF pilot trying to make it home across the channel in a plane that was low on fuel. The link is to a clip of CBC announcer Michael Enright reading it, a thing that became a christmas tradition on CBC. He’s dead now, and they still drag it out every year. He did a great job, and it was a good story to start with.
Wikipedia says the the tale predaters Forsyth,and was a part of RAF folklore.
“The Clown of God” is a fantastic book written, for children but equally profound for adult readers. The author is Tomie de Paula. The illustrations are beautiful watercolors of a place in renaisance Italy. The only problem is that you might not be able to read it to the end without choking up or even shedding a tear or two. The theme of the book is that we all have talents or some gift to give to others no matter how insignificant we may seem.
Mike
wow. i have to say these are all wonderful suggestions! a couple of them are new to me and i can’t wait to check with the local library to get copies; reading something unfamiliar to me makes it even more fun for myself. i hadn’t thought of the “chicken soup” series; i agree it’s something that should go over well with my audience.
there seems to be plenty of good reading here to get us through december and much of the winter. you are all great! i truly appreciate your help, and i know that the folks i’m reading to will appreciate your suggestions as well.
That delightful movie was actually culled from a couple of Shep’s marvellous short stories. Most of them don’t really have anything to do with Christmas, if that’s what you’re looking for. However, the one about the Christmas Turkey being stolen by the Bumpus’ hounds and the family ending up in a Chinese restaurant for Christmas dinner would do the trick.
Shepard’s short stories are highly recommended for anyone at any time-- one of our great national story tellers!
I like that too.