"Connie Willis - Miracle and Other Christmas Stories" - читать интересную книгу автора (Willis Connie)

George Seaton) and perfect casting (especially Natalie Wood and Thelma Ritter) and any number of delig
moments (Santa's singing a Dutch carol to the little Dutch orphan and the disastrous bubble-gum episod
Natalie Wood's disgusted expression when she's told she has to have faith even when things don't work
Plus, of course, the fact that Edmund Gwenn could make anyone believe in Santa Claus. All combine to m
The Best Christmas Movie Ever Made.
Not, however, the best story. That honor belongs to Dickens and his deathless "A Christmas Carol.
rumor that Dickens invented Christmas is not true, and neither, probably, is the story that when he died, a
costermonger's little girl sobbed, "Dickens dead? Why, then, is Christmas dead, too?" But they should be.
Because Dickens did the impossible—not only did he write a masterpiece that captures the essen
Christmas, but one that was good enough to survive its own fame. There have been a million, mostly awfu
movie, and musical versions and variations, with Scrooge played by everybody from Basil Rath-bone t
Fonz, but even the worst of them haven't managed to damage the wonderful story of Scrooge and Tiny Tim
One reason it's such a great story is that Dickens loved Christmas. (And no wonder. His childhood
Oliver Twist's and Little Dorrit's combined, and no kindly grandfather or Arthur Clennam in sight. His w
adult life must have seemed like Christmas.) I think you have to love Christmas to write about it.
For another, he knew a lot about human nature. Remembering the past, truly seeing the present, imag
the consequences of our actions are the ways we actually grow and change. Dickens knew this years b
Freud.
He also knew a lot about writing. The plot's terrific, the dialogue's great, and the opening line—"M
was dead: to begin with"—is second only to "Call me Ishmael" as one of the great opening lines of litera
He knew how to end stories, too, and that Christmas stories were supposed to have happy endings.
Finally, the story touches us because we want to believe people can change. They don't. We've all le
from bitter experience (though probably not as bitter as Dickens's) that the world is full of money-gru
and curtain-ring stealers, that Scrooge stays Scrooge to the bitter end, and nobody will lift a finger to help
Tim.
But Christmas is about someone who believed, in spite of overwhelming evidence, that humanity is ca
of change and worth redeeming. And Dickens's Christmas story is in fact The Christmas Story. An
hardened heart that cracks open at the end of it is our own.
If I sound passionate (and sometimes curmudgeonly) about Christmas stories, I am. I love Christmas,
its complexity and irony, and I love Christmas stories.
So much so that I've been writing them for years. Here they are—an assortment of stories about ch
choirs and Christmas presents and pod people from outer space, about wishes that come true in ways you
expect and wishes that don't come true and wishes you didn't know you had, about stars and shepherds,
men and Santa Claus, mistletoe and It's a Wonderful Life and Christmas cards on recycled paper. There's
a murder. And a story about Christmas Yet to Come.
I hope you like them. And I hope you have a very merry Christmas!

—Connie W


Miracle
 "The Personnel Morale Special Committee had cable piped in for Christmas," the
receptionist explained, handing Lauren her messages. "I love It's a Wonderful Life, don't
you?"
Lauren stuck her messages in the top of her shopping bag and went up to her department.
Red and green crepe paper hung in streamers from the ceiling, and there was a big red
crepe-paper bow tied around Lauren's desk.
"The Personnel Morale Special Committee did it," Evie said, coming over with the catalog
she'd been reading. "They're decorating the whole building, and they want us and Document
Control to go caroling this afternoon. Don't you think PMS is getting out of hand with this