Dylan Thomas: His Christmas Memories and Yours

What is your favorite Christmas memory?

Dylan Thomas, a famous poet and author, wrote about his Christmas memories in the memoir essay “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” in which he remembers friends, toys, hijinks, relatives, and traditions of his childhood. His love of words and of the language makes this memoir a delight to read.

Excerpt

Below is an excerpt from it; you can read the whole memoir here and watch a televised rendition of it on YouTube here. For an extra-special treat, listen to the late Dylan Thomas reading his memoir here in his Welsh accent.
Here’s the excerpt from “A Child’s Christmas in Wales”:

Write a Christmas Carol

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

Which part of the Christmas account do you like the best?

Is it the Annunciation where an angel announces to Mary that she will have a child?

Is it the long journey to Bethlehem with no inn available when Mary and Joseph arrive?

Could it be when the angels burst into the night sky and sing to shepherds? Or perhaps when those exotic kings find the real King as a baby and then fool Herod to make their get-away?

Many of our Christmas carols highlight one part of the Christmas story. For instance, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” focuses on the night Jesus was born.

The First Christmas: You Are There

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

That first Christmas.

It’s easy to forget all the noise, confusion, exhaustion, rejection, and fear Mary and Joseph experienced. Though our nativity sets look peaceful and serene, I imagine things would have looked very different had we been there to observe those world-changing events.

Whom do you most identify with when you read the Christmas accounts in Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2:40? That is, when you read the Bible accounts, which person do you feel closest to? Which one has some similarities to your life? Or think of this: Which person do you wish you could have been?

The Christmas Account from a New Perspective

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

You are probably very familiar with the accounts of Jesus’ birth found in Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2:40. They are written in the omniscient point of view. That is, the writers tell us everything about everyone.

What if you read the account from the perspective of one of the Magi? Would the story be filled with curiosity and longing? What if the account were written by the wicked King Herod? How angry would he be that he missed his chance to kill the Christ Child?

Happy Birthday, Joseph Conrad!

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Although author Joseph Conrad was born in Poland as Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, he learned to speak and write in English in his twenties.

The fact that he learned how to write in the English language so late in life makes his command of the language, as seen in his stories, impressive.

Joseph Conrad is famous for his novella Heart of Darkness in which the narrator goes on a voyage to the jungles of Africa in the late 1800s in search of a man named Kurtz.

Below is the narrator’s description of a scene he comes upon. You can tell by the words and items he chooses in this description that what he finds next will not be nice:

Your Turn to Give for Christmas

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

Many stores and libraries this time of year have donation boxes to collect gifts for children. Some even have Christmas trees with places to hang mittens, warm hats, socks, and so forth. Those items will be distributed later to children who have no other way to get these needed items.

Christmas is the perfect time to think about giving something to others less fortunate than ourselves.

How Can You Say “Thank You”?

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

How can you tell someone, “Thank you”? What can you do to show your gratitude?

Reader’s Digest asked their Facebook followers to suggest some ways. Here are two of the methods their followers recommended:

A Strange Thing to Be Thankful For

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

When Corrie ten Boom was arrested with her family in February 1944 for helping Jews escape the Nazis, she and her sister were sent to the women’s section of a harsh concentration camp. There she found infestations of vermin: lice and fleas.

Instead of being angry about the vermin, she decided to thank God for them. Soon, she found out

What Is Happening in this Yosemite Photo?

HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS

Every so often, it’s fun to forget about essay writing.

Today, instead of learning some writers’ device or essay format, you get to write a story or a journal entry from a photograph.

Here’s the photo, taken in Yosemite National Park:

What Will Happen Here?

MIDDLE SCHOOL PROMPTS

Dark woods have long been a vital part of many stories.

Snow White encounters the huntsman in a dark woods and escapes into another part of the woods. Ditto with Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf.

Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz is attacked in dark woods. Bilbo Baggins and the dwarves are set upon by oversized spiders in the dark woods called Mirkwood.

Dylan Thomas: His Christmas Memories and Yours

Excerpt

Write a Christmas Carol

The First Christmas: You Are There

The Christmas Account from a New Perspective

Happy Birthday, Joseph Conrad!

Your Turn to Give for Christmas

How Can You Say “Thank You”?

A Strange Thing to Be Thankful For

What Is Happening in this Yosemite Photo?

What Will Happen Here?

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