Just to make this clear, these are reasons why I write this genre, not why everyone does or should.

Well, I searched and searched for someone to give me a definition of Christmas stories but I couldn’t find anything. I searched for Holiday, and the closest thing I could find is

Stories set during a particular holiday but can also fit under any other genre such as mystery, romance, fiction, Christian, historical fiction, etc.

That seems to fit “Christmas stories” as there are other genres you could put them under. And if look at the Christmas stories that I have written, they fit under mystery, fiction, Christian, historical, and contemporary. But why do I write stories set during Christmas time?

1. Love Christmas This is probably the biggest reason right here. I LOVE Christmas! I love the lights, the smells, the songs, the fun, the cozy feelings, and most of all the real reason for the holiday.
   
   
2. Reason for Christmas So many Christmas stories are cute or fun, and yet they focus on the presents or the trees or have some Santa or elf in them instead of the real reason we celebrate Christmas. I write to share the real reason for Christmas.
   
   
3. Lack of good Christian stories There are hundreds of Christmas stories, but most of them are lacking in characters who live like Christians at Christmas time. The Christ of Christmas is ignored and left out. There are all sorts of moral Christmas stories, and while they may be fun to read, they don’t help my Christian growth or encourage me to walk closer to my Savior.
   
   
4. Things I’d love to do, but can’t This one is fun. I don’t live in an area that gets a lot of snow most years, so I have to enjoy my snow virtually. Many of my Christmas stories include things that I’ve never done. Though they do sometimes reflect my life and things that are part of my Christmases.
   
   
5. Can Be Any Genre One thing about Christmas stories is that they can be any genre and length. You can mix your favorite genre (mystery, historical, romance, contemporary, etc.) with Christmas and have a Christmas story. But so many of the so-called “Christmas” stories I’ve found hardly mention Christmas. If it’s going to be Christmas, put Christmas in the story. Don’t call a story “Christmas” if it’s hardly mentioned and could, with a few slight changes, take place some other time. I write multiple genres, but I try to make each Christmas story “Christmasy”.

And there you have it. Now you know why I write Christmas stories. What about you? Do you write Christmas stories? Do you enjoy reading them? Are you looking forward to this year’s 24-Books-before-Christmas posts?