visions of christmas dinner's past

william t. such the frozen heart of winter

james joyce in his gloomily titled work "the dead",

describes a dinner in which the food is organized "just so"

and the restorative beverages are lined up with military precision . . .

you'll see -

it's beautiful all the same!

"a fat brown goose lay at one end of the table and at the other end, on a bed of creased paper strewn with sprigs of parsley, lay a great ham, stripped of its outer skin and peppered over with crust crumbs, a neat paper frill round its shin and beside this was a round of spiced beef.

joseph clark a christmas dole

between these rival ends ran parallel lines of side-dishes: two little minsters of jelly, red and yellow; a shallow dish full of blocks of blancmange and red jam, a large green leaf-shaped dish with a stalk-shaped handle, on which lay bunches of purple raisins and peeled almonds, a companion dish on which lay a solid rectangle of smyrna figs, a dish of custard topped with grated nutmeg, a small bowl full of chocolates and sweets wrapped in gold and silver papers and a glass vase in which stood some tall celery stalks.

in the centre of the table there stood, as sentries to a fruit-stand which upheld a pyramid of oranges and american apples, two squat old-fashioned decanters of cut glass, one containing port and the other dark sherry. on the closed square piano a pudding in a huge yellow dish lay in waiting and behind it were three squads of bottles of stout and ale and minerals, drawn up according to the colours of their uniforms, the first two black, with brown and red labels, the third and smallest squad white, with transverse green sashes."

john sargent noble their christmas eve