Allison Symes's Blog - Posts Tagged "in-the-bleak-midwinter"
Stories at Christmas
My favourite stories at Christmas are the Nativity and Charles Dickens's marvellous A Christmas Carol.
My favourite poem/carol is In the Bleak Midwinter (Christina Rossetti). I adore the imagery in this. As for Scrooge's story, I love redemption stories and this is the classic one.
I like to watch the Muppet Christmas Carol (with Michael Caine as Scrooge) every year. One thing I love about it comes right at the end when Gonzo recommends reading the original book by Dickens. How many films promote reading the original book?!
My favourite time on Christmas Day itself comes in the evening when there really is nothing for me to have to do and I can curl up on the sofa and pick which book I was given as a present to start reading first. Naturally, there is a nice drink beside me too!
I'm hoping for a couple of historical books (non-fiction) this year. One lovely thing about having a writer in your life is you won't run out of present ideas. We either want to read something or to have things that will help us write our own tales. So just ask and we will give you a list!
It does take something special though to add to Christmas traditions and Dickens and Rossetti both achieve that.
My favourite poem/carol is In the Bleak Midwinter (Christina Rossetti). I adore the imagery in this. As for Scrooge's story, I love redemption stories and this is the classic one.
I like to watch the Muppet Christmas Carol (with Michael Caine as Scrooge) every year. One thing I love about it comes right at the end when Gonzo recommends reading the original book by Dickens. How many films promote reading the original book?!
My favourite time on Christmas Day itself comes in the evening when there really is nothing for me to have to do and I can curl up on the sofa and pick which book I was given as a present to start reading first. Naturally, there is a nice drink beside me too!
I'm hoping for a couple of historical books (non-fiction) this year. One lovely thing about having a writer in your life is you won't run out of present ideas. We either want to read something or to have things that will help us write our own tales. So just ask and we will give you a list!
It does take something special though to add to Christmas traditions and Dickens and Rossetti both achieve that.
Story Time
I know it’s not quite pantomime time. For those not in the know, pantomime happens after Christmas and goes on to late January/early February.
It is a fabulous way of getting people into the theatre as it is aimed at all the family with a lot of audience participation, adlibs, and much humour.
The stories used for pantomime are based on the classic fairytales. Pantomime is an old tradition too). I do know it is story time though.
I love the story of the Nativity, poems such as Twas the Night Before Christmas (also known as A Visit from Saint Nicholas), and the carols.
In the Bleak Midwinter is my favourite and Christina Rossetti, like Charles Dickens, have added to Christmas related literature. Not many can claim to have done that. I also love stories in film (The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Polar Express, Hogfather).
I also love to write festive flash fiction and was privileged to have one of mine, This Is The Partnership, broadcast on internet radio recently. My tale looks at how Santa deals with a dodgy salesman. Good fun to do.
But as I mentioned in a recent post here, I am looking forward to that lovely time just after Christmas where I will get to read more, the normal routines are suspended, and I get to enjoy those presents which just happened to be books. I always have a request list here. No surprises there.
I hope you have a lovely Christmas and you get to listen to/watch/read some wonderful stories.
It is a fabulous way of getting people into the theatre as it is aimed at all the family with a lot of audience participation, adlibs, and much humour.
The stories used for pantomime are based on the classic fairytales. Pantomime is an old tradition too). I do know it is story time though.
I love the story of the Nativity, poems such as Twas the Night Before Christmas (also known as A Visit from Saint Nicholas), and the carols.
In the Bleak Midwinter is my favourite and Christina Rossetti, like Charles Dickens, have added to Christmas related literature. Not many can claim to have done that. I also love stories in film (The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Polar Express, Hogfather).
I also love to write festive flash fiction and was privileged to have one of mine, This Is The Partnership, broadcast on internet radio recently. My tale looks at how Santa deals with a dodgy salesman. Good fun to do.
But as I mentioned in a recent post here, I am looking forward to that lovely time just after Christmas where I will get to read more, the normal routines are suspended, and I get to enjoy those presents which just happened to be books. I always have a request list here. No surprises there.
I hope you have a lovely Christmas and you get to listen to/watch/read some wonderful stories.
