The Spirit of Christmas — Inside the Classic

A Celestial Council on Human Troubles

The opening narrative, “The Christmas Angel,” introduces a company of angels returned from Earth, sitting among cyclamens and arbutus. The three leaders—distinguished by more radiant looks and a tone of authority—discuss the tangles, wars, and miseries they have witnessed. Van Dyke uses the angelic setting to pose a question: what is the best way to bring sorrow to an end? The excerpt does not reveal their answer, but the structure suggests that the rest of the book will unfold from this celestial debate. Readers should note how the author balances the idyllic landscape with the urgency of the angels’ mission, a tension that recurs throughout the work.

Gifts as Tokens of Ongoing Thought

In the essay “Christmas-Giving and Christmas-Living,” Van Dyke shifts from allegory to direct address. He argues that a gift should be “the token of a personal thought, a friendly feeling, an unselfish interest in the joy of others.” The vessel—gold, silver, wood, or birch bark—matters less than the message it carries: “I am thinking of you to-day… and to-morrow… I shall still wish you happiness.” He emphasizes that the thought and wish remain even when distance or poverty prevents further expression. This section grounds the angelic ideals in practical, everyday relationships, urging readers to make “small, steady payments on a gold basis” rather than grand promises.

The Circles of Acquaintance and the Touch of Christmas Life

Van Dyke extends his argument by mapping human relationships into concentric circles. In the outer circles, he recommends “cheerful greetings, courtesy, consideration”; in the inner circles, “sympathetic interest, hearty congratulations, honest encouragement”; and in the inmost circle, “comradeship, helpfulness, tenderness.” He quotes a couplet about friendship “tried by sun and wind” and durable from “the daily dust of life.” The essay concludes that “Christmas-living is the best kind of Christmas-giving,” a phrase that ties the entire collection together. Readers will notice how Van Dyke moves from the abstract angelic council to a concrete, actionable ethic of daily goodwill.

Keeping Christmas Beyond the Day

The short sermon “Keeping Christmas” opens with Romans 14:6: “He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord.” Van Dyke affirms the value of observing Christmas day as a wise custom that helps one “feel the supremacy of the common life over the individual life.” But he immediately proposes a better thing: keeping Christmas. The excerpt breaks off as he begins to list what that entails—forgetting what you have done for others, remembering what others have done for you, putting duties before rights. The incomplete text leaves the sermon’s full argument unknown, but the pattern established in earlier sections suggests a practical, year-round application of the Christmas spirit.

Van Dyke’s collection moves from a celestial dream to a personal ethic, each section building on the last. Readers may find it useful to track how the angelic debate of the first story informs the concrete advice of the later essays and sermon. The book’s brevity—under 9,000 words—invites rereading, and the recurring emphasis on action over sentiment rewards attention to the author’s precise phrasing.

Reading about Van Dyke’s quiet insistence that Christmas must be carried forward, not just kept, I remembered a January morning when the tree was still up but the feeling was gone. Years later, The Entire Project Gutenberg Works of Mark Twain — A Closer Reading gave me that same ache—the tenderness hidden under humor, the way some truths only surface after the celebration ends.