When Christmas Came Again by Maud Van Buren

Name: When Christmas Came Again
Author: Maud Van Buren

Justine Eliot, nineteen and grieving her mother, who died a year earlier in a street accident on the day she was covering a fir-balsam pillow for her as a secret Christmas gift, begs Dr. Sarah Peavey to take her to the closed camp on Nobsco Head so she can escape the holiday entirely. Dr. Peavey agrees, telegraphs Serena Wetherbee to open the camp, and the two women retreat there with Serena, a gaunt Hardscrabble woman who lost her children and husband but still knits Christmas presents for Jacob Tracy and his little sister Emmy, the poor children of milkman Heman Tracy. One evening Jacob brings a sobbing Emmy to the camp kitchen: the new Hardscrabble schoolteacher, Miss Nash of Jefferson, has told the children there is no Santa Claus and that there will be no Christmas tree at the schoolhouse. Serena and Doctor Peavey comfort the children with cookies and reassurance, and Justine is outraged at the teacher's cruelty. Privately, Doctor Peavey lists the eighteen Hardscrabble schoolchildren and calculates what she can afford for oranges, candy, and small gifts, planning to give up her opera evenings to pay for it. Setting out alone for Hardscrabble to hire a horse and pung from Cephas Tooke, Doctor Peavey is followed by Justine, who has glimpsed the list and insists on helping rather than being thought as hard-hearted as Miss Nash. Together they drive to Hanscomville, buying oranges, nuts, candy, ten-cent-store trinkets, skates, a pocket-knife, a sled for Jacob, and a doll with hair and a carriage for Emmy, planning a tree either at the schoolhouse or, failing that, at Serena's cottage. Driving home over Nobsco Hill, they overtake a poorly dressed woman dragging a small fir tree through the snow — Miss Nash herself, out getting a tree so the children won't feel forgotten. They offer her a ride and invite her to spend the night at the camp helping string cranberries and sew candy-bags. That evening, prompted by a photograph of Justine's mother, Miss Nash (Ellen Nash) confides in Justine: she and her mother, who has tuberculosis in a sanitarium, have no money to be together; she was dismissed by the school committee and, receiving a despairing letter from her mother the same day, spoke out of despair when Emmy asked about Santa Claus. Justine recognizes her own grief reflected in Ellen's worse circumstances and resolves to act as her mother would have. Justine and Doctor Peavey decide to return home immediately, leaving a letter signed as Santa Claus inviting the children to a Christmas gathering at Serena Wetherbee's, with Ellen Nash overseeing the tree and presents. On Christmas Day, Doctor Peavey and her sister exchange gifts before their mother's picture, and Doctor Peavey receives gifts including a medical book, a Madonna print, and an opera ticket. Justine telephones with news that her cousin Hester will hire Ellen Nash as a companion-housekeeper at triple her former pay, letting her see her mother often, and that she has sent the fir-balsam pillow, wrapped in holly, to Ellen Nash's mother. Justine wishes Doctor Sarah a merry Christmas.

By Maud Van Buren · First published 1927 · Genre: Christmas Fiction, Sentimental Fiction, Domestic Fiction · 3,983 words

First lines

_Beulah Marie Dix_

"I want to go," said Justine Eliot, "where I won't even hear the word / Christmas. If you'd only open the camp, Doctor Sarah, we could stay / there, just by our two selves, until these ghastly holidays are over. / Oh, won't you, please? "[14]

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When Christmas Came Again is listed on Textopian as a short story by Maud Van Buren, dated 1927 CE.

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Work type: Short story
Author: Maud Van Buren
Date: 1927 CE
Language: English
Genres: Christmas Fiction, Sentimental Fiction, Domestic Fiction, Literary Realism, Coming-of-Age Fiction
Length: 3,983 words
Structure: 1 section, 66 paragraphs
Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

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Work identity for When Christmas Came Again by Maud Van Buren
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Similar titles

Genres

Christmas Fiction — The story is set immediately before and during Christmas and centers on restoring the holiday's spirit through gifts, a Christmas tree, generosity, reconciliation, and the final exchange of Christmas wishes.
Sentimental Fiction — Its emotional plot emphasizes grief, compassion, moral awakening, forgiveness, and healing, using warmly affective scenes and an uplifting resolution.
Domestic Fiction — The narrative focuses on personal relationships, household life, caregiving, family loss, community obligations, and the traditionally domestic work of preparing Christmas gifts and decorations.
Literary Realism — Although idealistic in resolution, the story portrays recognizable early-twentieth-century social conditions, including bereavement, poverty, insecure employment, illness, and charitable work in a rural community.