You wanted a peaceful, comfortable Christmas, with all reminders of poverty, injustice, or other people's griefs well out of sight, so as not to disturb your pleasure. That isn't what Christmas is about, Wallace. Christmas is about offering hope to all people, not just those like ourselves. Christmas is about everyone: rich or poor, friend or stranger. The moment you exclude anyone, you exclude yourself.

Meaning: Bags stand for possessions or money, and the saying suspects that apparent affection follows wealth. It invites scrutiny of interested attention rather than proving that wealthy people cannot be loved, or that every friendship contains a concealed bargain.

Meaning: A household may need to address problems rather than avoid every difficult conversation. The saying’s praise of chiding needs limits on how disagreement is expressed.

Meaning: The mutual scratching image presents an exchange of favours: help me and I will help you. It may describe ordinary cooperation or self-serving reciprocity, depending on the situation, so the fairness of the exchange must be examined rather than assumed.

Meaning: Seeking food or generosity is pictured as especially difficult when others are fasting. The saying puts a request beside a setting in which the expected resource is restricted.