“Christmas” by Floyd Dell and “Christmas Time on the Frontier,” are both stories that tell of poor families on Christmas day. In “Christmas,“ the mom and dad never told their son they were poor. The son donated money to poor people at Sunday school, not knowing that he and his family were one of those “poor people” that people wanted to donate money to. He figured out towards the end that him and his family were poor, when he put all the pieces in his head together (why they only ate potato soup, avoided talking about Christmas entirely, mother was too ashamed to write name on donation envelope, etc.
, which gave him a totally negative, and hopeless mindset.In the story, “Christmas Time on the Frontier,” there was a father who was a pastor (James), a mother, two sons, and a daughter (Ruth). James’ family barely had enough to live on through the cold, bitter winter, so James and his wife worried about what they’d give their kids on Christmas. James and his wife’s faith were stumbling, but they still prayed. Ruth had the strongest faith out of all of them and prayed for skates for her brothers and a doll for her.
With the ring of a doorbell, their prayers were answered!Deacon White stood at the door and delivered a box with turkey, potatoes, flour, a thick red blanket, clothes, and the perfect gifts for James and his wife’s children. Even though the storylines had similar concepts, the families in the stories had different views and outlooks on their situations. James’ family and the family in “Christmas” were in the same situation, but handled things differently according to their faith and mindset. Both families were dirt poor, but James’ family put their problems and needs at Jesus’ feet.
The family in “Christmas” never even mentioned God in their situation or asked for help.The families were tested equally in their faith; James and his wife and the parents in “Christmas,” didn’t have much faith. Even though James and his wife didn’t have complete trust in the Lord, they still called out to Him; and were supplied with everything they needed. The family in “Christmas” didn’t even try to ask God for help, because their outlook on their situation was completely negative.
This mindset gave them a negative result. Both stories had their similarities differences, but the aftermath of their situations were different, because of their faith in God and outlook on life.
