Christmas Reading Treasures

DEBORAH CROMBIE: One of my favorite traditions of the holidays is getting out my well-loved Christmas books. Some of them are quite bedraggled! Look at this much-patched copy of Clement C. Moore's THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Other than the dust jacket, the book is in beautiful condition.

And the book plate, with my maiden name in my still loopy schoolgirl handwriting!

Or how about A CHRISTMAS CAROL, 1961 edition, illustrated by Ronald Searle? This one is stamped inside with my parents' name and address.

And this is a replacement copy of my decades old paperback copy of Dylan Thomas's A CHILD'S CHRISTMAS IN WALES, illustrated with woodcuts by Ellen Raskin. I still have the tattered original, and I have different, newer editions, but none of them have quite the same charm.

There is also a 1984 edition of THE NUTCRACKER illustrated by Maurice Sendak!

Aren't these illustrations fabulous??

But most treasured of all is my copy of the Christmas story published in 1973 by my late uncle, A.C. Greene, A CHRISTMAS TREE, illustrated by the painter Ancel E. Nunn, who was his great friend. It's about his childhood Christmases in west Texas, and one particular year when the Christmas tree didn't quite fit. If ever you can find a copy, snap it up!

Unfortunately, the book was at one time shelved on a lower shelf in one of our bookcases and some puppy or other, I don't remember which one was the culprit, chewed a corner quite thoroughly.

Now the book is kept safely stowed on a top shelf!

All of these have pride of place on our coffee table for the season, just waiting to be read. The only problem is finding the time to sit down and enjoy them!

Dear REDs and readers, do you have treasured Christmas books? And which is your favorite?

Christmas Disasters

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Although--at least hopefully--most of us haven't had Christmas disasters to rival the Bumpus hounds stealing the turkey in A Christmas Story (I know I've seen this a hundred times and it still cracks me up,) I bet we've all had Christmases when things didn't go according to plan. 

My favorite from my childhood was the year my grandmother, who lived with us and was a bit forgetful, put the Christmas turkey in the oven and forgot to turn the oven on. No one realized until hours later, when it was too late to start the turkey roasting. That year we had Christmas dinner at Luby's Cafeteria. (And no one had to clean up the kitchen, which as an adult I think is the best part...)

Then, a couple of years ago, we'd planned to go to my aunt and uncle's for our traditional Christmas Day dinner, but we got snowed in. Yes! In Texas! Beautiful white fluffy snow that started at breakfast and fell all day. Of course our three or four inches would have been nothing for you hardy northerners, but in Dallas, that much snow means that the roads were shut down. We found something in the freezer to cook, and spent the day in front of the fire with just our daughter and son-in-law, and it was THE best Christmas. After that, I vowed we'd stay home on Christmas Day (we do Rick's family celebration on Christmas Eve.) This year we'll have some friends and family as well as the kiddos, and best of all, Wren!!! So looking forward to our adorable grandbaby's first Christmas!

REDS, any Christmas disasters for you?

RHYS BOWEN: The only one I can think of was the year there was a massive power cut right before I was about to put the turkey in the oven. It was a year my brother was visiting from Australia so we had around 14 people in the house. When I got upset my calm and wonderful son in law Tim went out and came back with Chinese food. So we have photos of a perfectly decorated table and lots of little food containers all over it!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Seems like there's a theme here...Mine wasn't Christmas, but Thanksgiving. We had friends over, and I was doing it up big. Delish appetizers, then turkey and elegant elaborate sides. I was so proud of myself because everything was ready at the same time! The green beans were perfect, and the broccoli souffle puffed exactly when the turkey timer popped!  But when I cut into the turkey--AHHHHHH. Not done! Pink, red, awful. I slammed it back into the oven, and stalled, more wine anyone?? It cooked and cooked, endlessly. (It seems like that, anyway,but it was thirty minutes at least.)  When it was FINALLY done, long story short, I realizedI had neglected (because I had decided it was not good to stuff the turkey for some reason) to take out the bag of neck and etc.
Dear Miss Manners. And so?    

READERS, any Christmas disasters for you?

