For discussion of A Christmas Episode from Master Humphreys Clock .

A sweet story, the friendship touched me. I'm noticing, though, that so far Dickens has portrayed everyone who is alone at Christmas as either lonely or misanthropic. His described Christmas celebrations, for the most part, while fun to observe as a reader, are too crowded and boisterous for my real-life pleasure. Shouting children, crowded rooms, busyness everywhere, and not one person going alone to a corner for quiet observance, or to read a book received as a Christmas present.

Peregrine, i feel exactly like you: the kind of celebration Dicken describes, sounds lovely when reading about it, but i honestly wouldn't like to take part in any in real life.....maybe there's a difference in how people celebrated Christmas in England in the Victorian age? Here in Austria Christmas is primarily a family celebration, people stay at home or visit relatives, but it's definitely a rather quiet evening, not to be compared with new year's-eve....in greece for example, the 24th of december doesn't have a really special meaning and people usually go out to bars or discos, it's a loud and far-from-contemplative day.....they love to travel here to see snow (usually in the cities there's none around Christmas...:-), and are really surprised that almost everything is closed as Austrian (like other central europeans) just don't go to restaurants of shop on the 24th or 25th of December.......