Wow, I loved this story. I know, Christmas is the last thing on anyone's mind, but this was so much more than a Christmas story. (... and although I had decided not to post comments on older stories, given that I am working my way backwards through them, I wanted to add a few praises to this one, since it really cheered me up on my way to work, YES, it CHEERED me up!).
For one, I have to say I love the combination of familiar 'details' with a science fiction setting. I always find that refreshing and enjoy reinterpreting familiar concepts by looking at them from a different perspective.
It really reminded me of
The Neverending Story (Michael Ende, 1979) and I love The-End-of-the-World stories in general, it brings out the best and the worst in people/'conscience clusters' and gives so much food for thought/literature...
I enjoyed the idea that details reinforce one's coherence, ... äh consciousness, which makes me think that listening to these stories should make me more coherent, ... so thanks SFEly, you are contributing to saving all of us from the 'Big Empty' every week, and I for one am extremely grateful for it.
And the notion that 'the sum
(synergy) of 2 things' can be so much more than '1+1'. I loved that one.
So, gotta go find my Christmas stocking now, I don't think I even checked it last year, maybe I've got one of those 'silver guns' or 'sparkly lights' in it. Always eager to add details....