A Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens

This copy published in 1898

While I feel I know this story so well, I’ve never actually read the original text.  This beautiful, very old copy is a gift from a friend and it’s so delicate that I’ll have to be very careful reading it.  

Dickens’ story of a grouchy old miser who is visited by unexpected and unwanted company on the night before Christmas was first published in 1843.  His visitors, the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, take old Ebenezer Scrooge on an eye-opening, emotional journey.  When he wakes up on Christmas Day, his joy at realizing he has a second chance at life is overwhelming.  People look at him funny as he dances through the street, but he doesn’t even notice.  His old, selfish life is behind him and he is now eager to share his gifts – both tangible and intangible - with others.

This is a story of Christmas, but is also a story of the New Year.  Just as Scrooge is given a much desired second chance at a more meaningful life, we can, if we find our lives deficient in some way, use this time for a renewal of our own.  

A Christmas Carol is a story of second chances and each one of us is given that opportunity!

The Steadfast Tin Soldier

By Hans Christian Andersen 

A boy is given a gift of 25 tin soldiers.  The last one out of the box is missing one leg since there was not enough tin to finish him.  Still, this soldier stood as straight and strong on his one leg as his comrades do on two legs.  This steadfast tin soldier is placed on a shelf in sight of a beautiful tissue paper ballerina who also stands on one leg, with her other lifted high in the air.  The two fall hopelessly in love by gazing longingly at each other.

The poor tin soldier has a series of unfortunate and fortunate events happen to him.  After falling out a window, he is swept along a gutter, into the river, then into the mouth of a fish.  Just when it seems all hope is lost, the fish is caught and taken into a kitchen for dinner.  The tin soldier is surprised and overjoyed that he has ended up back in the same house, in sight of his tissue paper ballerina.  There is no simple happy ending in Anderson’s fairy tale, though.  The tin soldier is tossed into the fire place by a naughty boy just as a breeze blows the ballerina into the fire.  

After the fire dies, all that is left of the soldier is a small pile of tin, in the shape of a heart.  All that is left the ballerina is a blackened spangle from her dress.

A happy ending would have been nice.  Still, I take a powerful lesson from this tale.  After all is said and done and the soldier’s life is extinguished in the flames along with that of his love, all that remains are their hearts.  All else is destroyed.  At the end of life, it is the heart that lives on. 

Anne of Green Gables

By L.M. Montgomery

First published in 1908

Matthew Insists on Puffed Sleeves

The story of the imaginative Anne Shirley and her journey from lonely orphan to loved and adored member of the Cuthbert household is funny, touching, and magical.  Marilla is the disciplinarian in charge of bringing Anne up as a moral member of society.  Matthew, quiet and shy, is usually in the background.  He so obviously loves his Anne-girl, but allows Marilla to make the decisions.  

In the chapter in which Matthew insists on puffed sleeves, though, he sees something that Marilla is too busy to notice.  Anne does not quite fit in with her friends.  At first he’s not sure why.  Anne is the most animated of the group, talking and laughing, yet something doesn’t seem right.  He comes to the conclusion that Anne is not dressed like the other girls.  Marilla has always dressed Anne in plain, dark, serviceable dresses.  

Christmas is coming and Matthew remembers that Anne has longed for the beautiful new puffed sleeves that are so in fashion.  Although Matthew is painfully shy, he really wants to get a new dress for Anne as a Christmas gift.  After an awkward trip to the store in town in which Matthew is too embarrassed to ask for a girl’s dress, he finally goes to Mrs. Lynde who agrees to make a dress with puffed sleeves.

When Anne receives the beautiful gift on Christmas morning, she overflows with emotion and delight.  

To Matthew, making his Anne-girl happy is of utmost importance.  His love for her gives him strength to stand up to Marilla and overcome his shyness enough to seek help from Mrs. Lynde.  He has opened his heart to a child, and it has transformed him.  What a beautiful message for the Christmas season!

Donna Parker on Her Own

By Marcia Martin

Copyright 1957

Unlike Nancy Drew, Donna Parker is a normal teenager from the fifties, with occasional immature outbursts, disagreements with her parents, worries about money and clothes, and plenty of lapses in good judgment.  

In this volume, Donna has been frustrated with the perceived strict rules of her parents.  Why can’t they see she’s practically grown up and doesn’t need them watching her every move?  When her father is sent overseas on business and her mother is allowed to go with, Donna and her little brother will be left home with a new, friendly, young teacher for an extended time.  Finally, Donna will be able to have some fun!  While they do have their share of fun and parties, Donna comes to realize that that those rules of her parents had a purpose.  By the end of the book when her parents return, she has learned her lesson.  Her parents only want the best for her and so discipline is sometimes necessary.  

While it was refreshing to read a fictional story about a character that really could have been the “girl next door”, one aspect of this book was frustrating.  Donna owns a pet dove, and in her mother’s absence, she sometimes lets the dove out to fly around the kitchen.  Sure, the dove makes a mess and rips up papers left lying around, but Donna wants her pet to be happy so she continues to let it happen.  An open cookie jar was used as a container for the weekly money.  Several times, Donna was shocked to find bills missing.  Could it have been the cleaning lady who took it?  Could it have been Marjorie, the kind, young teacher?  Could it have been her little brother?  

Use your brain, Donna!  

It wasn’t until page 276 that Donna found a pile of ripped up money on top of a cabinet and realized that her beloved dove had been the thief.  

  

If only Donna's neighbor was Nancy Drew.  One short visit from Nancy and the mystery would have been solved, saving Donna from all her worrying!   

 

Nancy Drew

The Sign of the Twisted Candles

This volume copyright in 1933

The Clue in the Old Album

This volume copyright in 1947

The volumes pictured here were both recently acquired from a thrift store.  I read a few Nancy Drew books as a child, but I was never a true fan of the teen-aged sleuth.  What I enjoyed more than the books were the television shows that aired in the 70’s: the Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys Mysteries.  Actually, what I remember most about the shows was that I thought that Shaun Cassidy was cute, while my older sister much preferred Parker Stevenson. We had a few friendly arguments about who was right, and more than a little teasing!  

As far as the books, I guess I always thought that Nancy’s attention to wearing really cute outfits was a little annoying.  If I was headed out the door to chase down a dangerous suspect, you can be sure that comfort would come way before style.  No running in super-cute pumps for me! 

I recently read The Sign of the Twisted Candles for the first time.  Nancy and her friends come upon an old inn when waylaid by a storm.  Nancy pulls her sleek little roadster into the drive, starting the mystery of the 100-year old man practically held prisoner in the top floor of the inn.  She not only solves the mystery of an orphan’s parentage, but also ends a long standing family feud.  Her friendships are tested and her life is endangered.  Yet through it all Nancy remains calm and unflustered.  This demeanor allows her to think clearly even in the most stressful of situations.  

If I can take any lesson away from the Nancy Drew books, it is this:  Stay calm, take a deep breath, and don’t panic.  You’ll solve more problems that way.