Christmas Story

On the Wee Sing Christmas CD there was a carol that a French priest wrote in the words of the Canadian First People he was
bringing gospel to, so that they would understand what strange kind of good news came to the world one day in Bethlehem. . .
Twas in the Moon of Wintertime.

Being born in poverty isn't pretty, and that the tacky, trashy, smelly elements of the Christmas story aren't so much included when we see illustrations or sing carols about a cosy stable. . . Jesus was born in a style that would get him rejected by those closest to him, because it is just too sketchy and unsettling that God would let himself be part of such an unholy situation. Is Jesus' birth a cosy homey love fest, or a entering into the yuckiest of the yuck kind of birth into poverty and violence. Here's a take on what a middle-class, neat and clean Christian family from a nice town in the Chicago area might hear if Christ would have come this decade:

Did you hear about the baby that was born in a truck-stop bathroom off of 80-94 in Gary? The guy with the mom wasn't his real dad you know, and nobody really knows who got her pregnant. They were traveling into the area from somewhere else and didn't have any money or friends in town. . . .She didn't have any baby clothing in the trunk, so they had to use some paper towels from the self-serve car wash to wipe off the baby and wrap him up. . .no cradle, so she lined a big yellow mop-bucket with newspapers and that had to do the trick. . guess who were the first visitors to the bathroom? The convenience store clerks who were working the night shift across the street. . they came to see what was going on. . .

The family stuck around and stayed in a house in Gary for a few years .. not the best place to be, there were lots of burned and abandoned houses on the street, but the rent was affordable and there was running water and heat. .. .

Bad news though, the Indiana governor had a visit from a small group of nuclear scientists from a Bangkok university: an Iranian, a North Korean and a Sudanese. He didn't know for sure what religion or culture they were loyal to but it definitely was not American, and the way they talked through their interpreters about their crazy theory of a scientific discovery that gave clues to some new world leader being born in Chicago area, he figured it was some terrorist plot to take down U.S. government or something. . .so he told them to let them know when they found this new world leader and his secret hideout.

An awful thing happened when the governor didn't hear back from the scientists . . he had some scientist friends tell him that the most likely place that terrorists would hideout was a place near the water systems and energy plants at the lakefront, and another of his friends woke up with the Gary, Indiana tune from THE MUSIC MAN in his head. So he sent in CPS and a couple swat teams to make sure all the male infants and toddlers in Gary were forcefully removed from their families and institutionalized into sketchy group homes where they were misused and mistreated and overmedicated in order to break them down into chaotic creatures, forever to be locked up within juvenile facilities and then eventually max security prison. It was easy enough, as all the poor people in Gary could easily be falsely written up for neglect or abuse or something or other . . .seeing the deplorable conditions of their rotting, moldy, rented houses, and they would have no access to anybody with power or interest to help them recover their babies. The one baby and his parents were warned just before the round up (in a mysterious text-message), so they hitchhiked to Mexico where the baby and family lived as refugees for several years until that governor was no longer in power. . . The baby and his family ended up back at his parents home town by the time he was school age, but Spanish was his first language and he never quite seemed to fit in as a normal American child with his accent and his food preferences and all . . and all the kids were told to keep their distance because this child's mom was a not to be trusted (pregnant before marriage you know, and weird stories when you asked her who the real father was.) Everybody expected this child to be strange and not quite safe for their kids to play with.

Getting ready for Christmas

No pictures in my camera for a few months!
So this entry has no visual aides, but a summary of some of our Advent activities in the past 3-4 weeks.

We took Douwe to Oak Park area for a special evening holiday concert: Canadian Brass. It was perfect for him, musical and entertaining, and a wonderful variety of music. So enjoyable!

We joined some of our Lanting family members in listening to Illiana Community Chorale sing most of Handel's Messiah.

Douwe had 30 seconds on Santa's lap at the Kid's Peace Christmas party at Old Country Buffet for foster families and their children. An amazing gift that was provided for each one of the children: A handmade quilt! Some women somewhere made about 50-60 of them so each child got his/her own.

My fourth year in a row of making banket with Mom Groen . .I rolled out and rolled up eight sticks and they were not too shabby!

Our Advent theme at Peace Church is "Mothers of Hope: A Shoot will come from the Stump of Jesse" and each service has focused on one of the five unlikely mothers mentioned in Jesus' geneology in Matthew 1. We have been learning and singing a wonderful song each week called: In Matthew's Gospel There Are FIve

Looking forward to the service of Lessons and Carols at our church tomorrow evening. The readings, the artwork, the congregational and choir music are all tied together to show how the Good News of God WIth Us is the primary story throughout the Old and New Testament.

First gingerbread house kit attempted by Douwe and me. Messy, but I was pleased that it turned out better than I expected.

Silly and fun holiday musical for children at Beverly Arts Center: Mrs. Claus.

A visit to the Atrium in Museum of Science and Industry to see the collection of Christmas trees from around the world.

Annual trip to DeMotte area tree farm to find a live Christmas tree and our usual wreath that hangs on our front house wall.

Douwe went with others to the Journey of Joy tableaus at Cottage Grove church to remember the stable setting of Jesus birth.

Our 6th? annual Christmas feast with our monthly supper club, at our house this year. So many delicious drinks, appetizers and desserts!

Our Holiday collection of kids books on CD are back in the car for a few weeks: Sam the Snowman, Santa Duck, Room for A Little One, Merry Christmas Curious George, and I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow, Bear Stays up for Christmas.

Best few weeks to open the mailbox because there are actual items from people we know instead of just solicitations and ads and such.

Many many repeats of the Wee SIng Christmas CD, track #6: The Twelve Days of Christmas. Douwe can't get enough. .