Merry Christmas, Mr. Baxter

George Barton Baxter, the successful CEO of a New York textile house is returning to his Park Avenue apartment from work one mid-October evening.

He considers the economic impact on his personal finances grimly, and upon arriving home, he takes a short rest before dinner, fantasizing about the type of gifts he would really like, but which he knows are impossible pipe dreams.

This pattern continues throughout the approaching weeks to the Christmas season, and the general circumstances of the impending holiday seem to dog Mr. Baxter's thrifty soul at every turn.

Arriving home at last, Mr. Baxter relaxes after dinner in the living room, admiring the tree and the pile of gifts beneath, which he fully realizes is largely his wife's work.

His descriptions of mid-20th century New York are insightful, and filled with a combination of equal parts cynicism, dry wit and affection, as was his typical writing style.