DEBS' VISITS "A CHRISTMAS STORY" HOUSE

DEBORAH CROMBIE:  If you haven't seen A Christmas Story, the film based on the short stories and semi-fictional anecdotes of author and raconteur Jean Shepherd, it's a Christmas must. The film, based roughly on Shepherd's childhood in Hammond, Indiana, opened to a modest reception just before Thanksgiving in 1983. Darren McGavin plays Mr. Parker (The Old Man), Melinda Dillon, Mrs. Parker, and Peter Billingsley is Ralphie, whose dream is to get a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. The film is narrated by Shepherd himself (who co-wrote the film with director Bob Clark) as a grown-up Ralphie.

In the years since its release, based on television and home video airings, the film is now ranked by AOL as the #1 Christmas movie of all time, and in 2012 was added to the National Film Register. Told with warmth and humor, this simple story enchants viewers of all ages.

Although set in the fictional town of Hohman, Indiana, many of the exterior scenes were filmed in a Victorian house in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. Fast forward to 2004, when San Diego entrepreneur Brian Jones, a fan of the movie since childhood, had begun a successful business manufacturing "Leg Lamps" based on the "major award" won by The Old Man in the film. Jones saw the Cleveland house for sale on eBay and bought it, sight unseen. Two years and several hundred thousand dollars worth of renovation later, the house opened to the public as a museum on November 25, 2006. Jones gutted the house and recreated the interior sets used in the film as closely as possible.

Fast forward again to October, 2012, when my friend Marcia Talley and I attended Bouchercon 2012 in Cleveland. The last stop of our weekend on a cold, drizzly Sunday afternoon was a visit to the A Christmas Story house, its accompanying museum, and gift shop. (Yes, you can buy replicas of Ralphie's bunny suit. And your very own Leg Lamp. And many other things.) 

Here's the house as it looks today. 

The house is furnished with reproductions--the original props and costumes that were salvaged are in the little museum across the street--and visitors are given every opportunity to pose in the iconic setting. Here I am showing off the Leg Lamp from the front porch while we wait for our tour group to be admitted.

 Here Marcia and I "show a leg" in the living room.





 And I even crawled under the kitchen sink, where Ralphie's little brother Randy hides, a favorite posing spot for visitors.

Silly? Yes. Hugely fun? Yes. Next time you're in Cleveland, Ohio, I highly recommend a visit. In the meantime, get out your DVD, or watch the Christmas Eve marathon showing of A Christmas Story  on TV.


 
Oh, and by the way, Peter Billingsley grew up to be quite dishy.
 
 So, REDs and readers, do you love A Christmas Story, too?

PS: The winner of THE WALNUT TREE is Karen B. Karen,  if you'll email me at deb at deborahcrombie dot com with your address, I'll forward it to the Todds. Enjoy!
 

O CHRISTMAS TREE--HOW GREEN ART THOU?

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Every year we have the same argument in our house. Real tree, or artificial? But it's futile, because I ALWAYS WIN. In my book, it's not Christmas without a REAL tree!

We had the same "discussion" every year in my family when I was growing up. Artificial trees then, of course, were in their stiff-branched infancy.  (Did you know the first artificial trees were made by a brush manufacturer?) Aluminum trees had yet to become retro and were just tacky. 

It was my mom who was the nay-sayer. When my dad and I set off for the tree-lot, she'd always say, "Well, don't get a big one, then," and we'd always come home with a seven-foot tree. To this day I don't understand why the size made a difference to her--the tree went in the living room, not the den, and was in no one's way--but for some reason, it did. A holdover from the Depression-era frugality of her own childhood perhaps.

She had good enough reason for not wanting the real tree, however, fire-hazards that they were. The tree of my childhood looked just like the tree in A Christmas Story (getting to that later this week!) A horribly prickly Scotch pine, already dropping yellow needles, anchored by a stand made of two crossed sticks.  And the lights, of course, were multi-colored C9 bulbs, hot enough to burn your hand when you touched them.

