REPOST: Christmas quotes

I posted this collection of Christmas-themed quotes from Diana Gabaldon's books last year. It got a very positive response back then, so it seems appropriate to repost it now. Hope you enjoy these!

1) It's hard to imagine, from our 21st-century perspective, anyone losing track of the date this close to Christmas. But Roger had a lot of other things on his mind....

"What's the occasion? For our homecoming?"

She lifted her head from his chest and gave him what he privately classified as A Look.

"For Christmas," she said.

"What?" He groped blankly, trying to count the days, but the events of the last three weeks had completely erased his mental calendar. "When?"

"Tomorrow, idiot," she said with exaggerated patience.

(From The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 33 ("Home for Christmas"). Copyright© 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

2) Here's a quote from one of my favorite scenes in DRUMS, when Claire comes to find Jamie in the snow:

"What if I tell you a story, instead?"

Highlanders loved stories, and Jamie was no exception.

"Oh, aye," he said, sounding much happier. "What sort of story is it?"

"A Christmas story," I said, settling myself along the curve of his body. "About a miser named Ebenezer Scrooge."

"An Englishman, I daresay?"

"Yes," I said. "Be quiet and listen."

I could see my own breath as I talked, white in the dim, cold air. The snow was falling heavily outside our shelter; when I paused in the story, I could hear the whisper of flakes against the hemlock branches, and the far-off whine of wind in the trees.

(From Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 21 ("Night on a Snowy Mountain"). Copyright© 1997 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

3) I think it's interesting--and rather sad--that Lord John should seek out Nessie, rather than the company of his own family, on Christmas Eve:

“Aye, well, it is Christmas Eve,” she said, answering his unasked question. “Any man wi’ a home to go to’s in it.” She yawned, pulled off her nightcap, and fluffed her fingers through the wild mass of curly dark hair.

“Yet you seem to have some custom,” he observed. Distant singing came from two floors below, and the parlor had seemed well populated when he passed.

“Och, aye. The desperate ones. I leave them to Maybelle to deal with; dinna like to see them, poor creatures. Pitiful. They dinna really want a woman, the ones who come on Christmas Eve--only a fire to sit by, and folk to sit with.”

(From An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 24 ("Joyeux Noel"). Copyright© 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

4) The next quote is a reminder that Christmas was viewed differently back then than we think of it today. But of course many of today's Christmas traditions date from the 19th century or later:

Catholic as many of them were--and nominally Christian as they all were--Highland Scots regarded Christmas primarily as a religious observance, rather than a major festive occasion. Lacking priest or minister, the day was spent much like a Sunday, though with a particularly lavish meal to mark the occasion, and the exchange of small gifts.

(From The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 34 ("Charms"). Copyright© 2001 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

5) I love this quote, even though things didn't turn out the way Roger had expected:

She'd wanted to go to the Christmas Eve services. After that...

After that, he would ask her, make it formal. She would say yes, he knew. And then...

Why, then, they would come home, to a house dark and private. With themselves alone, on a night of sacrament and secret, with love newly come into the world. And he would lift her in his arms and carry her upstairs, on a night when virginity's sacrifice was no loss of purity, but rather the birth of everlasting joy.

(From Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 17 ("Home for the Holidays"). Copyright© 1997 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Wishing all of you the best in this holiday season!

9 comments

Belinda said...

Glad you reposted! Love them.

Cynthia H. said...

Thanks for posting these Karen...I'd forgotton about the scene with Lord John...very poignant, really.

Anonymous said...

I love both of those scenes from Drums of Autumn, it is my absolute favorite out of the entire series.
What a wonderful post, thanks for reposting it for those of us who didn't catch it the first go round :)
~Bri

Karen Henry said...

Thanks! I had fun picking out these quotes, and I'm glad you enjoyed them.

Karen

Laura said...

Wonderful quotes, Karen. Thank you for re-posting them. It gives us a moment to stop and enjoy scenes from the books before we again scurry about in the final frenzy before Christmas Day! All I can think of when I read that scene from Drums of Autumn is "Poor Roger!" That Christmas sure didn't turn out like he planned.

~ Laura

jijie said...

Adgitize(ing) here! and Newest follower, hope you will follow me back here@ Step It Up! Happy X'mas :)

Jijie

Anonymous said...

This my first time on your site and these excerpts were just delightful. Poor LJG visiting a brothel on Christmas Eve even if it is to get information. If I remember correctly, Nessie invites him to join her in bed...along with her husband (g). I'll be sure to come back and check your site now and then.
Deb

Karen Henry said...

Laura:

"Final Frenzy" indeed! :-) I'm Jewish, so I mostly just observe the frenzy all around me at this time of year. Glad you enjoyed the quotes, anyway.

Karen

Karen Henry said...

Deb:

Thanks! I'm really glad you enjoyed the quotes. Take some time to look around the site; there's a lot of useful information here for OUTLANDER fans.

Karen

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