The theme of this collection, “Fete” is a French word for celebration. While the theme of celebration may seem flippant on a surface level because it elicits visions of joviality and leisure, celebrations are often unions of both joyous merriment and thoughtful reflection and these two spirits have animated every item we have created for this drop. What we celebrate is indicative of that which we value in our societies and in our homes. The major milestones of our lives - births, marriages, professional achievements, feats of great strength or conviction and deaths - are marked as special occasions to indicate a departure from the routine and our traditions give shape to the way in which these events are marked. 

In my family, Christmas includes thoughtful gifts and beautiful decorations, letters to friends and relatives, homemade treats for neighbors, and festive excursions. But most of all, our traditions prioritize those stories which encapsulate the meaning of the season. From Alastair Sim to Jim Carrey, my mother knows every Scrooge and has a deep and abiding love of every version of “A Christmas Carol.” This story of a man’s late in life spiritual redemption and the resulting resolve to break the chains he forged in life through his sins and errors stimulates all those other deeds and rituals that we associate with Christmas. At this time of the year, more so than any other, we are reminded to be charitable, to serve others and most of all, to love. My mother shared the love of this story with all her children and this year, I was fortunate enough to be able to share the tradition with my daughter. The most developmentally appropriate version of the story for a three-year-old, I think, is the Mickey Mouse version of “A Christmas Carol.” With a run time of about 26 minutes, the movie largely glosses over the surface of the narrative, but the major characters and plot points are still present. I remember this version from childhood especially the scene where Bob Cratchit, played by Mickey Mouse, carefully cuts up a single bean to share with his family.

This meager dinner and the family’s absurd poverty does not sour their celebration but instead their hardship underscores the Cratchit family’s tangible blessings of faith and family. 

Like many stories, A Christmas Carol is significant because it presents an invaluable message in a truly compelling manner. The fact that it is fiction does not erase its power. Even to deride it as “merely fiction” misses the facts of Dicken’s complicated childhood that are infused into many of his works. In “A Christmas Carol”, “David Copperfield," and "Oliver Twist," the author creates a hyper-reality from lived experiences and imagination to present compelling visions not only of the lives of the poorest inhabitants of Victorian England but also of the thorny arcs of human character. At the outset of the story, Scrooge is described as a cold and miserly character, a “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner!” Yet by the end he is exalted as “as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city ever knew.” And this miracle, the opportunity for change which Scrooge is freely given, and his subsequent transformation should be revered.

In the Northern Hemisphere, Christmas comes shortly after the winter solstice which is the shortest day of the year. When the world is dark and all feels lost, through our traditions we birth a light of hope that sustains us. And while we can critically examine our rituals or even create new ones, these practices are how that light is fostered and thus, we have great reason to celebrate. It is my great hope that these items that have been so lovingly made will become staples in homes, hearts, and family traditions. That on your mantle, wall or tree, the fruits of our labors will imbue your holiday with a beauty that calls you to remember what and why we celebrate. And to do so with a full heart and a resurrected spirit. 

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God bless us, everyone.