So I heard a really crazy theory about the Christmas Box... It seems that the original story was actually written by Stephen King, under the pen name Richard Paul Evans. Apparently, SK didn't want to compromise the integrity of his genre, so he adopted the pseudonym. This cherished Christmas tale is actually a whimsical, warmhearted version of The Shining. Here is the evidence: 1. Two major characters, Richard Thomas and Annette O'Toole, appear in both a past Stephen King movie (IT) and in the Christmas Box. If you don't believe me, google both of their names together.
2. Both the Shining and the Christmas Box portray families with a mother, father, and a single, young child.
3. These families share other similarities--both have recently relocated to a new place--one on a ski resort and the other to a ski town (where the father is setting up a ski lodge!).
4. Both fathers are extremely work-oriented and this causes considerable strain on their relationships with their wives.
5. Both fathers are plagued by dreams or visions that occur shortly after moving the new place. This causes tension with both couples, yet in each case, the children understand the situation on a deeper level.
6. Both children form strong bonds unrelated adults who try to help them through personal crises.
7. Character names in the Christmas Box have strong ties to SK's work: the 6 characters in the Christmas Box were: Richard Evans, Mary Parkin, Keri Evans, Jenna Evans, George, Stephen Hoover, and two unnamed characters. Clearly, Richard could be tied to SK through both SK's other pen name, Richard Bachman, and the fact that Richard is a recurrent character in many SK stories (The Shining contains the character Dick Halloran=RICHARD) or it could be that Richard was named after the actor that played him, much like Jack in the Shining was named after Jack Nicholson. Keri Evans is named for the title character of SK's Carrie. George has appeared as a character name in numerous SK works, including IT and Dolores Claiborne (Dolores's maiden name was St. GEORGE). Stephen Hoover could be named for SK, himself! This might just be a lot (7) coincidences, or it could be that SK, desperate to extend his creative forces far outside of the horror genre,adopted the alternate name Richard Paul Evans and began writing inspirational, family-oriented, Christmas stories.
2. Both the Shining and the Christmas Box portray families with a mother, father, and a single, young child.
3. These families share other similarities--both have recently relocated to a new place--one on a ski resort and the other to a ski town (where the father is setting up a ski lodge!).
4. Both fathers are extremely work-oriented and this causes considerable strain on their relationships with their wives.
5. Both fathers are plagued by dreams or visions that occur shortly after moving the new place. This causes tension with both couples, yet in each case, the children understand the situation on a deeper level.
6. Both children form strong bonds unrelated adults who try to help them through personal crises.
7. Character names in the Christmas Box have strong ties to SK's work: the 6 characters in the Christmas Box were: Richard Evans, Mary Parkin, Keri Evans, Jenna Evans, George, Stephen Hoover, and two unnamed characters. Clearly, Richard could be tied to SK through both SK's other pen name, Richard Bachman, and the fact that Richard is a recurrent character in many SK stories (The Shining contains the character Dick Halloran=RICHARD) or it could be that Richard was named after the actor that played him, much like Jack in the Shining was named after Jack Nicholson. Keri Evans is named for the title character of SK's Carrie. George has appeared as a character name in numerous SK works, including IT and Dolores Claiborne (Dolores's maiden name was St. GEORGE). Stephen Hoover could be named for SK, himself! This might just be a lot (7) coincidences, or it could be that SK, desperate to extend his creative forces far outside of the horror genre,adopted the alternate name Richard Paul Evans and began writing inspirational, family-oriented, Christmas stories.