Latest / Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families / #1141 - The Best Christmas Story Ever

Transcript

#1141 - The Best Christmas Story Ever · Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: It's the Happy Families podcast.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: It's the podcast for the time poor parent who just
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: once answers.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Now Usually on a Wednesday, I have a chat with
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: somebody ahead of you them I talk about stuff that
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: matters a lot to them. Last week was Julian mcgrant,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the e Safety Commissioner. Before that, Dan Prince, Paie Schnell Contos.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Before that, Madonna King and Rebecca Sparrow. We talked to
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: some great people on this podcast about some really really
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: important stuff. However, we're now less than two weeks away
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: from Christmas. Everyone's slowing things down, and I wanted to
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: be a little bit indulgent today and share with you
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: what I think is one of the best Christmas stories
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: that you'll ever hear. Now, for those who have a
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: faith background, the idea of anything being better than the
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Nativity as a Christmas story might sound a little bit,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know, a little bit sacrilegious. That's certainly not
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: my intention. I have a faith background as well, but
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: when it comes to non faith related Christmas stories, I
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: can't think of a better one. The o Henry's the
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Gift of the Magie. So Kylie is with me, and
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Kylie is going to sit quietly, impatiently while I read
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: what I think is the best Christmas story ever written.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: And then at the end of that, we're going to
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: discuss it briefly, because we reckon that it'd be great
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: for you to talk about with your family. You might
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: even want to play the podcast to them and then
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: have a conversation about what the story might mean to
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: you and to your kids.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Just before you get started, I do need to put
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: a very clear caveat and warning in here.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: A warning. I thought this was quite a safe story.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: We got an email a couple of weeks ago from
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: a listener who heard my talk that I delivered to
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Fathers of Girls, and one of the things she said,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: I think you need a bigger warning at the beginning
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: of episodes not to listen while operating a car, as
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: it seemed quite dangerous that I was driving as my
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: tears were flooding my face.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: This is one of those stories.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: This is one of those stories. So if you need
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: to pull over, do it now.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Without further ado. The gift of the Magi bio Henry
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: one dollar and eighty seven cents. That was all, and
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: sixty cents of it was in pennies pennies saved one
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer, and
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the vegetable man and the butcher, until one's cheeks burnt.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: With the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: implied three times. Della counted it one dollar and eighty
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: seven cents, and the next day would be Christmas. There
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: shabby little couch, and how so Della did it, which
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: and smiles, with sniffles predominating, while the mistress of the
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Take a look at the home, a furnished flat at
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: eight dollars per week. It did not exactly beggar description,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: but it certainly had that word on the lookout for
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: the mendicancy squad. In the vestibule below was a letter
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: box into which no letter would go, and an electric
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name mister
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: James Dillingham Young. The Dillingham had been flung to the breeze.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: During a former period of prosperity, when its possessor was
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: being paid thirty dollars per week, Now when the income
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: was shrunk to twenty dollars, the letters of Dillingham looked blurred,
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: as though they were thinking seriously of contracting to a
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: modest and unassuming d But whenever mister James Dillingham Young
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: came home and reached his flat above, he was called
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Jim and greatly hugged by missus. James Dillingham Young already
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: introduced to you as Della, which is all very good.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: the powder rag. She stood by the window and looked
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: in a gray backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: she had only one dollar and eighty seven cents with
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: which to buy Jim a present. She'd been saving every
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: penny she could for months, with this result, twenty dollars
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: a week doesn't go far. Expenses had been greater than
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: she had calculated. They always are. Only one dollar eighty
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: seven to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim many
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: a happy hour. She had spent planning for something nice
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: for him, something fine and rare and sterling, something just
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: a little bit near to being worthy of the honor
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: of being owned by Jim. There was a peer glass
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have seen
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: a peer glass in an eight dollar flat. A very
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: thin and very agile person may, by observing his reflection
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: in a rapid seatquence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: accurate conception of his looks. Della, being slender, had mastered
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: the art. Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: before the glass. Her eyes were shining brilliantly, but her
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Rapidly she
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: pulled down her hair and let it fall to its
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: full length. Now there were two possessions of the James
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: One was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. Had the
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: Della would have let her hair hang out the window
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: some day to dry, just to depreciate her Majesty's jewels
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: and gifts. Had King Solomon been the janitor with all
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: his treasures piled up in the basement, Jim would have
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: see him pluck at his beard from envy. So now
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Della's beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: and made itself almost a garment for her. And then
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: she did it up again, nervously and quickly. Once she
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: or two splashed on the worn red carpet. On went
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: her old brown jacket, On went her old brown hat.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: With a whirl of skirts, and with the brilliant sparkle
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: still in her eyes, she fluttered out the door and
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: down the stairs to the street, where she stopped. The
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: sign read Madame Sophroni hair goods of all kinds one
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: flight up. Della ran and collected herself, panting, Madam large
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: two white chili. Hardly looked the SOPHRONI. Will you buy
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: my hair? Asked Della. I buy hair, said Madam. Take
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: your hat off, and let's have a sight at the
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: looks of it. Down, rippled the brown cascade. Twenty dollars,
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: said madam, lifting the mass with a practiced hand. Give
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: it to me, quick, said Della Oh. And the next
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: two hours tripped on rosy wings. Forget the hashed metaphor.
