Christmas Re-membered

One of my earliest memories of Christmas stories, in addition to the ones I learned in Sunday school, is The Littlest Angel (1946) by Charles Tazewell. It's the story of a little angel, known as a "problem angel" - he had a whistle that disturbed the other angels and his halo kept slipping. He’s sent to meet with "an angel of peace." The Understanding Angel does, indeed, empathize with heaven's newest and youngest member, granting the Littlest Angel his wish for the box of "treasures" from under his bed.

The story is poignant - to be the Littlest Angel, this child must have died; but, we never know why or how. No matter. As a child, I knew this and felt this and that added to my attachment to this little one - at the time, the Littlest Angel and I were about the same age. How he behaved was, somewhat, how I behaved - as a child. He learns to be better; and, by the end of his story, his gift to the Christ child is a gift that rises up to become the Star of Bethlehem.

"The Night Before Christmas"

Christmas in my home wouldn’t be complete without someone reading "The Night Before Christmas," (1823) by Clement Moore. First published anonymously in the Troy, New York Sentinel on December 23, it laid the foundation for many contemporary concepts of Santa Claus - his appearance, the number and names of his reindeer and bringing toys for good girls and boys. But, it was the rhyme scheme and visceral, visual elements of this poem that enchanted and mesmerized me. Long before I knew what these were, I delighted in the idea that I had sugar plums dancing in my head while I slept and dreamed Christmas Eve.

A Christmas Carol Remembered

Charles Dickens’ dedication in December, 1843, to A Christmas Carol, gives a hint of what’s to come: "I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea..." The wanderings and conversion of the spiritual (and actual) miser Ebenezer Scrooge has been interpreted in drama, art, song and movies. Tiny Tim and his family are depicted as poor, happy and loving, in contrast. Christmas Past, Present and Future embodies those "Ghost[s] of an Idea." Bringing the viewer/reader to the last line, "God bless us, everyone." Indeed.

"A Child’s Christmas in Wales"

Published two years after his death in 1955, it was first recorded December 6, 1945 for the BBC Welsh Service Children’s Hour. "A Child’s Christmas in Wales" by Dylan Thomas transcends the reality of present Christmas, evoking an earlier time and place that may, perhaps, be incorrectly remembered, making it all the more sweet and lyrical. The "useful gifts" and the "unusual gifts” are blended with the salt air of Thomas’ native Swansea and the laughter and port of Christmas Day. All are gathered up in the child’s spiritual mystery in the closing line: "I said some words to the close and holy darkness, and then I slept."

Amahl and the Night Visitors

Gian Carlo Menotti, born in Italy, had no Santa Claus, as the gifts were brought by the Three Kings. Years after leaving Italy and taking up residence in the US, Menotti was commissioned to write an opera for television by the National Broadcasting Company (NBC). Christmas was the deadline and in November he still had no opera. Walking through the galleries of the Metropolitan Museum, he stopped in front of the Adoration of the Kings by Hieronymus Bosch. He heard, again, the song of the Three Kings. Amahl and the Night Visitors was the first opera specifically written for television. A simple story of a crippled boy and his mother. They’re visited by Melchior, Kaspar and Balthezar, who are journeying to visit the new born Child. There’s a mishap of stolen gold they’re bringing. That which was stolen is returned and Amahl’s mother is forgiven - she wanted it to help heal her son. Amahl offers his gift, is cured and continues the journey, with the Three Kings, to visit and give thanks to the Christ Child.

The Nutcracker

Finally, The Nutcracker, a ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 1891-92, is based on The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, by E. T. A. Hoffman, 1816. The story centers on Clara and the fairy Prince/Nutcracker and their transport to a dream-like land, including dancing Snow Flakes, Sugar Plum Fairies, Chinese, Russian and Arabian dancers. Capturing the wonder, awe and magic that is a child’s Christmas, The Nutcracker brings swirling, fantastic images dancing before the audience’s eyes and imaginations.

Images, music, stories, gathering, special treats and food and re-membering, every year - no matter what your tradition and history of Christmas is, recall the closing sentences of O. Henry’s "Gift of the Magi" - "…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."

All Joy and Peace.