Dickens and Christmas go together like Christmas and pudding.

 

Christmas is nearly upon us.

I know it's quaint to talk about Christmas, instead of 'holiday season', but it's my blog and so I'll be as politically incorrect as I like. Christmas. Like it or not for hundreds of years this season has been Christmas and that's just how I like it.

Most years at around this time my thoughts turn to what I imagine as being a traditional Christmas environment and traditional Christmas fare: snow covered landscapes, roast turkey, roaring fires, mulled wines, drifting snowflakes, brandy infused christmas pudding with embedded sixpenny pieces, iced ponds, Christmas crackers and party hats, mistletoe, presents wrapped with bright paper and tied with silk ribbons, a decorated Christmas tree, Christmas cards above the hearth, Christmas carols, and chill winds.

Even though I was born in England, and grew up there, this really wasn't Christmas as I knew it; yes it was cold but in London there was rarely snow, and yes we had a large and festive Christmas lunch but in post WWII England large turkeys and other culinary treats weren't part of our food rationing regime.

But believe it or not, I could then, as I am now, still able to enjoy that traditional festive Christmas by turning to the works of Charles Dickens.

So when my thoughts turn to traditional Christmas I reach for Pickwick Papers, Chapter 28 where jolly Mr Pickwick and his intrepid friends are making their way to Dingley Dell to share Christmas with their friend Mr Wardle.

Dickens and Christmas go together like Christmas and pudding.

Now I live in Thailand you might imagine that there's not too much Christmas cheer but when I compare Phuket and North Melbourne I'd have to say Christmas is more in evidence here - than there. And I suppose that says a lot about multiculturalism because here, in a predominantly Buddhist country, I'll hear more Christmas carols than I will in politically correct North Melbourne.

One would think that in a multicultural society every season and tradition would be celebrated; but that no longer seems the case in Australia where multiculturalism has morphed into monoculturalism - and that culture is seemingly determined by anybody, as long as they are not Christian.

But wherever I am, when I want to be in a Christmas mood, I reach for Pickwick Papers - happily.

 

For more about the illustration above:

http://www.victorianweb.org/art/illustration/phiz/pickwick/23.html

 

Toolkit:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Pickwick-Papers-Illustrated-Charles-Dickens-ebook/dp/B00J195NJ4/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1417863010&sr=1-1&keywords=pickwick+papers