The Magi honored the
Christ child with three gifts.
In honor of the magi, I read three Christmas tales each
December.
The Little Match Girl by Hans Chistian Anderson, 1845
The very short
story of a poor girl selling matches, cold and shoeless, New Year’s Eve in some great European city. It felt like London, but perhaps Anderson envisioned
Copenhagen. The little match girl hasn’t sold any matches and she knows her
fathter will beat her if she doesn't. In despairing cold, she lights a match to warm herself
and in the comfort of the flame she sees a sumptuous feast. She lights another
and sees a family gathering around a beautiful Christmas tree. She lights another
and sees her dear Grandmother, the only soul who ever loved her. To preserve the
reverie, she lights the whole bundle of matches and is lost in the warmth of her Grandmother's love and the vision becomes reality when she is released from all
suffering by the one who knows what it is to find no welcome on a winter night.
It is a bittersweet
tale, very reminiscent of The Beggar Boy at Christ’s Christmas Tree by Dostoevsky,
1876. Perhaps Dostoevsky borrowed a bit from Anderson.
The Family under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson, 1858
Illustrated by Garth Williams
Armand is a
hobo, roaming the streets of Paris, Christmastime very early 1900s. He is a
very contented hobo with a carefree life of no work and no responsibility. He
tells a friend…
“I can’t abide
children,” grumped Armand. “Starlings they are. Witless, twittering, little pests.”
His friend, kindly
old Mireli…
…shook her
finger at him. “You think you don’t like children,” she said, “but it is only
that you are afraid of them. You’re afraid the sly little things will steal
your heart if they find out you have one.”
Forshadowing,
that.
Armand seeks
refuge in a favorite spot under a particular bridge only to find it occupied by
three little “starlings”: Suzy, Evelyn, and Paul, and even a dog who "should be white" named Jojo. I bet you can’t guess what
happens.
It is a sweet
tale with surprising adventures, and a happy Christmas ending.
The illustrations, including the cover seen here, by Williams are marvelous.
The worst Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson, 1972
The Herdmans
were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world.
So this children’s
novel begins as narrated by Beth Bradley, a grade school classmate of Imogene
Herdman, the notorious ringleader of the Herdman children. They steal, swear, smoke, set fires, and bully the other children and some adults. Beth’s mother is the
reluctant director of the annual Christmas pageant, which is doomed to be the
worst ever when the Herdmans volunteer for the lead roles. No one else
volunteers under threat of violence by the Herdmans. Imogene herself will play
the Virgin Mary.
There is of
course, outrage and thoughts to abandon the pageant, but perhaps miraculously,
the show goes on, and although decidedly unorthodox, there is a powerful and
poignant ending that makes it the best pageant ever.
It is a
marvelous tale, comic enough to make me laugh out loud, but oh — there is something so much more profound, so much more glorious.
But Jesus said,
Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is
the Kingdom of Heaven. ~ Matthew 19:14
Merry Christmas
~ The
Wanderer
May
you be blessed with
the
spirit of the season, which is Peace,
the
gladness of the season, which is Hope,
and
the heart of the season, which is Love
.
