Once he decided to commit himself to Jesus Christ, Lewis went public with that decision by taking his first real communion … on Christmas.

C.S. Lewis on Christmas

by Jon Kennedy

It’s a sad irony that Charles Dickens, who most likely did not believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, is the English writer most identified with Christmas, while C.S. Lewis who is one of the most articulate literary proponents of the orthodox faith in his century, has left behind almost no contribution to the literature of Christmas.

Lewis’s main literary nod to Christmas is the leitmotif in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, that introduces Narnia as a land where it was always winter but never Christmas. 

After the children from England enter Narnia through the magical wardrobe, beginning events that culminate in the thaw of Narnia’s century-long winter, Father Christmas (as the English call Santa Claus) appears in his raindeer-powered “sledge” and delivers presents to all the good creatures, including the Pevensey children. 

But this is treated as something that could have taken place at any time or season, more because Father Christmas had been unable to visit for a hundred years than because it was Christmas.

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