What Christmassy stories can I tell my dd?

[Kathyate6mincepies]

Looking for inspiration.... dd (2) is going through a phase of wanting to be told stories rather than read then, which is fine by me as it's rather more interesting making it up than reading Alfie and bl*dy Annie Rose for the 10000th time.

So far I have in my repertoire the birth of Baby Jesus, general Father Christmas stuff, Father Christmas and the mouse (FC says 'bet you can't put anything else in that stocking' and the mouse puts a hole in it). Thought I would do Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer tonight.

Can anyone think of any more I can adapt?

The Night Before Christmas - it is a poem story (are the words

Oh that's good Lewisfan, thank you (link didn't work but I googled it)

story of how silent night was written
the little match girl (a bit sad taht one tho)

Yay Silent Night, great idea. Stories involving mice go down well.
Will give Little Match Girl a miss for now

Mine like stories of when we were young. We can get a lot of mileage out of Christmas in mine and DP's families. and they quiz grandparents and random adults on these issues as well.

it helps if you have a strange family with odd Christmas practices (mine are posted on another thread today). Mine can be quite amusing.

That's a good idea Fennel.
I can do the story of my grandad's braces.
(He was given a pair of braces and a brand new knitted sweater for Xmas, c. 1917, and he wanted to wear the sweater outside the braces but tucked into his trousers, so he cut holes in the sweater for the braces to go through )

Otherwise I can quiz grandparents for more.

Exactly, that sort of thing. Particularly popular with my dds are stories of how I was mean to my siblings, or vice versa.

These aren't Christmas ones but tales of how Aunty PerfectEaterOrganicFreak would never eat vegetables, or how we were systematically mean to Uncle Boring. How DP fainted while going to the loo and the wee went all over the bathroom has them in hysterics too.

Family legends - there is the best mileage there, completely agree.

We have:

• when the Spaniel Ate the Easter Eggs
• when Mummy Aged 5 On Holiday Polished Off all the Clotted Cream Every Night
• when the Dog Ate the Fruit Cake

Note the theme. I must see if I can recall an actually Christmas-specific one.

PS - dh's family don't do family legends & think it weird that when my family get together there is immediately a sort of Homeric bardic ritual of them all. Anyone else like dh's family??

Excellent Bink, that reminds me of When Grandad Drank The Paint Because He Thought It Was Custard (an Xmas one, in fact).

I don't think they need to know about When Mummy Ate Uncle Matthew's Easter Egg....

Good King Wenceslas is a great story.

(cross-post there ... I was continuing to mull on the theme of eating - that was the link b/w my two posts)

My dds are the only people who know the truth about What Happened to AuntyOrganicFreak's lost chocolate which mysteriously disappeared from the fridge. (Obviously, I ate it).

Stories of eating seem to be quite popular don't they?

Our Christmas ones are good, as I am lucky (in Christmas storytelling terms) to have Grandad who forbade the Christmas tree and Stockings and Father Christmas. And Granny's attempt at a compromise with the Festive Twig.

oh that is hilarious Fennel! - must find your other thread.

Re stories of eating - deep instinct connection I think. (Apparently in "impro" (ie drama thing, where you're supposed to follow with your very first association) the typicalest first association is either Eating, or Death. Or Death, followed by Eating whatever has died.