The Gift of the Magi is one of those old but beautiful stories with emotional weight...

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Here we have another classic tale that has been told and re-told for longer than I can remember. I did my due diligence and found what looks like the original version of this story!

I'm happy to say that very little has changed in this case. You can never be too sure with some tales, but this is one that my younger boys (those who love to run run run as fast as they can) really enjoy as told from any decade.

I will say that the items used to decorate gingerbread cookies seem to have changed over time. This story tells the use of currants, which are basically raisins. In my family when I was growing up, we used red hots and homemade frosting, and these days we just frost them! I'm curious what the norm actually is these days...

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December is here and the hunt begins for stories from around the globe that match the season. I've found some great ones, but until I can win the copyright game (where the only winning move is not to play), I found these three stories from the Grimm brothers that are focused on elves.

The Elves and the Shoemaker is one of the most popular and not quite what I remember from my childhood. Beware, by the way, the little men are NAKED, but it's mentioned only briefly. There may also be a lesson here about how to successfully run a business so you're not living on the margin of your profits and free labor, but that is for you to share. (At one point it sounds like the wrong word, but I promise I'm reading it as the story was published, as confirmed by TWO different sources!)

The other two stories are brief and just touch-and-go, but I think it's interesting to hear them in light of stories from Asia I've heard that sound quite similar. I love thinking about the history of these tales and from where they might originate.

There isn't anything especially harmful in the lesser-known tales, as long as you don't linger on the repercussions of the second story.

I hope you enjoy them all the same!

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