Christmas Tree and Stella Gibbons

 

We’re well into December, and into the annual Clothes in Books trope of Christmas in Books – seasonal scenes from random books, for no better reason than I like looking for the pictures, and I and some readers find them cheery and Xmas-y 

 

The Bachelor by Stella Gibbons

published 1944

 

 

[excerpt] Kenneth announced that it was time to “have the tree.” Everybody stood up, and Kenneth and Richard carried the table on which the tree stood over to the fireplace. It was a well-shaped little tree, decorated with pink and green balls and little houses and fantastic birds made from fairy-glass, as the children call it. These toys had been carefully preserved by Miss Burton from the days when Mrs. Miles’s children had been young enough to enjoy a Christmas tree, and every year she brought them out and decorated the tree with them.

Usually this custom was looked upon by her cousins with mild amusement, but this year, as the strangely heart-stirring little tree was set down in front of the fire, and its blue and silver and gold decorations tinkled themselves into glittering stillness once more, Kenneth looked across at her and said with a smile: “A good thing you’ve always saved the decorations, Frankie, there aren’t any to be had this year.” 

“I always knew a time like this would come,” answered Miss Burton, and then Kenneth began to give out the presents and cries of “Just what I wanted!” began to sound in all their falseness upon the festal air.

 

 

comments: The Bachelor came to mind because of the wholesale criticism of a different Stella Gibbons book  in the comments on a recent post.

Festive Cheer: Her Heart felt as cold as her hands…

In an entirely proper CiB chain (only what we expect these days), people discussed the chicken farmers of the between-the-wars era, as featured in the on-topic book, then moved to other books with chicken farmers. And one of those is Stella Gibbons The Matchmaker, which then faced universal condemnation from the blog regulars. Rarely are we so unanimous. I read it a long time ago, and have it lined up to at least skim through, although I  have been warned it is throw-across-the-room bad… watch this space.

And if you are still interested in chicken-farming, this phenomenon (former soldiers setting up a farm with their gratuity, and probably failing) features in detail in the comments of another post from recent months.

Anyway, that all reminded me that The Bachelor – a book I would never throw across the room – has terrific Christmas scenes, which have featured before, more than once. There’s Christmas shopping, and a wintry walk in the woods and the collection of holly.

And now here is the raising of the Christmas tree, a wartime tree, with saved decorations, and a very charming description, and there happened to be the perfect picture I feel….  Of course, from the Imperial War Museum's Home Front collection:

Christmas in wartime 1944