Kategori: julekalender

Det er dagen før dagen, og jeg føler det er på plass å dele en av mine favorittjulescener fra litteraturen. Scenen er hentet fra julaften i den siste Harry Potter-boka av J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:

The snow here had become impacted: It was hard and slippery where people had trodden on it all day. Villagers were crisscrossing in front of them, their figures briefly illuminated by streetlamps. They heard a snatch of laughter and pop music as the pub door opened and closed; then they heard a carol start up inside the little church.

“Harry, I think it’s Christmas Eve!” said Hermione.

“Is it?”

He had lost track of the date; they had not seen a newspaper for weeks.

“I’m sure it is,” said Hermione, her eyes upon the church. “They … they’ll be in there, won’t they? Your mum and dad? I can see the graveyard behind it.”

Harry felt a thrill of something that was beyond excitement, more like fear. Now that he was so near, he wondered whether he wanted to see after all. Perhaps Hermione knew how he was feel­ing, because she reached for his hand and took the lead for the first time, pulling him forward.

When school broke up briefly for Weihnachten, Liesel even afforded Sister Maria a «merry Christmas» before going on her way. Knowing that the Hubermanns were essentially broke, still paying off debts and paying rent quicker than the money could come in, she was not expecting a gift of any sort. Perhaps only some better food. To her surprise, on Christmas Eve, after sitting in church at midnight with Mama, Papa, Hans Junior, and Trudy, she came home to find something wrapped in newspaper under the Christmas tree.

«From Saint Niklaus,» Papa said, but the girl was not fooled. She hugged both her foster parents, with snow still laid across her shoulders.

Fra boka The book thief av Markus Zusak.

Utdrag fra Ulysses av James Joyce:

Mr Bloom folded the sheets again to a neat square and lodged the soap in it, smiling. Silly lips of that chap. Betting. Regular hotbed of it lately. Messenger boys stealing to put on sixpence. Raffle for large tender turkey. Your Christmas dinner for threepence. Jack Fleming embezzling to gamble then smuggled off to America. Keeps a hotel now. They never come back. Fleshpots of Egypt.

He walked cheerfully towards the mosque of the baths. Remind you of a mosque, redbaked bricks, the minarets. College sports today I see. He eyed the horseshoe poster over the gate of college park: cyclist doubled up like a cod in a pot. Damn bad ad. Now if they had made it round like a wheel. Then the spokes: sports, sports, sports: and the hub big: college. Something to catch the eye.

After playing lady’s-maid to the new-comer, and putting my cakes in the oven, and making the house and kitchen cheerful with great fires, befitting Christmas-eve, I prepared to sit down and amuse myself by singing carols, all alone; regardless of Joseph’s affirmations that he considered the merry tunes I chose as next door to songs.  He had retired to private prayer in his chamber, and Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw were engaging Missy’s attention by sundry gay trifles bought for her to present to the little Lintons, as an acknowledgment of their kindness.  They had invited them to spend the morrow at Wuthering Heights, and the invitation had been accepted, on one condition: Mrs. Linton begged that her darlings might be kept carefully apart from that ‘naughty swearing boy.’

Under these circumstances I remained solitary.  I smelt the rich scent of the heating spices; and admired the shining kitchen utensils, the polished clock, decked in holly, the silver mugs ranged on a tray ready to be filled with mulled ale for supper; and above all, the speckless purity of my particular care—the scoured and well-swept floor.  I gave due inward applause to every object, and then I remembered how old Earnshaw used to come in when all was tidied, and call me a cant lass, and slip a shilling into my hand as a Christmas-box; and from that I went on to think of his fondness for Heathcliff, and his dread lest he should suffer neglect after death had removed him: and that naturally led me to consider the poor lad’s situation now, and from singing I changed my mind to crying.  It struck me soon, however, there would be more sense in endeavouring to repair some of his wrongs than shedding tears over them: I got up and walked into the court to seek him.  He was not far; I found him smoothing the glossy coat of the new pony in the stable, and feeding the other beasts, according to custom.

Fra Wuthering Heights av Emily Brontë.

Utdrag fra boka Trynefaktoren av Torgrim Eggen:

Hun kastet et blikk på statistikken. Vinterens ransbølge klaffet da påfallende godt med julehandelen? Det ville ikke tjene saken å påstå at ranerne var alminnelige familiefedre som trengte penger til å kjøpe julepresanger til ungene.

Budsjettmessig hadde Hilde ingen som helst dekning for det hun hadde tenkt å love, men dette var ikke hensyn hun pleide å ta. Dessuten, tenkte hun – når denne ballen spretter tilbake, kommer jeg til å sitte i en helt annen stol.

Utdrag fra boka Tipping the velvet av Sarah Waters:

The show ended at Christmas. I should, perhaps, have passed the holiday in Whitstable, for I knew my parents would be disappointed not to have me there. But I knew, too, what Christmas dinner would be like at home. There would be twenty cousins gathered around the table, all talking at once, all stealing the turkey from one another’s plates. There would be such a fuss and stir they could not possibly, I thought, miss me – but I knew that Kitty would if I left her for them; and I knew, besides, that I should miss her horribly and only make the occasion miserable for everybody else.

Kanskje ikke verdens beste opptak, men her er det gamle koret mitt under vår julekonsert i 2007. Vi sang «Snømannen Kalle», en artig liten historie om en snømann som fikk liv: