it's a weird one!! here's a passage that I suppose comes closest to holiday cheer in this political allegory / dark fairy tale about falling from favor under an oppressive communist regime. for background, the main character Max, in the beginning of the book, falls through a hole in the ground and lands in a parallel mirror universe of his own world, where everything is drab and not quite right, and he is separated from his family and friends, who remain in the world above. (he later becomes obsessed with the eagle at the local zoo and decides that must be his way out.)
He had waited impatiently for the coming of the New Year to call his mother, not realizing that this phone call would only torment him further.
The Post Office lobby with its tiled floor streaked with muddy footprints, the tense faces in the waiting line, the monotonous voice of the operator—all of this put his nerves on edge. Again and again, he was tempted to get up and leave. Deep down, he wasn’t really looking forward on this call, and when the attendant called out in her nasal voice, Max, cubicle seven, Max, he threw her a questioning glance, as if to say, Why are you calling me?
His mother’s voice seemed to him alien, unnatural. From her first words, he thought he could hear her crying, but the line itself let out a wail of another sort that resembled nothing human. He wanted to ask her how things were going up above, if the streets were full, if the windows were decorated, if the firs were dotted with cotton balls, but she wouldn’t stop mumbling, What are you saying, Max? I can’t hear you.
At one point, he wanted to say, And how are you going to hear me, mama? I’m at the bottom of a hole. But he remembered that all communications were placed under surveillance. So not a word about his eventual return, not a word about Ana. Then he thought he could at last make out her sobs, but no, it was still the murmur of the underground air currents that the line picked up while crossing the depths of the tombs. Before her voice was drowned out completely, he wanted to exclaim, Cry, mother, at least cry for me!
But he could no longer bring himself to utter these words.