The Christmas Box

The novella continues to establish the characters as Christian. It does this through its details, such as the family’s attendance at church on Sunday and Mary’s tear-stained Bible. The angels in Richard’s dream are characterized through a Christian lens as “divine messengers.” Christianity is connected to The Magic of Christmas; the wonder of Christmas comes from a divine source.

Richard, Keri, and Jenna’s growing connection with Mary is depicted via their routines, which increasingly involve them spending time together: “Keri had established the habit of sharing supper with Mary in the downstairs den. They had even adopted the ritual of sharing an after-dinner cup of peppermint tea near the fire” (73). Mary volunteers to accompany Keri to Jenna’s dance performance, illustrating her role as Jenna’s “surrogate grandmother.” The growing bond is further revealed through Keri and Richard’s conversation. As Keri admits: “I feel like I've known her all my life” (55). Richard observes that Mary feels “like a grandmother” (55).

Mary is grateful for the family’s willingness to spend time with her and their inclusion of her in their daily rituals.  For example, she is thrilled at Richard and Keri’s suggestion that they share one Christmas tree, which symbolizes their unity as an adopted family. In this way, The Importance of Familial Love emerges in the foreground, particularly as a salve to Mary’s loneliness.

These chapters explore Richard’s busy work life, which takes him away from his family. At this point, Richard is still focused on materialistic concerns. His heart is in the right place—he wants to ensure security for his family—but the novella shows, through Jenna’s frustration with his absence, that Richard’s priorities are misplaced:

“Dad, can you help me cut these?” [Jenna] asked.

“Not now, honey, I'm late for work.”

The corners of her mouth pulled downward in disappointment (69-70).

Richard’s narration reveals how he is speaking from a vantage point in the future and considering the events of the novel from hindsight. This allows the reader to learn that, in the future, he views his prioritization of work with regret: “I adroitly rationalized my absence from home on necessity and told myself that my family would someday welcome the sacrifice by feasting, with me, on the fruits of my labors” (59).

The later chapters will reveal that Mary has gained wisdom through the tragic loss of her own child. In these chapters, she notices Richard’s absences and seeks to draw his attention to his misaligned priorities. When Richard tries to continue working rather than read the story Mary has recommended to Jenna, Mary is uncharacteristically insistent: “‘No, right now. Read it to her now,’ she coaxed. Her voice was fervent” (74). Through the story, which parallels Richard and Jenna’s relationship, Mary seeks to show Richard the error in his ways: “The little girl came into her papa's study, as she always did Saturday morning before breakfast, and asked for a story. He tried to beg off that morning, for he was very busy” (75-76).

These chapters allude to the death of Andrea, Mary’s daughter. Keri reflects that there seems to be a secret tragedy in Mary’s life. She correctly intuits that Mary still grieves for the loss of her daughter, who died in infancy many decades earlier: “‘Mary is the warmest, most open individual I've ever met, except…’ She paused. ‘Do you ever get the feeling that she is hiding something?’ […] ‘Something tragic?’” (87). Keri further intuits that Mary is trying to tell Richard something. In this way, the novella alludes to the connection between Richard’s lack of focus on Jenna and Mary’s tragedy.

These chapters also introduce the angel which turns to stone, and which haunts Richard’s dream: “I look into its cherubic face, its eyes turn up toward heaven, and the angel turns to stone” (64). As soon as the dream ends, Richard is led by music to the Christmas Box, which contains Mary’s letters to Andrea. This establishes the connection of Andrea to the angel; the angel is sent to Richard so that he can learn about the fleeting nature of Jenna’s childhood, and come to realize the power and importance of parental love.

Letters in the Christmas Box, dated 1914, were written decades before the events of the story, which is set somewhere in the 1940s or 1950s. Later, the reader learns that Mary wrote the letters in the years immediately following the death of her daughter.