But real trees have come a long way in the decades (!) since. Now we get beautiful Noble firs from the lot down the street--one year they came in from Oregon with snow still on them! They are fresh, and soft, and take up a half-gallon of water a day. Two years ago we switched to LED lights, safer and more energy-efficient. We got the warmest white we could find, and when the light still seemed a little sharp, we filed every single bulb with emery boards. (Now that's dedication. Or maybe insanity...) The rougher surface makes them glow. (That's last year's tree in the photo at the top.)

So why the argument? Well, first, the whole thing is a lot of trouble, I'll admit. And my DH says that fake trees are more environmentally friendly. I say real trees are a viable, renewable crop that creates jobs, puts oxygen into the air, and puts land to use that would otherwise lie fallow.

So who's right? This year I decided to look it up. And you know what?  I am. 

According to every source I checked, the real tree comes out tops, and I learned lots of things I didn't know about artificial trees. Most are manufactured in China, and the petroleum-based chemicals used in the process are not only damaging to the environment but to the workers who produce them. Some trees contain lead, which can filter out into your home. And artificial trees are the greater fire hazard. 

Our city, like many, mulches the real trees after the holidays (it's called "tree-cycling") and that mulch goes to use in city parks, helping to keep the ground moist in our hot, dry Texas summers.

So this year I'm going to enjoy my tree, guilt free.  What about you, REDS and readers? If you do a tree, do you go for the GREEN?

FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIES

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Hooray, it's the Jungle Red Saturday List, and now that Thanksgiving is over, we are of course thinking about Christmas. But just to take the sting out of all the hoopla of shopping, wrapping, mailing, decorating, and sending cards, I thought we should turn our minds to pure, unadulterated pleasure--Christmas movies. I love Christmas movies, unabashedly, and would happily watch them non-stop for a month if I could find the time.

I meant to say limit your choice to one movie, but since I'm going to cheat and put in two, everyone else can, too.

Oh, so many to choose from! But my very close second spot goes to LOVE ACTUALLY, which I will undoubtedly make my husband watch at least once, and he will complain that it's incredibly sappy but watch it anyway, bless him.

#1, however, must go to A Christmas Story. Although this movie debuted in 1983, I didn't see it until my husband introduced me to it in the mid-nineties, and I've been in love with it ever since. It is a writer's movie if ever there was one, adapted from Jean Shepherd's story, "Red Ryder Nails the Hammond Kid," first published in the December, 1965, issue of Playboy Magazine. (How many of you knew that?) Wonderful performances from Darren McGavin, Melinda Dillon, and Peter Billingsly as "Ralphie." (Peter Billingsly, by the way, grew up to be quite dishy. Recognize him without the glasses?)

So, Reds, what are YOUR faves?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: LOVE, ACTUALLY, is my favorite. Absolutely. NO question, no second thoughts. I play the album all the time--and people say, isn't that a Christmas movie? And I don't care. Second? Ah...I'm stumped. I do like It's a Wonderful Life, especially the dancing on the swimming pool,but --shrugging. Sometimes I think it's creepy. (What can I say? He was going to kill himself, and leave his whole family?) You've Got Mail? How about that? But I don't like the ending.

JAN BROGAN: Miracle on 34th Street, hands down. What better fantasy than one of those shopping mall Santas is the real guy. And it's got to be the version with Natalie Wood as the little girl. Although I am a big fan of A Christmas Story, I still think my second place goes to It's A Wonderful Life - even if I groan a little at the length of it.

RHYS BOWEN: I have so many favorites, including "You'll shoot your eye out!" but every year I don't feel Christmassy until I watch WHITE CHRISTMAS and IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. (And I also love Scrooge, but that would be cheating to slip another one in, wouldn't it :)

ROSEMARY HARRIS: So mean to make us stick to just two! I love all of the movies mentioned - Albert Finney as Scrooge, so brilliant.(But so was Bill Murray.)
Okay...stop cheating.)

A Christmas Carol - must be the Alistair Sim version and Love Actually. I will probably watch that twice between now and New Year's. "I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes....."

DEBS: Hank and Rosemary, I LOVE the soundtrack to Love Actually. It's stayed at the top of my playlist for years. I wonder what ever happened to that darling girl singer?

