Deep and dreamless sleep

A lovely short story which almost had me in tears. Cornell is so good at creating atmospheric moments, and at portraying emotion without going saccharine!

A perfect Christmas read.

📝9/10

Thworping through time and space, one adventure at a time!

This time: the ghost of Christmas present?

MY SCATTERED AND TOTALLY IRRELEVANT NOTES:

Paul Cornell wrote a lovely little Christmas short story for The Sunday Times in 2006. The first things that come to mind from it are The Snowman animated short from 1982 and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.

Cornell has Ten's mannerisms down to a tee, but the star of the story is the little boy, Danny, who is looking for Christmas. At first glance, he seems like a ghost of sorts, piloting the TARDIS and barely reacting to the Doctor. But we then learn that he is an innocent kid and part of a family tragedy.

This tragedy immediately brings a very humane and depressing quality to the story, but it wouldn't be a Christmas-themed tale without a happy ending. And the one served here instills hope in Christmas wonders.

It's not the most original of stories, with a dip into the trenches of WWI and the birth of baby Jesus in Bethlehem, but it delivers its message effectively and is a cosy read for Christmas times.

That was just utterly delightful.

The Tenth Doctor interacting with children in this way always takes me back to when I was a kid, and him trying to show them the joy of christmas without fully understanding what the kid wants is great.

And then the twist reveal that the child is dying, and wants to make it through the night, that this is all a dream for him. There's no logical explanation as to how this works, but the emotional weight carries it, and Ten going out of his way to make sure Christmas at the hospital is calm and working for him is just brilliant, the way it's written is nothing short of beautiful.