Memory can be a powerful thing. It’s a tool that can transport us back years into crystal clear moments or experiences in a time when you weren’t yet you. Thomas explores his memories throughout the short story; he goes back to when he was a child, curious and happy. At the very beginning of the book he opens with the fact that he’s writing about exploring his mind for memories of the holidays. “One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner... In goes my hand into that wool-white, bell-tongued ball of holidays resting on the rim of the carol-singing sea.” [A Child’s Christmas in Wales,  Page 1, Paragraph 1-2]. The Christmas’s blend together when looking back. Memories are vivid, yet foggy when you truly take the time to look back at them. But they are important, they bring us the joy we had in the past and help us realize our future. Thomas uses metaphors to help us imagine what memory is like and what it means, but the most important part of memory is that it’s personal. A memory is something you and you alone can experience, and that makes it so much better. Taking a glimpse at the past can be refreshing, a chance to understand how far we’ve come and be thankful for the past and the present. Memories of childhood are especially sweet, because it takes us back to a simpler time.

The other major theme of the story was the innocence of childhood. Christmas is a special time for kids. The joy of presents, the bright lights all around, the ever familiar sparkling tunes of holiday classics can bring so much emotion to someone yet to have experienced it a hundred times. “we were outside our house; the front room was lovely; balloons floated under the hot-water-bottle-gulping gas; everything was good again and shone over the town.” [A Child’s Christmas in Wales, Page 16, Paragraph 2]. Having returned from an adventure, Thomas finally gets to take in the marvel of his house. Everything being good again is the perfect way to express being a child. Thomas doesn’t just experience the warm light of home and the jovial atmosphere of Christmas, he experiences bliss. Things don’t come in experiences, they come in emotion. When you’re a kid, everything seems black and white, happy and sad. Emotions drive your experience, it’s not what happened, it’s how it happened. That’s what makes childhood unique.

However, what makes A Child’s Christmas in Wales stand out from other writing pieces is it’s way of describing all that happens. When writing about childhood, it takes attention to detail to capture what that truly is. Thomas uses certain writing techniques to capture the way things appear to his younger self. Recalling on one memory, Thomas describes him and his friend looking for cats to throw snowballs at: “the lynx-eyed hunters, Jim and I, fur-capped and moccasined trappers from Hudson Bay” Thomas uses a metaphor to show the imagination of a child. Even though he and his friend aren’t fur-capped trappers from Hudson Bay, he still conveys the child-like imagination he used to have. Not only does it show imagination, it also shows how the character are moving. You can easily imagine the children creeping along, laying hidden in the snow, extremely conspicuous. The way Thomas describes the scene in just this short sentence gives the reader a clear view of what’s happening. The clear description is what gives the reader a sense of childhood. The themes are important to the story, but what makes the themes are the writing.

Memory and childhood are the backbones of A Child’s Christmas in Wales. They show us how to reflect on our past, on a time when we were more innocent. The personal experience of the author and the way he describes it makes you feel connected to everything that happens. The magic of childhood is brought to life, just like childhood is.