Christmas Reading

This collection of "Christmas Books" by Charles Dickens, printed in the late 1890s, was awarded to my maternal grandmother for being "the best speller in the class -- 1900." It's likely that this award was given in December, before the one-room schoolhouse located a mile west of her family's farm closed down for the Christmas holidays.

Evelyn would have been about 10-1/2 years old when she received it, and as I carefully paged through the book's contents -- unabridged versions of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," "The Chimes," "The Cricket on the Hearth," and "The Battle of Life," with no illustrations on the more than 300 pages, I wondered if a child of comparable age today would enjoy this well-loved book.

Christmas was celebrated in a much quieter way in 1900; perhaps my grandmother read excerpts from her prize book to her family after the stockings and presents were opened, and the Christmas dinner was over, and on the following days. I wish I had a photograph of her at age 10 or so, but as I don't, this one taken in her early twenties will have to do.

Returning to the present time, Phil and I are having Christmas early this year. We usually gather with our children and grandchildren in several locations on Dec. 26, but this year we're going to Seattle, staying in a hotel, and enjoying the festive atmosphere and big city attractions with the various groupings over a long weekend, beginning tomorrow. I'll most likely be back-blipping, and probably won't be commenting until we return home.