Katie's Reviews > Samantha's Surprise: A Christmas Story

Re-reading as an adult, here's what stands out:

- Samantha's excitement for Christmas in the beginning is delightful.

- Her petulance at things not going her way is a little tiresome but also completely relatable.

- Watching her warm up to Cornelia is really sweet - and I admire her for not holding onto her grudge with both hands the way I would have done at that age.

- The progression of gifts she considers for Cornelia makes me giggle, though you could also argue that it's a very overt expression of the largesse and privilege Samantha grows up with - which in some ways makes it seem silly that she gets so worked up over asking Grandmary for the doll. I wish we got some indication of cost - how much is the doll compared to all the potential presents for Cornelia? How much pocket money does Samantha have at her disposal? I assume the author chooses not to give us firm numbers because inflation would make the amounts seem trivial, but the ease with which Samantha considers buying perfume and fancy bath salts and lace-trimmed handkerchiefs, when it never crosses her mind to buy (or save up for) the doll for herself is curious.

- That darling Nutcracker doll, which characters specifically note is just like in the ballet? Maybe someone has been to Russia?? Although the Nutcracker ballet premiered there in 1892, it wasn't deemed a success, and wasn't performed outside Russia until 1934.

- Gard and Cornelia get engaged at Christmas and have already decided on a March wedding?? Have they already been planning for a year? We know they have a big wedding because there's a short story about it.

- We have a different author for this book. Nellie is nowhere to be seen; nor (thankfully) are Eddie or Edith. Without Nellie, we lose the focus on class issues and the dark side of life in 1904, and this becomes a fairly simple Christmas story.


More Samantha babble:
Meet Samantha | Samantha Learns a Lesson | Samantha's Surprise | Happy Birthday, Samantha | Samantha Saves the Day | Changes for Samantha

Nellie's Promise

Samantha's Winter Party | Samantha and the Missing Pearls | Samantha Saves the Wedding | Samantha's Blue Bicycle | Samantha's Special Talent | Samantha's Short Story Collection

The Curse of Ravenscourt | The Stolen Sapphire | The Cry of the Loon | Clue in the Castle Tower

The Lilac Tunnel: My Journey with Samantha