How’s this for a different kind of perspective on Christmas?

Twas just this time, last year, I died.
I know I heard the corn,
When I was carried by the farms,–
It had the tassels on.

I thought how yellow it would look
When Richard went to mill;
And then I wanted to get out,
But something held my will.

I thought just how red apples wedged
The stubble’s joints between;
And carts went stooping round the fields
To take the pumpkins in.

I wondered which would miss me least,
And when Thanksgiving came,
If Father’d multiply the plates
To make an even sum.

And if my stocking hung too high,
Would it blur the Christmas glee,
That not a Santa Claus could reach
The altitude of me?

But this sort grieved myself, and so
I thought how it would be
When just this time, some perfect year,
Themselves should come to me. —Emily Dickinson, b. 1830

Also on this date:
George Macdonald, b. 1824.

Rumer Godden, author of In This House of Brede, b. 1907. The Anchoress really loves this book. I read it once long ago, and I probably would enjoy re-reading it. All I can remember now is that it’s about nuns in a convent. (Dare I add it to The List?) She also wrote many children’s books, including The Story of Holly and Ivy which has a wonderful Christmas-y title.

Mary Norton, b. 1903. She received the Carnegie Medal for her books about the Borrowers, little people who live in and around an English country house and support themselves mainly by borrowing things the Big People have little or no use for. Another series I’d enjoy re-reading.