Back in the sixties, when I was a kid, there was a book about this boy in the far north (Scandanavia?) whose family all dies one night. Father drowned at sea, Mom hit by a tree out in a storm looking for a doctor for sick little sister, who dies. Kid is sent to live with various families in the village, and everything he does after turns eventually into how a Christmas tradition comes about. (Like making toys for each family he lives with, putting them in their socks, etc.) I’d love to find that book for my grandkids.
Lost Classics of Teen Lit: Name That Book! 