Season 4, Episode 2 – A Child’s Christmas in Wales/A Child’s Christmases in Wales (Wales)
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It seems remarkable that after four years of traveling the world in search of Christmas, the Festive Fans hadn’t been to Wales yet. This is especially strange since Wale’s own famed poet, Dylan Thomas, wrote one of the most beloved celebrations of childhood Christmas ever written, the epic poem A Child’s Christmas in Wales. While we were wandering across continents, Wales—a country full of music, fireplaces, and cozy stone cottages—has been patiently waiting for us to discover it.
Perhaps we assumed Wales was too obvious. Perhaps we were distracted by countries with stranger food, warmer weather, or more unique Christmas traditions. Or perhaps Wales was simply waiting for our fourth season, secure in the fact that the Festive Fans would sooner or later have to pass through its green valleys (plus, its snow-dusted mountains, medieval castles, quaint villages, and sheep, lots of sheep).
Whatever the excuse, four years is too long. Wales seems made for a foreign Christmas podcast. There is a sense of enchantment woven into this country. No one captured that feeling better than Dylan Thomas. His famous work is called a poem, but it reads like an adventure story. It doesn’t have legends, battles, and conquering heroes; instead, it is a tale filled with snowball fights, eccentric relatives, and young boys roaming through a happily remembered Welsh town. Dylan Thomas has that unmistakable Welsh gift for finding poetry in everyday life. The Christmastime he shows us is full of ordinary memories that become more cherished with every retelling. His childhood Wales is wonderfully honest and real and that is what makes the work so enduring.
And so, we not only visit A Child’s Christmas in Wales, but also the more modern version A Child’s Christmases in Wales, to fully appreciate the holiday chaos, the community, and the joy of looking backward. However, underneath the obvious youthful sentiment, there is an adult’s realization that the people and Christmases he remembers are gone. These films are not only a celebration of childhood, but a eulogy for it.
Our favorite Christmas memories are a shared emotional landscape, and Dylan Thomas turns that landscape into something universal. You do not have to be Welsh to envision the world he describes in the poem. We all have childhood Christmases that become brighter in our minds as the years get more distant. Dylan Thomas just recognizes that memory does not only preserve a moment in time, it decorates it with magic.
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