In the Janet Evanovich novel Visions of Sugar Plums, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum is drinking coffee one morning when a stranger materializes in her kitchen. Unlike Chris in the story “Miracle” by Connie Willis, this man is six foot tall, with an athletic body, long blond hair, and rugged good looks. His name is Diesel. While he introduces himself as the Spirit of Christmas, we eventually learn that his reason for being sent to Trenton, New Jersey involves more than just infusing Stephanie Plum with a dose of holiday cheer. That is not to suggest that Stephanie could not use some help in dealing with the Christmas season.
Diesel finds no Christmas tree in her apartment: she doesn’t even own any ornaments. Like Lauren’s friend Evie in “Miracle,” Stephanie complains that she doesn’t have the money or the time to truly celebrate Christmas. She hasn’t sent out any cards, nor has she started shopping for presents, even though Christmas is four days away. While she is too proud to admit this to Diesel, secretly she yearns to fully participate in the Christmas season. She’d love to have a Christmas tree in her living room, a wreath on her door, red candlesticks on her kitchen table, Christmas music playing on her stereo, and her closet filled with wrapped presents for her family. Instead:
“Every year I chased after Christmas, and every year Christmas barely happened. My Christmases were always a mess of badly wrapped last-minute Christmas presents, a chunk of fruitcake sent home in a doggy bag from my parents’ house, and for the last couple years I hadn’t had a tree. I just couldn’t seem to get to Christmas.”
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| I couldn't fit this tree into my living room this year. |
Some years I’ve been organized like Lauren in “Miracle,” mailed off my cards the first week of December, and purchased all my gifts for others well in advance of Christmas Eve. Other years, like Stephanie, I haven’t even gotten around to decorating, my Christmas cards were sent off in a reactionary fashion (if at all), and gifts were barely purchased in time. Some years I’ve felt like Chris in “Miracle,” that I could afford to just sit back, enjoy some eggnog, watch a Christmas movie, and enjoy the season. Other years I’ve rushed about, desperate to mark all the items off the Must Do list like Lauren. Yet each year had the same number of days (excepting one extra for leap years). Nor did my preparedness (or lack thereof) and emotional state necessarily track with my work, family, and social demands. What then made the difference in how I approached the holidays?
I grew up in a Protestant church, which followed the secular tradition that the Christmas season started on the day after Thanksgiving and ended on Christmas Day. Later in life I discovered that Catholics, Orthodox, and Anglican Christians designate the four weeks leading up to Christmas as the Advent season, and view Christmas Day as the beginning of a twelve-day season that culminates in Epiphany. These two traditions could not be more different: one sees Christmas as the end of a process, the other as the beginning.
I’ve heard it said the historic Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung claimed that because Catholics lived the cycle of the church year, they were less neurotic than Protestants. (Personally, I’ve never viewed myself as neurotic, but thanks for that insight, Carl!) As Evie points out in “Miracle,” stress-related illnesses and suicides are more prevalent during the holidays than at any other time of the year. Having practiced both approaches to the Christmas season, I can attest that each tradition has merit. Advent not only acknowledges the tension that naturally arises with the end of any season or time period, but celebrates it. “You’re facing stress arising from the imminent coming of Winter, the end of the year, and each year’s biggest celebration of life?” Advent asks. “Great! Embrace that apprehension: it’ll only make Christmas more enjoyable!” Whereas the Protestant/Secular model argues: “Let us see the period leading up to Christmas as one of sharing love and joy with those whom we care about. All of the stresses we face arise from our desire to express how much others mean to us. So put up that tree, buy those gifts, hold Christmas parties, and enjoy Christmas now as we await the actual day of celebration and gift-giving.”
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| "If you light it, they will come." |
Each tradition has champions who will argue that their approach to Christmas is better. The fact that we have two competing traditions illustrates the Christmas War that breaks out in our hearts during this season. Christmas, coming at the end of the year, is a natural time to compare where we are now to where we were last year at this time. At the same time, it signals the opportunity for the new beginning we all desire. The Biblical story of God giving his son to the world serves as a metaphor for how much we would like to give those we love. Yet, due to the constraints of time and money, the fragility or rigidity of interpersonal relationships and social mores, no matter how hard we try, it seems that we can never give them enough, or express to them adequately, how much they mean to us.
Throughout the novel, Stephanie Plum will repeatedly try to do what she can to celebrate the Christmas season. She will buy Christmas trees and presents for people, only to see them destroyed in any number of hilarious ways. And yet, despite how all her attempts bomb, when Christmas finally arrives, it meets all the emotional and interpersonal needs she hopes it will address. Our efforts may not be aided by a supernatural man who materializes in our kitchens and rescues us when our efforts fall short, yet one of the things I take away from the novel is that, as insane as her life is, at least Stephanie tries to celebrate the season and express her love to her family. She doesn’t abdicate in the Christmas War: she keeps on fighting. And because she tries (and tries, and tries), her efforts are rewarded.
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| When Christmas comes, it can meet all our needs. |
Whatever personal, family, and religious traditions you practice, I wish you success this year. Whatever circumstances you find yourself in, may you fight your hardest to embrace the season, may you give your all for yourself and those you care for, and may you emerge victorious in the Christmas War.
Visions of Sugar Plums by Janet Evanovich, is available from St. Martin’s Press.
Miracle and Other Christmas Stories by Connie Willis, is available from Bantam Books.
Previous entries on “Miracle” by Connie Willis
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