The Idler, Friday, December 23, 2011

Christmas is here

CHRISTMAS is upon us. It's a time of festivity and giving, of reconciliation and goodwill. It's interesting to look at the way different writers have portrayed it.

Most people think of Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol, and indeed the Dickensian Christmas – food drink and jollity among the holly and ivy – has permeated the world over. But, let's be honest, there's also something a little mawkish and schmaltzy about A Christmas Carol.

How about WW Jacobs, that wonderful short story writer of the turn of the 19th century, who divided his attention between the London docklands and the inland village of Claybury? In Prize Money, the villagers have contributed twopence a week toward a Christmas hamper.

"… there was a fine, large turkey in it, a large goose, three pounds o' pork sausages, a bottle o' whiskey, a bottle o' rum, a bottle o' brandy, a bottle o' gin, and two bottles o' wine.  The hamper was all decorated with holly, and a little flag was stuck in the top."

But no. The local poacher, Bob Pretty, won the hamper by sleight of hand and went on to blackmail the others for 30 shillings when they tried to steal it back. That's not in the spirit of Christmas.

How about F Scott Fitzgerald? In A Luckless Santa Claus, a wealthy young man spends Christmas Eve trying to give away $25 to strangers in New York, in a wager with his girl. He meets with nothing but hostility.

"Dorothy rushed to the window and pulled up the blind. There, coming up the steps on his hands and knees was a wretched caricature of a man. He was hatless, coatless, collarless, tieless, and covered with snow. It was Harry. He opened the door and walked into the parloür, leaving a trail of wet snow behind him."

She asks where he's been, what's happened?

"'Oh, nothing. I've just been giving away that twenty-five dollars.' And Harry sat down on the sofa.

"'But Harry,' she faltered, 'your eye is all swollen.'

"'Oh, my eye? Let me see. Oh, that was on the twenty-second dollar. I had some difficulty with two gentlemen. However, we afterward struck up quite an acquaintance. I had some luck after that. I dropped two dollars in a blind beggar's hat.'"

It turns out he's brought with him the two gentlemen who gave him difficulty.

 

"… 'They are coming home with me to spend Christmas. They are really nice fellows, though they might seem a trifle rough at first.'

"Dorothy drew a quick breath. For a minute no one spoke. Then he took her in his arms.

"'Dearest,' she whispered, 'you did this all for me.''

 

A minute later he sprang down the steps, and arm in arm with his friends, walked off in the darkness.

""Good night, Dorothy,' he called back, 'and a Merry Christmas!'"

That's more like it. And there's a great realism about it the way he walked off with his mates..

But I think O Henry still come out tops. The Gift of the Magi comes closest to capturing the sublime message of Christmas. A young couple are dead broke in New York in the middle of the Great Depression. She cuts off and sells her beautiful locks to buy him a chain for his prize possession, a watch. He sells his watch to buy her tortoiseshell combs for her beautiful locks.

"The Magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men--who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the Magi. "

A happy and blessed Christmas to one and all.

Tailpiece

 

IF THERE are two Father Christmases on your roof, which one's Van der Merwe?

 

He's the one with the Easter eggs.

 

Last word

 

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveller back to his own fireside and quiet home!
Charles Dickens

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