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Time to summon up the holiday spirit; I’m looking for holiday-themed, heart-touching stories to set the mood. They are hard to find. Giving them a mood setting rating from a 1-star “Treacle” to a 5-star “Uplifting ”

I have also compiled a short list of holiday stories on a Pinterest Board reading list.

• “Home for the Holidays,” By Maile Meloy, Byliner.com

A not uncommon tale of a young person trying to form her own traditions only to discover a stripped down Christmas lacks charm. She misses the melee caused by births, marriages and remarriages that require interstate trekking and gift giving aerobatics. 3 stars

• “Christmas Story: For the Man Who Hated Christmas,” by Nancy W. Gavin, Web of Love

A true story about a woman whose husband disliked the commercial aspect of Christmas; she began a tradition of buying gifts for people he knew that had urgent needs, and slipping a note about the gift into a white envelope she placed on the tree every year. 5 star idea

• “Markheim,” by Robert Louis Stevenson, eastoftheweb.com

At first glance, the only thing Christmassy about this Poesque tale of murder is that the crime occurs on Christmas Day. Stevenson explores the conscience of a killer in satisfying language and then confronts him with a specter who poses a question to us: Can a sinner be tempted to behave rightly? Isn’t that the hope of Christmas?

Loved this line:

Terror of the people in the street sat down before his mind like a besieging army.

5 star writing 

• “Papa Panov’s Special Christmas,” by Leo Tolstoy

This reads like every Christmas fable ever written; a Russian Bob Cratchit meets The Little Match Girl. 2 stars

• “A Letter from Santa Claus,” by Mark Twain, The Daily Beast

So intimate and funny, this letter is addressed to Susy Clemens from her dad/Saint Nicholas in the Moon who needs some clarification on exactly what she wants for Christmas. The little girl’s request has lost something in the translation/communication from her mom. 4 stars

• “Xmas Words,” by Roy Bount, Jr., The Daily Beast

Serious funniness, Roy (rhymes with joy) gives a shout-out to commercialization, consumption, and the overuse of credit cards while tickling the fancy of us wordies. You may throw all caution to the wind and overspend like a zealot after you read this. Have to give it a feel good 4 stars.

• “The Christmas Letter,” by R.L. Williams, Holiday Short Story.com

Predictable plot with style issues that plague novice writers, but it’s out there and won first prize on this website. As a writer I was distracted by speakers who acknowledged, replied, surmised, affirmed, agreed, added…a severe edit would help this story. 1 star