ROSEMARY: I had googled her a while ago! Her name is Olivia Olson and she's still singing and still cute as a button. Here's a link to her version of All I Want from Love Actually: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H_WKfRDA8w

HALLIE EPHRON: You've named all my favorites! Top of the list, I agree with you, Debs: A Christmas Story. Testament to its staying power: I saw in one of the store ads (K-Mart? Target?) that sexy leg and tassel lamp the father lusts after.

For a little less treacle, I like Home for the Holidays. Holly Hunter has to spend the holidays with her family, where she so does NOT want to be. Brilliant turn by Robert Downey Jr. Plus Ernst Lubitsch's The Shop Around the Corner (Margaret Sullavan and James Stewart at their most vulnerable) - watch it back to back with its adaptation You've Got Mail.

LUCY BURDETTE: Sleepless in Seattle, not completely Christmas but the holiday's in there. Going to watch Love Actually again, along with A Christmas Story and Home for the Holidays. thanks for the suggestions!

JAN: Lucy, I think you just cheated :) Watch out for coal in your stocking from my Macy's Santa.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I must be the oldies fan in the bunch. Two of my favorites are Christmas in Connecticut (1945) and White Christmas (1954.) The first one has the stunningly fashionable Barbara Stanwick who does what we'd call lifestyle blogging today. Except she's a complete fake who lives in a West Side apartment and who can't cook. Caught out by her publisher's offer to host a wounded vet, she has to scramble to recreate her "perfect" rural lifestyle - complete with husband and baby!

Everyone knows the second. How can you go wrong with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye and Vera Lynne and the incomparable Rosemary Harris, all harmonizing on "Snow" as they take the train up to Vermont? It has all the hallmarks of the 1950's musical - songs that make no sense, silly romantic mix-ups, and a stage in a barn that's larger than Lincoln Center. I love it.

DEBS: Okay, I'm cheating--how could I have forgotten The Holiday? I love that one, and would watch it over and over just to see Eli Wallach.

I'm putting Home for the Holidays on my to-watch list, and some of the ones I haven't seen in years, like Christmas in Connecticut and White Christmas.

Sounds like a great alternative to shopping!

So, what about you, readers? No cheating--well, maybe a little... Tell us your faves!

A Major Award

ROSEMARY: If April really is the cruelest month as T.S. Eliot has written, at least part of it has to do with the fact that the Edgars and the Agathas are awarded in April. Say what you will about awards - and John LeCarre has rather famously just said "Thanks, but no thanks" to being considered for the prestigious Man Booker International Prize - most writers would be thrilled to be nominated for an award. LeCarre has stated he does "not compete for literary prizes." The Booker website more diplomatically explains "Mr. LeCarre asked that his books ... not be submitted for the annual prize to give less established authors the opportunity to win." When I'm John LeCarre I hope I am that generous - right now, I'd love to win an award, but it will be difficult since I am not nominated for anything this year. Whether we like it or not, awards are a measure of success.

Even a "major award" like the leglamp in A Christmas Story. Not many reading this blog are tortured souls slaving away in garrets for our art. We want to write stories that will touch, entertain, educate or perhaps even enlighten readers. The spotlight that winning or even being nominated ("it's an honor...") brings to a work enables us to reach more people. So to any nominating committees out there - there's only one John LeCarre - go ahead and nominate us!

RHYS: I have had more than my share of nominations, and awards too, and it never gets old. First the phone call that says "This is the committee for the Agatha Awards..." Then that lovely stage when you hope you might have won and people congratulate you on being nominated, then the banquet when you can't make yourself swallow food, and finally the moment when the envelope is opened and you hear your name, stand up, stumble to the stage, pausing only to wonder if you really heard your name or you'll reach the podium only to find it was someone else. And then the speech when you hope you won't sound like an idiot and you've mentioned all the right people. It's one of the real highs of a writer's life. I treasure each award I've won. They sit on a bookcase halfway down my stairs so I have to pass them as I go to my office and they are a real morale booster on bad days. Of course I'd still like to add an Edgar to my collection....

