The story begins in late November, a month symbolic of all the years gone by that Capote could remember beginning preparations for Christmas fruitcakes. The year he has chosen, though, is that of the last Christmas three friends spend together. A boy of seven, Capote has but two friends: his "sixty-something" year old distant cousin and a loyal, happy pooch named Buddy. Although the age difference between the cousins is great, it is clear that the two are almost on the same level of intelligence. His old cousin is not ignorant or innocent by choice, rather, because of her frail condition she has been brushed off by adults and has never outgrown her child

Capote's description of things is also different from the typical person's description. For example, to the laymen, the sun is a big, bright, shiny ball of fire. To Capote, the sun rises "...round as orange and orange as hot weather moons, balanc[ing] on the horizon, burnish[ing] the silvered winter woods." His word choice elicits more than just a visual sense of what he is describing; they entice all the senses to jump into his memory.

As the narrator, Capote recounts memories of good times; the times before his family members decided that home was not where he belonged. Overall, the story is bittersweet because there is joy to be found in the simplicity of the three friends' happiness. However, after this specific Christmas, Capote is forced to move out of his house and to leave his innocence behind.

The story is not purely self-serving because Capote uses this piece not only to revisit his memories of happier times, but to al

Some common words found in the essay are:
Christmas Capote, Christmas Memory, , Truman Capote,
Approximate Word count = 632
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)