Comments on: Christmas Every Day, but Maybe Not This Year

Question: Christmas Every Day, but Maybe Not This Year

lukemeister — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 05:49:15 -0800

Years ago my wife and I read a story by Heinrich Böll which I remembered being titled "Christmas Every Day," but its real title is apparently Nicht nur zur Weihnachtszeit (Christmas Not Just Once a Year). This year we'd like to read it to our son, who is now old enough to appreciate its black humor. I thought this would be easy to find in print or online, but I've looked up web and down Foyles, and have had no luck. Can anyone tell me the name of an anthology where the story appears ... or scan it and be my friend forever?

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 05:52:03 -0800

I should have said - I'm looking for the story in English translation. My German is pretty much limited to über and "mit Schlag". Thanks.

By: trip and a half

trip and a half — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 06:25:28 -0800

It's in this collection. I couldn't find it at Amazon, but Powells claims to have two copies available.

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 06:46:42 -0800

trip and a half: Thanks a lot. abebooks seems to have a lot of copies. I'd like to get one before Christmas, though.

By: dr_dank

dr_dank — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 06:55:05 -0800

It may be out of print, but I have a Scholastic anthology of Christmas stories that I'm 99% sure has this story in it. They adapted it to a Family channel movie several years ago also.

By: silverstatue

silverstatue — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 08:05:08 -0800

If you're just looking for a copy of the story to read, it can be found here:

http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/wdh/xmaseday.html

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 08:17:16 -0800

silverstatue - thanks, but I'm looking for the one by Böll. Maybe that's why I misrembered the title. I hadn't realized there was a story by Howells.

By: grapefruitmoon

grapefruitmoon — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 09:31:30 -0800

Good luck to you, I remember this story very well from my own childhood. My grandfather put it on a primitive sort of "audio book" where he would just read stories onto tapes that I would then listen to over and over and over and over again. I don't have access to his book collection at the moment, unfortunately.

It seems that my answer is rather pointless, other to say that I really love this story.

By: lukemeister

lukemeister — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:15:08 -0800

grapefruitmoon: Your answer wasn't pointless, since I hope it will inspire others to read the story!

By: sentient

sentient — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 11:30:43 -0800

You can read a few pages of the story here, via Google Books. (It's the anthology mentioned upthread -- maybe a later edition.) Search for "Böll Christmas Not Just Once a Year" without the quotes in Google Books if the link doesn't work. Most importantly, you can go here to search for it at a nearby library.

By: dr_dank

dr_dank — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 08:23:40 -0800

The Howells story is indeed the one in my Scholastic anthology.