{"id":36237,"date":"2018-12-17T06:30:05","date_gmt":"2018-12-16T17:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/?p=36237"},"modified":"2018-12-16T21:21:06","modified_gmt":"2018-12-16T08:21:06","slug":"christmas-is-coming-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/2018\/12\/17\/christmas-is-coming-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Is Coming"},"content":{"rendered":"

…in fact, it’s upon us even as I type, in a manner reminiscent of a bullet-train bearing down at high speed upon the unwary—which would be me when it comes to the Christmas season and being prepared this year.<\/p>\n

AKA, yours truly is not prepared at all, at all! Too busy writing (and that’s the good news. \ud83d\ude09 )<\/p>\n

Anyway, to get in the mood, and the seasonal mode, here are a few literary excerpts that feature Christmas.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe<\/em><\/strong> by CS Lewis<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Yep I know, probably the most famous Fantasy Christmas everz…But that’s why it’s first up. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

“It <\/em>was a sledge, and it <\/em>was reindeer with bells on their harness. But they were far bigger than the Witch’s reindeer, and they were not white, but brown. And on the sledge sat a person whom everyone knew the moment they set eyes on him. He was a huge man in a bright red robe (bright as holly berries) with a hood that had fur inside it and a great white beard that fell like a foamy waterfall over his chest. Everyone knew him…he was so big and so glad and so real, that they all became quite still…”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Little Women<\/em> by Louisa May Alcott<\/h4>\n

Also pretty famous in the literary Christmas stakes. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

” “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.<\/em><\/p>\n

“It’s so dreadful to be poor,” sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress.” “<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"The Armorer’s House<\/em> by Rosemary Sutcliff<\/h4>\n

“The sky was full of stars, sparkling and frost-bright, except where the moon rode high above the crowding roofs of the Southwark shore; and the city seemed a city in a fairytale, every ledge and cranny deep in sparkling frosted snow, and every carved saint and angel and demon on the tower of every church ermine-hooded and ermine-cloaked. There were lights everywhere, marigold windows in the shadowy walls of houses, and golden lanterns hung before the doors, and every light reflected in the river so that it made two. For in those days people still called Christmas Eve the Feast of Lights and set candles in every window and lanterns before their doors…<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Drover’s Road<\/em> by Joyce West<\/h4>\n

“All Christmas days at Drover’s Road seem to get mixed up in a sort of special excitement: the early mornings and stockings hanging at the foot of the bed … the long day getting hotter, and lamb for dinner, with mint sauce and peas and new potatoes … lying out under the cherry tree on the lawn with our new presents, and having afternoon tea there with iced biscuits and Christmas cake. Then dusk coming at the end of the long lovely day…”<\/i><\/p>\n

\"\"The Dark is Rising<\/em> by Susan Cooper<\/h4>\n

(Just in my humble opinion) the second most famous Fantasy Christmas everz, and deservedly so… \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was something about Christmas Eve, they both felt, that demanded company; one needed somebody to whisper to, during the warm beautiful dream-taut moments between hanging the empty stocking at the end of the bed, and dropping into the cosy oblivion that would flower into the marvel of Christmas morning.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens<\/h4>\n

Probably the most famous Christmas in literature, by a country mile.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s to-day, my fine fellow?\u201d said Scrooge.<\/em>
\n \u201cTo-day!\u201d replied the boy. \u201cWhy, Christmas Day.\u201d<\/em>
\n \u201cIt\u2019s Christmas Day!\u201d said Scrooge to himself. \u201cI haven\u2019t missed it.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

And I think that’ll do, for going on with. \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…in fact, it’s upon us even as I type, in a manner reminiscent of a bullet-train bearing down at high speed upon the unwary—which would be me when it comes to the Christmas season and being prepared this year. AKA, yours truly is not prepared at all, at all! Too busy writing (and that’s the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-funstuff","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36237"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36254,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36237\/revisions\/36254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}