It Was Terribly Cold

Have you ever heard Hans Christian Andersen's story of The Little Match Girl? It's a sad tale about a little girl who is sent into the cold to sell matches, but when no one buys any, she winds up using them to warm herself. In their light, she sees happy visions of food, comfort, and her loving grandmother. She freezes during the night and is found in the morning by people who passed her by the night before. It's not a story that I have a sentimental attachment to from my childhood or anything, but last year I shared a bit of David Lang's the little match girl passion. This year I have some art:

Remember the little match girl (Please donate to your local food bank)
photo by Justin Ennis

The little match girl of tucia
photo by 黑本

The Little Match Girl dreaming of Christmas trees (The Hans Christian Andersen museum, Copenhagen)
photo by kurozukin

The fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen
by Helen Stratton

Little Match Girl
photo by Scott Moore

The Little Match Girl
by Shigeru Hatsuyama

The Little Match Girl loses her shoes, Fairy tales and stories, 1900
illustration by Hans Tegner

The Bloggess is running a "give what you can, take what you need" post that you might want to look at if you are interested in direct ways to help people out. I would scroll down quite a bit to get to messages that have been seen fewer times.