Although I’m legally Jewish, I grew up with Christmas, including a Christmas tree (not a Chanukah bush). I like the traditional music and food, the pagan holdovers (Yule log, mistletoe, and the tree itself), but I’m not attached to Christmas the way my Presbyterian-raised partner is. We go to a Chanukah party around the corner every year, and a Christmas Eve latke party down the block every Christmas eve, and at times host a caroling party ourselves. I wrote a couple of Christmas songs with Candy Forest, here’s one, “Mrs. Claus,” sung by the Edlos, the bad boys of a capella. This is not breaking new ground—Irving Berlin was Jewish and wrote “White Christmas.”  I like hearing from old friends, I like the smell of evergreens in the house. What I don’t like is the shopping. The container-ships full of cheap plastic crap that everyone feels obliged to buy and give. Well, I guess CDs are plastic, but I’d still like to recommend a few excellent ones that won’t be heading for the land-fill come January. They are made by friends-and-relations of mine, and one by me. For the little tykes on your list, some lullabies that are also good listening for grown-ups: Candy Forest’s Speeney, Spawney, Go to the Moon, vocals with piano and cello; Sally Rogers’ At Quiet O’Clock, voice and folk instruments; Nina Gerber’s Sweet Dreams, all instrumental so you can sing along in your own child’s favorite voice. Nina plays the best back-up guitar any singer could ever wish for; here she shines on her own. For older kids, Sun, Sun Shine, my songs, Candy’s songs, and a few of Malvina’s; and, if they have tape players, Malvina’s Magical Songs.  Another shopping alternative is thrift stores. Claudia just had a birthday, and her best friend, an accomplished thrifter, gave her two sweaters just her size and style, one hand-knit. I did get an email ad from Amnesty International that... well, I’ll tell you what happened. We’re still on dial-up, slow as molasses in somebody else’s January, so the text of the ad came up first: Dear Nancy, This holiday season, when you shop at Amnesty International you can support life-saving work and receive free shipping on orders over $75. Make your selection soon, offer ends December 1st.   New! Black hooded Sweat Shirt For $34.95   Holiday Cards  For $13.95 Etc. Now when I see “Black hooded” in the context of Amnesty International, a certain image springs to my mind—a person in black with a black hood covering his head and face, standing on a box—you’ve all seen it, the news from Abu Ghraib. Of course the illustration, when it finally showed, was of an ordinary black hoodie with the Amnesty International logo on the front. If you are reading this outside the British Isles, the next shopping tip is for something you will have to import from foreign parts, but I confess I’m doing it. It’s sheep poo paper from Wales. The site explains that sheep poo is half undigestible cellulose, nicely masticated and ready to make paper out of when the other half is washed out and used as liquid fertilizer. I am truly not kidding about this—I’ve used their cards myself. I tell a few Christmas stories and for Chanukah, the story of the menorahs in Billings, Montana. Here’s one I retold from a fourteenth century European legend, and introduce as a refugee story, which indeed it is: THE GRAIN MIRACLE You probably already know the first part of this story. You know how King Herod heard that the prophesied King of the Jews had been born, and, fearing a threat to his own power, ordered that all male children be killed. You remember that Mary and Joseph took their child and started on the road to Egypt. Now, as they were traveling along that road, they came to a place where a farmer was sowing a field of grain. He was almost finished with the work. Mary called to him and he came to the roadside. “Ma’am?” he said. Then he saw how worried she was and said, “Is something wrong?” “Yes,” said Mary. “Soldiers are coming after us. They have orders to kill this baby.” “That’s terrible!” said the farmer. “How can I help you?” “When the soldiers come, they will ask you about us. Please, tell them that you saw us go by as you were planting this field.” “Is that all?” asked the farmer. “Yes.” “Well, if that’s what you want, that’s what I’ll do.” “Thank you,” said Mary, and she and her little family continued on the road to Egypt. The farmer stood scratching his head and watching them go, then turned to finish his work. When he looked at his field, his jaw dropped. Everywhere he had just sown the grain, new sprouts were coming up. Only the corner he had not sown was bare. He went closer and looked. The sprouts were grain. He stood in the bare corner and watched as the stalks lengthened before his eyes. He watched the grain form and swell. He watched the whole field turn color as the grain ripened. Less than an hour had passed when the soldiers came and found him standing in that bare spot gazing at a field ready for harvest. The captain called to him, “You!” The farmer ran to the roadside. “Sir?” “Did you see an old man with a young wife and a small child pass this way?” “Did they have a donkey?” “Yes, when did they pass here?” “The wife, was she wearing a blue mantle?” “That’s the one, when did they come?” “And did she have...kind of a glow about her?” “Yes, that’s the one! When did you see them?” “That would be when I was planting this field.” “What?!” “When I was planting this field sir.” “You sure?” “As sure as I’m standing here.” The captain looked hard at the farmer and saw nothing but honesty and truth on his face. He shrugged and turned back to his troop. “We’re too late. They’re gone. We may as well turn back.” The farmer watched them go back up the road until they were too far away to see his face, and then he smiled and went to get his scythe to harvest this fine field of grain. ©2007 by Nancy Schimmelhttp://www.sisterschoice.com/catalog.htmlhttp://www.ninagerber.com/cd_info.htmlhttp://www.sisterschoice.com/catalog.htmlhttp://www.sisterschoice.com/catalog.htmlhttp://www.amnesty.org/http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/site/apps/ka/ec/product.asp?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2591243&en=isJLKVPGJeIJITOyG7KQI2MLJjJLIZOIIiIQJ7PUIwG&ProductID=503250http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/site/apps/ka/ec/product.asp?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2591243&en=iiJLJVNGJeLJITPyH7JQI2MLKjJLKZPILiJQJ7MUJwE&ProductID=503775http://www.sheeppoopaper.com/http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&endeca=1&isbn=0807511536&itm=2shapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1shapeimage_2_link_2shapeimage_2_link_3shapeimage_2_link_4shapeimage_2_link_5shapeimage_2_link_6shapeimage_2_link_7shapeimage_2_link_8
Another source of political t-shirts, cards, posters and the fine peace calendar pictured here (with free study guide by my friend Mara) is Syracuse Cultural Workers.http://syracuseculturalworkers.comshapeimage_5_link_0
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
THE SHOPPING SEASON...AND A STORY