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Old Christmas: From the Sketch Book of Washington Irving by Washington Irving, Randolph Caldecott
hodgeling's review against another edition
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
thatokiebird's review against another edition
medium-paced
2.0
Continuing in my Christmas-themed story read-a-thon, I picked this one up but found it to be dry and wholly unmemorable. The last time I read Washington Irving was in high school, and remember liking the writing quite well, or maybe it was just that particular story. Old Christmas is a series of short stories about traditions of Christmas and spending it with family and friends. My mind wouldn't stop drifting during this book, and I found it nearly impossible to focus on the message or characters at all.
brianlokker's review against another edition
4.0
Old Christmas is a collection of five short stories that Washington Irving originally published in January 1820 as the fifth American installment of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. All are told from Crayon’s first-person perspective as a traveler in England.
The first piece, “Christmas,” is an introductory essay in which Crayon reflects on the meaning of Christmas and the celebration of the holiday. “Amidst the general call to happiness, the bustle of the spirits, and stir of the affections, which prevail at this period, what bosom can remain insensible? It is, indeed, the season of regenerated feeling—the season for kindling, not merely the fire of hospitality in the hall, but the genial flame of charity in the heart.” He is unabashed in his love for Christmas, especially the old English Christmas traditions and customs that he saw were, sadly, fading away.
In the other four stories in the collection, Crayon illustrates his observations about English Christmas festivities with anecdotes of a Christmas that he spent in the English countryside. While traveling in a coach, he meets his friend Frank Bracebridge, who invites him to spend Christmas with his family at their country manor, Bracebridge Hall. The patriarch of the family, old Squire Bracebridge, is careful to preserve his ancestral estate in its original state. And when it comes to Christmas, he insists that his family and friends celebrate it in the authentic old English style.
Crayon participates in the festivities and enjoys them, but he also describes them with the keen observational eye of the experienced traveler and social chronicler. Some aspects of the goings-on amuse him. Looking around the table at dinner, for example, he notes that by comparing the diners with the family portraits on the walls, he could have “traced an old family nose … handed down from generation to generation.” But he’s a polite guest: “There were several dishes quaintly decorated, and which had evidently something traditionary in their embellishments; but about which, as I did not like to appear over-curious, I asked no questions.” In describing the choir at church, he says that “everything went on lamely and irregularly until they came to a chorus beginning ‘Now let us sing with one accord,’ which seemed to be a signal for parting company: all became discord and confusion.”
Crayon admires the squire’s kindness and benevolence, but he pokes some fun at his belief in the power of the Christmas traditions to pacify the peasants. “‘Our old games and local customs,’ said he, ‘had a great effect in making the peasant fond of his home, and the promotion of them by the gentry made him fond of his lord.’” Crayon doesn’t say so explicitly, but it’s clear that as an American, he finds this noblesse oblige attitude a bit condescending—and probably delusional.
This short book (an excerpt really, as described above) helped ease me into the Christmas spirit. The descriptions of the old English Christmas traditions were quite interesting and educational. And Irving’s writing is lively and amusing. I enjoyed the book, and if you’re looking for a quick holiday read, I’d recommend it.
The first piece, “Christmas,” is an introductory essay in which Crayon reflects on the meaning of Christmas and the celebration of the holiday. “Amidst the general call to happiness, the bustle of the spirits, and stir of the affections, which prevail at this period, what bosom can remain insensible? It is, indeed, the season of regenerated feeling—the season for kindling, not merely the fire of hospitality in the hall, but the genial flame of charity in the heart.” He is unabashed in his love for Christmas, especially the old English Christmas traditions and customs that he saw were, sadly, fading away.
In the other four stories in the collection, Crayon illustrates his observations about English Christmas festivities with anecdotes of a Christmas that he spent in the English countryside. While traveling in a coach, he meets his friend Frank Bracebridge, who invites him to spend Christmas with his family at their country manor, Bracebridge Hall. The patriarch of the family, old Squire Bracebridge, is careful to preserve his ancestral estate in its original state. And when it comes to Christmas, he insists that his family and friends celebrate it in the authentic old English style.
Crayon participates in the festivities and enjoys them, but he also describes them with the keen observational eye of the experienced traveler and social chronicler. Some aspects of the goings-on amuse him. Looking around the table at dinner, for example, he notes that by comparing the diners with the family portraits on the walls, he could have “traced an old family nose … handed down from generation to generation.” But he’s a polite guest: “There were several dishes quaintly decorated, and which had evidently something traditionary in their embellishments; but about which, as I did not like to appear over-curious, I asked no questions.” In describing the choir at church, he says that “everything went on lamely and irregularly until they came to a chorus beginning ‘Now let us sing with one accord,’ which seemed to be a signal for parting company: all became discord and confusion.”