HALLIE: I've had the thrill of nomination -- my Writing and Selling Your Mystery got Edgar and Anthony noms. And "Never Tell a Lie" was nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark and won the David (Yay, Deadly Ink -- coming up in NJ this August with our own Hank Phillippi Ryan as Guest of Honor). I won the American Crime Writers League award for excellence in mystery reviewing - a huge thrill for which I was completely unprepared! But still I feel like a piker next to my fellow Jungle Reds. I look forward to it 'never getting old'!

ROSEMARY: I was nominated for the Agatha for Pushing Up Daisies and I was on tour so they had a hard time reaching me. I had picked up a few messages from someone on the Agatha Committee but they didn't say what they were calling about - I was convinced it was because I hadn't checked Chicken or Vegetarian - until I actually heard the words. It was thrilling. For the Anthony I was nominated along with Stieg Larssen so I put on my party dress and was much more relaxed since I didn't think I had a prayer of winning! Still a bridesmaid...

HANK: Oh, awards! It brings tears to my eyes to think about it.. I completely remember when I got the call about the Agatha Nom for Prime Time. I had NO IDEA there was a phone call, so when I heard the "This is the awards committee from Malice Domestic"--I actually literally burst into tears. And when I won...well, I still get goose bumps. Endlessly grateful.

Hilariously, my Anthony nominations--which come by email--were caught in my spam filter! And I was up against the iconic and amazing Dennis Lehane for the short story Anthony--and burst out laughing when I won! (Can you imagine? His story--which was also about a dog, coincidentally, is now being made into a major motion picture. SO it goes.) (And I touch my Macavity for luck every day before I start writing.)

And this year? Drive Time is up for the Agatha for Best Novel! SO fantastic! And I am up against, well, names SO BIG I hesitate to mention them. (Penny, Pickard, Andrews and Webber.) Can you hear me howling with laughter? And I get you, RO. I am going to be VERY relaxed and happy. I already am.

Seriously: you always feel as if you shouldn't think of a speech in advance, you know, because it'll jinx the results. But a wise person once told me--you MUST figure out what to say. It's the only respectful thing to do.

ROBERTA: Those are great names Hank, but no greater than yours! Six Strokes Under was nominated for a best first Agatha before I even knew there were awards. What a thrill! My husband and my agent both came down for the banquet. Unfortunately, I was up against some very strong contenders, Nancy Martin and (ahem) Julia Spencer Fleming to name two. I knew perfectly well that Julia had hit the dang book out of the park but there's always a squiggle of hope--yes, my book was pretty good too.

I've had two Anthony nominations for Six strokes under and Putt to Death--I knew these were long shots but still great great fun. And one short story nom for a Macavity and I must say that I totally covet one of those prizes that looks like a cat. Wait, the teapot would be lovely too. and I wouldn't turn away the funny looking Poe man. Just saying...I'm not done yet:)

JULIA: What I - and I suspect a lot of people - remember about that Agatha awards banquet is the way my husband literally leaped in the air when my name was announced. He got it before I did - I was sitting there telling myself to smile and applaud. Advice I've had LOTS of practice with since. At this point I've lost many more awards than I've won.

My funniest awards story also has to do with Ross. It had been a horribly snowy winter here in Maine, so much so that poor Ross had badly strained his back shoveling out our driveway. He was supposed to be lying on the floor at home, resting. I was next door, helping my neighbor clear her porch roof and gutters. Suddenly we see the bizarre sight of my husband, staggering stiffly down our country road with a parka tossed over his pajamas, supported by our oldest daughter. He was shouting unintelligibly - something about crying and being bombed, it sounded like. "Oh, my God," the neighbor gasped. "Someone's dead." Finally he got close enough to hear. "'Out of the Deep I Cry' has been nominated for an Edgar!"

RHYS: Julia--you and I were up against each other for the Edgar. Was that fair, I ask? So seldom that a woman is even nominated, I can't help but believe that we split the vote between us! But it was fun sitting at the same table, wasn't it? And getting a huge flower arrangement from the publisher. Let's hope there will be a next time.

ROSEMARY: So, all due respect to Mr. LeCarre - it's great to hear it when "you like us...you really like us.." What do you think...does it make a difference to you as readers?