RHYS BOWEN: Today I am celebrating the
publication of a Molly Murphy Christmas book called AWAY IN A MANGER. This book
is in addition to my regular Molly book that will come out next March. Yes, I
wrote three books in the last twelve months. Crazy, I know.
One
of the things I liked most about writing a Christmas story was the chance to
relive an old fashioned Christmas. Have you noticed how hard we try these days
to make Christmas special? Decorations appear in the stores right after the
back-to-school sale these days. I see people buying new decorations even though
I’m sure they must already have plenty. In about a week’s time we’ll start on
the TV Christmas specials—Rudolf and Frosty and all the old favorites. And of
course we’ll all fight to buy our Christmas gifts on Black Friday, won’t we?
Actually not me. I do my shopping online these days.
I
think one of the reasons we try so hard is that we want something that doesn’t
exist any more. We want that perfect holiday from the Christmas cards—the
cottage in the snow with the sleigh bells and the smells of baking and the
family gathered around the fire, children with faces aglow as they await Santa
Claus. And the harder we try to capture that feeling, the more elusive it
becomes. I know I’ve tried hard enough. One year a German friend was bemoaning
how commercial Christmas is in the States and how she longed for that simple
snowy celebration from her youth in Europe. Why don’t we rent a house in the
mountains for Christmas, she suggested. So we did. Horribly expensive but we
wanted to give our children the taste of an old fashioned Christmas. When we
arrived it looked just like a Christmas card scene. Snow heavy on the roof and
the surrounding pine trees. The smell of wood smoke in the air. The next
morning we took the children skiing. And mid way through the morning the snow
turned to rain. And it rained and it rained. It washed away the snow and kept
on raining—too hard for the kids to play outside. We were stuck in a cabin with
no TV and six stir-crazy children. So much for the perfect Christmas!
One
year when the children were grown we decided we would forget commercialism and
give only home-made gifts. We all worked on them secretly—the candles and
fleece pillows and bead necklaces and brownies. Then we exchanged these gifts
and tried to be delighted and excited. Then someone cracked and said, “I did
actually go out and buy a little something for everyone, just in case.” And it
turned out everyone had done the same.
The
closest I’ve come to the old fashioned Christmas was when John and I took a
Christmas market cruise up the Danube river, stopping at all the little towns
with their markets in the main square. The booths were strung with lights and
the air was full of good smells—gingerbread and sausages and mulled wine. There
were wooden ornaments and toys and children, bundled against the cold, stared
in wonder. I loved it. John not so much.
“How many angels do you need to look at?” he’d complain.
When
I think back to the Christmas of my childhood it was really so simple. My main
presents were a sweater, a long playing record (remember those?), a pair of
boots, a book. But it was the one time in the year that we had turkey and
tangerines and we pulled crackers and sat around the fire and played silly
party games like charades. I try to recreate that feeling with my own family
but the truth is that we have too much the rest of the year. Turkey isn’t a
treat. We have plenty to eat every day. We go out and buy a new sweater when we
need one. It was the simplicity the rest of the year that made the holiday
season so special. In times of plenty what is there to look forward to?
This
may be one of the reasons that Christmas books have become so popular. A chance
to step back in time to enjoy the old fashioned Christmas without the
commercialism. In Away in a Manger we see Molly baking and taking her little
son to see Macy’s department store windows. When they see a beggar child
singing with the voice of an angel Molly’s ward is convinced she is an angel
come down for Christmas. But finding out who she really is and why she speaks
so nicely with an English accent will take Molly from the dangers of the
dockland to the highest levels of New York society.
I
hope you enjoy Away in a Manger. Maybe you’ll find some suggestions for your
celebration this year. I’ll be giving away a signed copy to one lucky commented
today. My early Christmas gift to you. And if you didn’t have the chance to
read my earlier Christmas book, The Twelve Clues of Christmas, it will be a
Book Bub special for most of December. Enjoy.
