The speaker describes getting through Christmas by shutting it out, and the poem's quiet tone makes that feel both deliberate and sad. Morning, usually the moment for opening presents, is something "I did not receive." That could mean the speaker stayed awake, slept through it, or simply could not feel the day arrive. The poem doesn't say which, and that gap is part of its mood.
What the speaker does instead is small and practical: choosing candlesticks, making "a well in the night." The image suggests a deep, dark place to retreat into, and perhaps to draw from, though the poem leaves that open. The final line, "rid / of another Christmas," sounds relieved, but the word "another" hints at a pattern, as if this has happened before. The title's "bleak midwinter" sets the cold, empty scene. Overall the poem feels hushed, lonely, and quietly resigned, with a flicker of candlelight against the dark.