Crayon admires the squire’s kindness and benevolence, but he pokes some fun at his belief in the power of the Christmas traditions to pacify the peasants. “‘Our old games and local customs,’ said he, ‘had a great effect in making the peasant fond of his home, and the promotion of them by the gentry made him fond of his lord.’” Crayon doesn’t say so explicitly, but it’s clear that as an American, he finds this noblesse oblige attitude a bit condescending—and probably delusional.
This short book (an excerpt really, as described above) helped ease me into the Christmas spirit. The descriptions of the old English Christmas traditions were quite interesting and educational. And Irving’s writing is lively and amusing. I enjoyed the book, and if you’re looking for a quick holiday read, I’d recommend it.
grllopez's review against another edition
4.0
A sweet, joyous, and delightful rendezvous with Christmas past. We could all use a bit of that, I think.
Review here: https://www.greatbookstudy.com/2020/12/old-christmas-by-washington-irving.html
Review here: https://www.greatbookstudy.com/2020/12/old-christmas-by-washington-irving.html
flybyreader's review
4.0
What a grand depiction of a victorian Christmas!
Irving is quite grandiloquent and has a unique way with words. The pages are filled with vivid descriptions of English pasture, wintry landscapes, luscious dinner tables and fire crackling at the hearth. He has some specific notion of Christmas, I really enjoyed reading it. The countryside abundance manifests itself in Irving’s generous style and grandiose selection of words.
One thing though, I made a mistake of listening to the audiobook version and took a look at the book later. If you do not want to miss out on the beautiful illustrations which complete the pages, try the Gutenberg project for this.
I have to say I was hungry throughout this book! The eccentric food decorating the tables made me want to jump into a time machine to experience the olden christmas in England:
“I could not, however, but notice a pie, magnificently decorated with peacocks' feathers, in imitation of the tail of that bird, which over shadowed a considerable tract of the table. This the Squire confessed, with some little hesitation, was a pheasant-pie, though a peacock-pie was certainly the most authentical; but there had been such a mortality among the peacocks this season, that he could not prevail upon himself to have one killed.”
Well weirdly delicious!
Eating, drinking and dancing, what more would anyone want from Christmas?
In his final words, he puts himself in the readers’ shoes: “Me thinks I hear the questions asked by my graver readers, "To what purpose is all this?—how is the world to be made wiser by this talk?"
And answers his question in his final words:
But in writing to amuse, if I fail, the only evil is my own disappointment. If, however, I can by any lucky chance, in these days of evil, rub out one wrinkle from the brow of care, or beguile the heavy heart of one moment of sorrow; if I can now and then penetrate through the gathering film of misanthropy, prompt a benevolent view of human nature, and make my reader more in good humour with his fellow-beings and himself, surely, surely, I shall not then have written entirely in vain.
Oh, he has a way with words, that’s for sure! I have to read his other works!
Irving is quite grandiloquent and has a unique way with words. The pages are filled with vivid descriptions of English pasture, wintry landscapes, luscious dinner tables and fire crackling at the hearth. He has some specific notion of Christmas, I really enjoyed reading it. The countryside abundance manifests itself in Irving’s generous style and grandiose selection of words.
One thing though, I made a mistake of listening to the audiobook version and took a look at the book later. If you do not want to miss out on the beautiful illustrations which complete the pages, try the Gutenberg project for this.
I have to say I was hungry throughout this book! The eccentric food decorating the tables made me want to jump into a time machine to experience the olden christmas in England:
“I could not, however, but notice a pie, magnificently decorated with peacocks' feathers, in imitation of the tail of that bird, which over shadowed a considerable tract of the table. This the Squire confessed, with some little hesitation, was a pheasant-pie, though a peacock-pie was certainly the most authentical; but there had been such a mortality among the peacocks this season, that he could not prevail upon himself to have one killed.”
Well weirdly delicious!
Eating, drinking and dancing, what more would anyone want from Christmas?
In his final words, he puts himself in the readers’ shoes: “Me thinks I hear the questions asked by my graver readers, "To what purpose is all this?—how is the world to be made wiser by this talk?"
And answers his question in his final words:
But in writing to amuse, if I fail, the only evil is my own disappointment. If, however, I can by any lucky chance, in these days of evil, rub out one wrinkle from the brow of care, or beguile the heavy heart of one moment of sorrow; if I can now and then penetrate through the gathering film of misanthropy, prompt a benevolent view of human nature, and make my reader more in good humour with his fellow-beings and himself, surely, surely, I shall not then have written entirely in vain.
Oh, he has a way with words, that’s for sure! I have to read his other works!
barefootsong's review against another edition
4.0
A lovely recollection of an old-fashioned Christmas at a country estate in England in the early 19th-century.
birdmanseven's review against another edition
3.0
This was a fun, low-key Christmas story. Nothing too deep or noteworthy, just an enjoyable Christmas read.