A Little Christmas Tree Decorating Music, Please

As I prepare for my Jewish Roots Project, I spent part of last evening decorating the diminutive holiday tree we bought a couple of weeks ago. Yes, I have an interesting household--and life.

We pulled out the boxes of ornaments, and to set the mood, put on Now That's What I Call Christmas, from the Now That's What I Call Music folks. It's a two-disc CD containing 36 songs of the holiday, from Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song to Boyz II Men's Silent Night.

Yes, the CD is ten years old--NSYNC is there too, along with Britney Spears--but it covers the range of popular favorites with less emphasis on the religious songs, from White Christmas (Bing, of course), Burl Ives' A Holly Jolly Christmas, and John & Yoko's Happy Xmas (War is Over).

There were some classics, like O Come All Ye Faithful (done by Luther Vandross) and Away in a Manger (Mannheim Steamroller.)

I discovered that there have been FOUR of these Christmas compilations, with the latest, from 2010, available from iTunes or Amazon (see photo). It has Rihanna and Lady Gaga on it--a bit more up to date. Maybe I'll get it for next year's decorating party.

A Jew at Christmastime

Chanukah starts tonight. As usual, I'll get out a menorah--or two--and light one candle, plus the shamus, in each to start the first of eight nights of this holiday. Each night I'll add a candle. In these days of electric lights, candles still evoke a mood--in this case, one to remember our ancestors who didn't have electricity. Or, on later nights, when there are several candles going, you can wager on which one will be the last to go out.

I'm a Jew at Christmastime, living in a world of lights, trees, Santa, and even, sometimes, Jesus. Last night, I was out shopping for gifts for my granddaughter, who, not being Jewish, celebrates Christmas--with gusto.

I think my street has more Christmas lights than usual this year. I like them. I remember driving around our neighborhood when I was six, sitting in the back seat of the Rambler with my brother, looking at all the displays. There may have been some snow--it was Buffalo, New York--and the lights were pretty much all the big pepper-shaped colored ones. Today there are icicles and bright blue ones and all kinds of inflatable and even moving holiday displays (reindeer are popular). I've seen Santa on a Harley. I have a string of illuminated plastic Nash Metropolitans and Airstream trailers. It's all good.

What I don't have much of is a sense of Chanukah community. Perhaps only in Israel is there a public celebration of Chanukah--and even there, the substantial Christian community celebrates Christ's traditional birthday--in the very spot where it happened. That has to have a lot of meaning for some people.

As kids, we got our holiday gifts with candles, not under a tree, and the paper wasn't red and green. While we certainly weren't denied any of the joy of getting presents, the festivity of the holiday wasn't that big a deal--except for Christmas carols. I love them and can sing most of them now--well, the first verse anyway. Hark the Herald Angels Sing... Oh Come All Ye Faithful... Silent Night... Deck the Halls... Joy to the World... Even Jingle Bells. And don't forget the popular songs: Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, White Christmas, "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire....." (Had a chestnut lately? Me neither.)

I remember going over to my friends' houses and seeing their trees--with tinsel and those glimmering glass globes and twinkling electric lights. I remember making school projects with stars and bells and Santas using colored paper and glitter.

I was the kid with the candles--and no tree. Today, I have a tree (a realistic fake one and sometimes a real one) and we have a nice variety of ornaments that we've collected over the last couple of decades--one for each person each year. It adds up.

Other great stuff about this time of year--hot cider and hot chocolate, Christmas cookies, Peppermint Bark, Honeybaked Ham (available all year). And the movies--It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Carol, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (animated).

I'm a Jew at Christmastime. Happy Chanukah.

A Christmas Carol - Defining the Holiday for Us

Playing in the pit orchestra for A Christmas Carol has inspired me to go and read the original book by Charles Dickens. It's a short one -- a 95-page small paperback -- but well worth the read. I knocked it out in an hour and a half yesterday.

Originally published in 1843 by the author to make some quick money, the story has gone on to be hugely inflluential in how modern people celebrate the holiday. See this story for a few details and some insight into what Dickens was reading when he wrote this tale.

Twenty-first-century readers might be challenged by the mid-nineteenth-century language and pacing in the original tale, and Dickens was a master of detail from early days of court reporting. But it conjures up the flavor of that time, when books were read by lamplight, before any of the instant communication we enjoy today existed.

But the essence of the story--the miserly Scrooge, loving but shivering Bob Cratchit, poor Tiny Tim, Scrooge's cheerful nephew Fred, and the three Christmas spirits who turn Scrooge around -- is all there in today's 90-minute theater production (takes about the same time as reading the book!).

Beyond religion and commercialism, the holiday spirit, from Dickens to us, is "goodwill toward men." And throw in some togetherness and hilarity too.

After listening to the Hallmark version of A Christmas Carol on my iPod, I was moved to send a donation to my local Second Harvest Food Bank. While I am no miser, I still feel especially fortunate and wanted to do something. No one should go hungry at this time of year (or ever).

Double Graduation and Memorable Dates

May 27th marks the day I graduated from high school--and college too. Yes, the diploma-receiving walks were eight years apart. But I was a busy guy--spending a year on a kibbutz in Israel and earning my way through school.

Despite the fact that high school was more than "two score" ago and the day I snagged my English degree is also ancient history, I commemorate my double graduation day every year--by myself. No parties, no special activities. I just remember with some gratitude.

Graduations are interesting in that the date itself really isn't what's significant. It's that it normally indicates the end of something and the beginning of another. After high school, I embarked on a little adventure in guitar strumming and working that lasted a year and eight months. By the time I went to college, I was ready. After college, I stepped immediately into a fulltime job that lasted three and a half years.

Some dates are obvious--birthdays--yours and your significant other--and your kids' (especially young ones, who have great expectations). Some are more significant to the world--sometimes horrible too. What about D-Day (good), September 11--(bad), November 22 (JFK shot--bad). For me, December 8 is a bad day--when John Lennon was murdered. That one hurts me every year. How about May 1, 2011--the day Osama Bin Laden was found and dispatched? I'm guessing that most people consider that a "good" day. It probably won't become a Hallmark holiday, however.

Or course, January 1 is always important as a new beginning, and December 25 is significant to Christians--and most of the rest of us too--as a time to do something a little different beyond it's religious significance.

The first day of the each new season is recognized. When June 21 arrives, we expect summer warmth and long days--but maybe we're remembering school being out and the "freedom" that came with it.

For me, November 25 and 26 together are very significant because the first date is the day I met my wife and the 26th is--her birthday.

I'm glad I graduated (twice)--my college degree especially has been useful to me, as has the effort I had to put in to earn it.