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present. She found
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: it at last. It surely had been made for Jim
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: and no one else. There was no other like it
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: in any of the stores, and she had turned all
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: of them inside out. It was a platinum fob chain,
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation, as all good
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: things should do. It was even worthy of the watch.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: As soon as she saw it, she knew that it
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: must be Jim's. It was like him, quietness and value.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: The description applied to both twenty one dollars they took
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: from her for it, and she hurried home with the
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: eighty seven cents. With that chain on his watch, Jim
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: might be properly anxious about the time in any company.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: on the sly on account of the old leather strap
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: that he used in place of a chain. When Della
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: reached home, her intoxication gave way a little to prudence,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: and she got out her curling irons and lighted the
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: gas and went to work on repairing the ravages made
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: by generosity added to love, which is always a tremendous task,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: dear friends, a mammoth task. Within forty minutes, her head
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: was covered with tiny, close lying curls that made her
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: reflection in the mirror long, carefully and critically. If Jim
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: doesn't kill me, she said to herself, before he takes
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: a second look at me, he'll say, I look like
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do? Oh?
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: What could I do with a dollar and eighty seven cents.
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: At seven o'clock, the coffee was made and the frying
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: pan was on the back of the stove, hot and
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: ready to cook the chops. Jim was never late. Della
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: the corner of the table near the door that he
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: always entered. Then she heard his step on the stair
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: away down on the first flight, and she turned white.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: For just a moment. She had a habit for saying little,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: silent prayers about the simplest everyday things. And now she whispered,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Please God, make him think I'm still pretty. The door
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: thin and very serious. Poor fellow. He was only twenty
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: two and to be burdened with a family. He needed
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: a new overcoat, and he was without gloves. Jim stopped
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: scent of a quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della,
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: and there was an expression in them that she could
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: at her fixedly, with that peculiar expression on his face.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: Della wriggled off the table and went for him, Jim Darling,
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: She cried, don't look at me that way. I had
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn't
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It'll
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: grow out again. You won't mind, will you. I just
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: Merry Christmas, Jim, and let's be happy. I don't know
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: what a nice what a beautiful, nice gift I've got
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: for you. You've cut off your hair, asked Jim laboriously, as
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: if he had not arrived at that patent fact. Yet,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: even after the hardest mental labor, cut it off and
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: sold it, said Della, don't you like me just as well? Anyhow?
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: I'm me without my hair, ain't I? Jim looked about
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: the room curiously. You say your hair is gone, he said,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: with an air almost of idiocy. You needn't look for it,
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: said Della. It's sold, I tell you, sold and gone too.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: It's Christmas, Eve boy, be good to me, for it
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: weren't for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: she went on with sudden serious sweetness. But nobody could
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: ever count my love for you. Shall I put the
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: jobs on Jim? Out of his trance, Jim seemed quickly
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: to wake. He unfolded his Della for ten seconds. Let
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year?
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: What's the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: that was not among them. This dark assertion will be
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: illuminated later on. Jim drew a package from his overcoat
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: pocket and threw it upon the table. Don't make any mistake, Dell,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: he said about me. I don't think there's anything in
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: the way of a haircut, or a shave, or a
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: shampoo that could make me like my girl any less.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: But if you'll unwrap that package, you may see why
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: you had me going a while. At first white fingers,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: a nimble tore at the string and paper, and then
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: an ecstatic scream of joy, and then alas a quick
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: feminine change to hysterical tears and whales, necessitating the immediate
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: employment of all the comforting powers of the Lord of
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: the flat. For there lay the combs, the set of
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: combs side and back that Della had worshiped long in
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: a Broadway window, beautiful carmes, pure tortoise shell, with jeweled rims,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: of possession, and now they were hers. But the tresses
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone, But
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: was able to look up with dim eyes and smile
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: and say, my hair grows so fast. Jim, and then
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, oh, oh.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: precious metals seemed to flash with the reflection of her
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: bright and ardent spirit. Isn't it Dandie Jim? I hunted
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: all over town to find it. You'll have to look
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: at the time one hundred times a day. Now, give
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: me a watch. I want to see how it looks
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: on it. Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: couch and put his hands under the back of his
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: head and smiled. Dell said he let's put our Christmas
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: presents away and keep them awhile they're too nice to use.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: Just at present. I sold the watch to get the
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: money to buy your combs. Now suppose you put the
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: chops on the Magie, as you know, were wise men,
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: wonderfully wise men who brought gifts to the Babe in
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: But in a last word to the wise of these days,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: let it be said that of all who give gifts,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: these two were the wisest of all who give and
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: receive gifts. Such as they are wisest everywhere they are wisest.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: They are magi. And that's the gift of the magi.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: By O Henry. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: to go blow my nose and wipe my eyes.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Well, I do too.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: What I love about this story is that they each
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: knew each other so well they knew exactly what the
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: other would need, and it was in need. And yet
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: because of the love that they shared for each other,
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: they were willing to sacrifice the thing that mattered most
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: to them, because at the end of the day, it's
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: actually not about things, it's about the person that you
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: spend you choose to spend your life with. And so
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: the magic in this story is the recognition that at
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: Christmas time, every day should be an opportunity to celebrate
• 15:05
  Speaker 3: the ones we love. But we have this beautiful opportunity
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: on Christmas Day to acknowledge those people that enrich and
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: brighten our lives.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Whatever it takes, find a way to make a difference
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: in the lives of those you love. We've only got
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: a couple of days of the podcast to go until
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: we wrap things up, but as we move towards Christmas,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: we just hope that you have such a wonderful festive season.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: The Happy Families podcast is produced by Justin Rulon from
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: Bridge Media. If you like more info about making your
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: family happy, you can get it all a Happy Families
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: dot com dot a you