Christmas - Humbug!
'Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans. No more merciful beheadings. And call off Christmas!'
spoken by Alan Rickman in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves (1992)
Not everyone has the same reaction to the current time of year that Alan Rickman's Sheriff of Nottingham does, thankfully. For this month's Quote From..., AskOxford will have a stroll through the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations to see what the great and the good, and the not quite so fantastic, have said about this most pleasant(!), relaxing(!), and enjoyable(!) of seasons. If this is not how you think, feel free to quote Dickens' Scrooge with me: 'Bah, humbug!'
So what are the main themes of Christmas? For the sake of this article, let's say it's the following: family, home, gifts, and food. First, that which for children can cause the most joy - or tears if it all goes badly wrong: Gifts
'"Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.' said Louisa May Alcott in Little Women (1868-9). The umpteenth pair of socks or the latest book of inappropriate jokes can create some forced 'thank you's' to elderly aunts and uncles. And who hasn't felt the disappointment of Dorothy Parker?
'Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it's always just my luck to get
One perfect rose.' (1937)
In every nearly every household, there is the usual Christmas chef. For this special resident, Christmas is a day spent with one eye constantly on the clock, the oven being utilised with military precision, with the occasional emergence from the steam to provide another plate of food for hungry family members and to grab a swift drink and seat. Marie-Antoinette's instruction of 'Let them eat cake' may be welcomed, if only for the relative ease of cooking cake has compared to a full Christmas dinner. Elizabeth David's maxim that 'good food is always a trouble and its preparation should be regarded as a labour of love' may not always be agreed with when the smoke billows forth.
Finally, 'The appetite grows by eating' said Francois Rabelais in Gargantua (1534). It is as well that this is not strictly true, for after the eating marathon that usually accompanies Christmas day we would all be the size of motor vehicles.
And so on to what can create the true joy of Christmas - or the true agony: being at home with family! While it is a rare occurrence to be as curmudgeonly as George Bernard Shaw; 'The great advantage of a hotel is that it's a refuge from home life', going home for Christmas, or having one's family come to one's own home, en masse, can strain the pleasure of Christmas somewhat. William Jerome was definitely correct when he said 'Any old place I can hang my hat is home sweet home to me.' If only that place didn't have to be shared with other hats...
Let us end this brief trawl here. Everyone here at AskOxford.com and Oxford University Press wish you all a very merry Christmas, a happy New Year, and a successful 2008. All the best!
Postscript: The contents of the above article are not the author's true outlook: he is much more excited than he wishes to let on.
Simon Christie
21/12/2007
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